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.

8,715

Album Review

Pippa Hayes: It Had to Be You

Read "It Had to Be You" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
November 17, 2011

Australian vocalist Pippa Hayes is foremost an educator, but that old saw about “those who can...do and those who can't...teach" does not apply. Hayes is perfectly comfortable performing, with an infectious method and effortless grace. She has a coy and coquettish voice, lazy and sensual as Quaaludes and honey (in places, almost too much so). However, Hayes harbors no fear stylistically, putting it all out there with a relaxed confidence. She shows perfection on Hoagy Carmichael's “The Nearness of You," ...

127

Album Review

Yotam: Brasil

by Dan Bilawsky
November 17, 2011

A single letter separates the English and Portuguese spellings of the world's fifth largest country, but that letter distinguishes between an outsider's view and the way that an insider takes it all in. Brazil is for tourists, but Brasil is for those initiated in the musical ways of this South American land of wonder. While Israeli guitarist Yotam Silberstein was born more than six thousand miles from Ipanema Beach, he displays the understanding, insight and sensitivity of a man who ...

139

Album Review

Keith Jarrett: Rio

by Orlando Bird
November 17, 2011

Keith Jarrett's first solo piano album, Facing You (ECM, 1972), came out nearly forty years ago; since then he's become the high priest of piano improvisation, famed for his ability to walk onstage and, as a bemused Vladimir Ashkenazy put it, “play all the right notes" on the spot. Koln Concert (ECM, 1975) has sold almost 4 million copies, attracting listeners from far beyond the loyal enclaves of Soho and Greenwich Village. If jazz has any superstars, he's one of ...

112

Album Review

Yotam: Brasil

Read "Brasil" reviewed by Lawrence Peryer

by Lawrence Peryer
November 17, 2011

Brazilian music is tricky. It must be approached carefully as its mellow understatement can be vulnerable to sterility in production and blandness in execution. Brasil, by Israeli guitarist Yotam Silberstein (now known solely as “Yotam") is plagued by both attributes. It is quite difficult to appreciate the competency of the players with whom Yotam has surrounded himself for this outing, as both the playing and engineering carry a certain lack of character and color. Too smooth throughout, ...

203

Reassessing

Lonnie Liston Smith: Astral Traveling

by Chris May
November 16, 2011

Lonnie Liston SmithAstral TravelingFlying Dutchman1973 For many jazz fans, pianist Lonnie Liston Smith irredeemably blotted his copy book decades ago. Right enough, for Smith's smooth jazz and quiet storm albums of the 1980s and 1990s were bland, blissed-out, insubstantial affairs. But between 1965, when he was featured on saxophonist (Rahsaan) Roland Kirk's Here Comes The Whistleman (Atlantic), and the early 1970s, when he was a member of trumpeter Miles Davis' electric ...

269

Album Review

Josh Nelson: Discoveries

Read "Discoveries" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
November 16, 2011

Nothing fuels the creative impulses like the art of discovery. A new chord voicing can unlock a door to a different world, and different rhythmic permutations can prove to be an endless source of inspiration, but discovering these things and utilizing them to good effect are two different things. Few artists can see the world through the eyes of the uninitiated while writing with the intellect of the musical elite, but pianist Josh Nelson is one of them.

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Multiple Reviews

Akira Sakata and the Ghost of Albert Ayler

by Mark Corroto
November 16, 2011

For so very long, since Albert Ayler's death in 1970, the faithful have been, to paraphrase Bruce Springsteen, “hiding 'neath their covers, studying their pain...wasting their summers, praying in vain for a savior to rise from these streets."And for the last 40 years, Japanese saxophonist Akira Sakata has been a hero, and that's understood. His music has allowed listeners to, indeed, case the promised land.Western audiences may have first noticed him playing in 1986 with Last ...

193

Album Review

Girls in Airports: Migration

Read "Migration" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
November 16, 2011

The view of the world is not greater than the eyes of the beholder and it is easy to remain bound to a particular culture and musical tradition, trying to find safety in familiar sounds. Beauty, however, is often found in the unexpected and unknown and like true musical travelers; Danish group Girls in Airports has taken a different path than most of its Nordic peers, exploring the warm and vibrant sounds of Africa. Migration, the group's ...

139

Album Review

Robin Taylor - Taylor's Free Universe: Two-Pack

Read "Two-Pack" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
November 16, 2011

Danish progressive-rock denizen Robin Taylor employs a green approach with the packaging of this double mini-disc set, packed in small cardboard sleeves. However, the minimalist product design is offset by several ferocious works, spanning the prog element and free-floating jazz improvisation. Taylor has been carrying the prog torch since 1991 and is a mainstay in the newer slants of this genre, where the classic concepts attain a fruitful medium with expansive persuasions. Composed of firm back-beats, cascading keys, ...

259

Album Review

Mario Adnet: More Jobim Jazz

Read "More Jobim Jazz" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
November 16, 2011

With More Jobim Jazz, Brazilian guitarist Mario Adnet continues his tribute to fellow countryman and songwriter Antonio Carlos Jobim. The second volume of music from the legend's songbook, this installment includes some familiar songs like “Wave," and “Bonita," among thirteen superb selections, and follows the same recipe used on Jobim Jazz (Adventure Music, 2007), originally inspired by what would have been Jobim's 80th birthday in January, 2007. Adnet transforms Jobim's compositions, infusing the rich Brazilian style with strong elements of ...