Jazz Articles

Our daily articles are carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. You can find more articles by searching our website, see what's trending on our popular articles page or read articles ahead of their published dates on our Coming Soon page. Read our daily album reviews.

110

Album Review

Vazytouille: Vazytouille

Read "Vazytouille" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
December 7, 2011

Vazytouille is a sonic menagerie similar to experiencing Cirque du Soleil. This debut is envisioned by a large ensemble comprised of members from Zoone Libre, a collective of performance musicians, and other artists based in Lille, France. The typecast concept of a big band is a little misleading as the fourteen members represents smaller subsections like string quartet, rock trio and a cappella vocal, united into a larger format. Jazz is only a part of Vazytouille's catalog, as there are ...

171

Extended Analysis

Dave Liebman/Richie Beirach: Unspoken

by John Kelman
December 7, 2011

Dave Liebman / Richie Beirach Unspoken OutNote Records 2011 It's one thing for individual artists' voices to be instantly recognizable, another thing entirely when a readily identifiable language evolves amongst them, one that's absent when they're apart. There's no mistaking the bop-rooted expressionism that saxophonist Dave Liebman imbues with oblique lyricism, whether with his longstanding group on Turnaround: The Music of Ornette Coleman (Jazzwerkstatt, 2010) or in a new collection of largely old friends on ...

Album Review

David S. Ware: Organica (Solo Saxophones, Volume 2)

Read "Organica (Solo Saxophones, Volume 2)" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
December 7, 2011

As the follow up to saxophonist David S. Ware's lauded Saturnian (Solo Saxophones, Volume 1) (AUM Fidelity, 2010) studio session, this second volume comprises two entire concerts documented in March and November 2010, each pairing matching titled cuts on sopranino and tenor saxophones. If the previous album served to demonstrate that the reedman's solo powers were undimmed, Volume 2 not only affirms that situation, but goes further in showing reservoirs of interior focus and invention that are stronger ...

178

Extended Analysis

Billy Bang's Survival Ensemble: Black Man’s Blues / New York Collage

by John Sharpe
December 7, 2011

Billy Bang's Survival EnsembleBlack Man's Blues / New York CollageNo Business Records2011 With Black Man's Blues / New York Collage, the Lithuanian based No Business label presents another thrilling installment in its invaluable documentation of the New York loft jazz of the 1970s, following on from 2010's acclaimed Muntu Recordings Box and Commitment: The Complete Recordings 1980-1983. Featured artist this time out is the late violinist Billy Bang, who died of ...

153

Album Review

Mats/Morgan Band: Live

by Glenn Astarita
December 7, 2011

In their teens, drummer Morgan Ågren and keyboardist Mats Öberg were invited to perform with Frank Zappa and, as the story goes, the Swedish duo formed this phenomenal ensemble that exercised a jaw-dropping mode of execution within the progressive-rock schema, amid some Zappa and jazz-centric influences. Revered for its otherworldly approach to the genre and superior technical faculties, Mats/Morgan Band is known for its exhilarating live performances and manifold approach to composition. Agren is an in-demand session artist, ...

114

Album Review

Alon Nechushtan: Dark Forces

Read "Dark Forces" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 7, 2011

The idea of placing a variety of daring instrumental personalities within different electronic-based sound collage nightmares is bold but, ultimately, hard to classify or grab onto. Dark Forces can't truly be called electronic music since the whole point of the music surrounds the integration of electronic and human elements, and it's hard to view it as free improvisation, since Alon Nechustan has painstakingly painted each musical canvas. Some might call it ambient music, but that tag usually describes a more ...

108

Mix Tape

My Influences

by Richard Lewis
December 7, 2011

I find it funny when reviewers assert my influences; they are never correct and I'd prefer to acknowledge my sources. So here is a list of the music that helped inspire my forthcoming album, You Are Here. The whole list makes me euphoric, but highlights for me would be Jack DeJohnette's fevered drumming on “Down San Diego Way" and Andy Sheppard's seductive soprano on “Sol." Tomasz Stanko's trumpet similarly slays me: rich, magnificent and tragic like a crumbling empire. I ...

122

Album Review

Ray Anderson / Han Bennink / Christy Doran: ABD

by Troy Collins
December 6, 2011

The international collaborative trio of American trombonist Ray Anderson, Dutch drummer Han Bennink and Irish guitarist Christy Doran recorded two adventurous albums for hatART in the mid-1990s; Azurety was released in 1994 and Cheer Up arrived the following year. ABD collects the strongest tracks from these two sessions onto one disc, providing a valuable opportunity to re-examine the creative spontaneity these three artists share.Though the compilation's ten selections are wildly eclectic--one of Doran's progressive numbers sits precariously alongside ...

Live Review

Nik Bartsch's Ronin: London, England, November 16, 2011

by Ian Patterson
December 6, 2011

Nik Bärtsch's RoninLondon Jazz FestivalKing's PlaceLondon, EnglandNovember 16, 2011 Looking at the listings for day six of the London Jazz Festival, the term “spoilt for choice" sprang to mind. At the Barbican, pianists Stefano Bollani and French veteran Martial Solal led a double bill supported by Marcin Wasilewski's piano trio; at the Purcell Room, rising stars Phronesis promised a night to remember in a concert without lights, entitled Pitch Black, while at ...

140

Album Review

Joan Stiles: Three Musicians

Read "Three Musicians" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 6, 2011

On the surface, Three Musicians is a smart collection of performances from a witty threesome, but closer observation reveals deep Cubist intent. In referencing one of Pablo Picasso's masterpieces, pianist Joan Stiles touches on a style of art that rarely finds an overt entrance into jazz, creating a layered, collage ideology within the very fabric of her work. The term “mash-up" has become the phrase of choice in pop music circles to describe arrangements that weave two ...