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.

197

Live From New York

Dick Dale, Joe Louis Walker, Bill Sims Jr. & The Harriet Tubman Double Trio

by Martin Longley
November 15, 2011

Dick Dale The Jewel October 23, 2011 What could be a more appropriate venue to witness the heady spectacle that is a Dick Dale show? The Jewel is one of the cruise boats operated by the Rocks Off promoters, here in collaboration with the B.B. King Blues Club. So, at last, the unchallenged king of surf rock guitar actually got to perform on the waves, or at least the sometimes quite ...

233

Album Review

Keith Jarrett: Rio

by John Kelman
November 15, 2011

If music is a reflection of where we live, it must also be a reflection of where we are at any given moment. As much as the undercurrent redolent of an artist's home can often be heard, a live performance can equally draw inspiration from where it is, especially if it's a place with its own musical tradition. There's little doubting the intrinsic Americanism of pianist Keith Jarrett on Rio--his first solo piano recording since Testament (ECM, 2009), where two ...

124

Live Review

Tony Bennett: Philadelphia, PA, November 4, 2011

by Lewis J Whittington
November 15, 2011

Tony BennettAcademy of MusicPhiladelphia, PANovember 4, 2011 Tony Bennett plugged his upcoming appearance on Lady Gaga's Thanksgiving Special in the middle of singing “The Good Life," to the packed house at the Academy of Music, who may or may not know that she's the biggest act around; but, to this crowd, at age 85, Bennett was the hottest ticket in town. The love for him just gushed through the concert hall and Bennett gave ...

177

Album Review

Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet: Apparent Distance

Read "Apparent Distance" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
November 15, 2011

It is nearly impossible to stand far enough away from Taylor Ho Bynum's four-part suite, Apparent Distance, to take the entire piece in. It is both a thoroughly composed and an improvisational undertaking that swings as a conventional jazz sextet but challenges like a multi-directional chamber ensemble. Like Bynum himself, the music is not easily pigeonholed.Drop your phonograph needle just about anywhere (never heard of this? ask your dad) onto the record and the focal point changes. From ...

163

Album Review

Jay Patten: Crystal Nights

Read "Crystal Nights" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
November 15, 2011

There's an anecdote that surfaces every now and then about the legendary Buddy Rich. The ever hip and irascible drummer/bandleader was once asked, during a hospital stay, if he had any medical allergies. “Country music," he wisecracked. Well, Rich, ever the master showman, might reconsider upon hearing this most enjoyable, highly eclectic release from the incredibly talented, Heart of Country Music-based saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Jay Patten. With Crystal Nights (A reference to his longstanding friendship and professional association with ...

170

Album Review

Chris Donnelly: Metamorphosis

Read "Metamorphosis" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
November 15, 2011

Toronto pianist/composer Chris Donnelly gained much critical acclaim for his first album, Solo (Alma Records, 2008), which mixed his own originals with fresh takes on some classic tunes. His follow-up, the riskier and more ambitious Metamorphosis, is an outstanding recording from an outstanding artist. Metamorphosis is inspired by visual artist M. C. Escher's 1939 woodcut, Metamorphosis II, which appears on the cover. The music has, in turn, inspired a poem from Toronto poet Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, ...

292

Album Review

Terri Lyne Carrington: The Mosaic Project

Read "The Mosaic Project" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
November 14, 2011

Historically, female artists have not gotten the props they've deserved in jazz's male-dominated environment. Though imperfect, things have improved, thanks in part to the efforts of Billie Holiday, Mary Lou Williams, Marian McPartland, and other matriarchs who helped pave the way for a current generation of stellar voices as assembled in drummer/composer Terri Lyne Carrington's exceptional The Mosaic Project. Carrington's world-class drumming equals anyone in the music business, enriching recordings and performances from the great Herbie Hancock ...

149

Album Review

John Escreet: Exception To The Rule

Read "Exception To The Rule" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
November 14, 2011

The highest compliment that might be paid to pianist John Escreet is that he has a restless mind. It is not that the music on Exception To The Rule is troubled or uptight; it's just that his modus operandi is one of extreme opposites. He composes tight counterpoint and swift changing intervals for his bands to perform, filling his scores full of notes, or writes a simple piece that is significant, not for the notes played, but for the sounds ...

187

Take Five With...

Take Five With T. Howard Curtis III

by AAJ Staff
November 14, 2011

Meet Howard Curtis: T. Howard Curtis III, born in Williamburg, VA, but now living and working in Graz, Austria has been enjoying a multifaceted career as jazz drummer, percussionist and educator for over 30 years. He has performed in jazz and other music festivals all over the world, including Paris, Germany, Great Britain, Slovenia, Slovakia, Turkey, Croatia, Switzerland and Russia. He has performed with Dave Liebman, Gary Thomas, Julius Hemphill, George Coleman, Bob Mintzer, David ...

164

Album Review

Ellis Marsalis: A New Orleans Christmas Carol

Read "A New Orleans Christmas Carol" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
November 14, 2011

Christmas music doesn't usually come into stores, radios and homes until Thanksgiving time but, in a year when snow covered the East Coast before Halloween, early arrivals seem to be the norm. Guitarist Doug Munro delivered a Django Reinhardt-styled set of holiday classics on A Very Gypsy Christmas (GotMusic, 2011) in September; pianist Geri Allen tackled songs of the season on A Child Is Born, which hit stores around Columbus Day; and now, 2011 NEA Jazz Master Ellis Marsalis joins ...