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.

116

Multiple Reviews

Ido Bukelman: Solo Acoustic Guitar Recordings

by Eyal Hareuveni
November 12, 2011

Israeli guitarist Ido Bukelman has developed a highly idiosyncratic style since releasing his first solo album, City Tail (OutNow, 2009). At that time, he tended to reference saxophonist Ornette Coleman's harmolidics, guitarist Pat Metheny's clean melodic lines and guitarist Jimi Hendrix's pyrotechnics. After working closely with Israreli sax players Albert Beger and Yoni Kertzmer, Bukelman began to focus on solo acoustic guitar, now influenced by experimental, conceptual guitarists such Derek Bailey and Bill Orcutt. These two solo ...

187

Live Review

Guinness Cork Jazz Festival: Cork, Ireland October 28-31, 2011

by Ian McLaren
November 12, 2011

Guinness Cork Jazz Festival 2011Cork, IrelandOctober 28-31, 2011One of the few nice things about October is the pleasure of returning to Cork, the perfect city for a jazz festival, and being met by that great Irish hospitality. Arriving at the airport, all shiny and modern, and wondering how to get into town, suddenly Michael Wallis appears. Wallis has been there for the last couple of years--not planned, you understand--but there all the same and prepared to whisk ...

Album Review

Tom McDermott / Evan Christopher: Almost Native

Read "Almost Native" reviewed by Louis Heckheimer

by Louis Heckheimer
November 12, 2011

Avant-garde art has been described as seeking innovation through experimentation, preferring novelty to formula and defying existing convention. The term “avant-garde traditionalism" could be a way to describe the music of New Orleans pianist Tom McDermott. Although it is rooted in the traditions of his adopted city, he pushes boundaries with his quirky compositions and interest in eclectic styles, such as Brazilian choro, McDermott, active there since 1984, is not as well known outside of New Orleans as he deserves ...

126

Album Review

Yo-Yo Ma / Stuart Duncan / Edgar Meyer / Chris Thile: The Goat Rodeo Sessions

Read "The Goat Rodeo Sessions" reviewed by Lawrence Peryer

by Lawrence Peryer
November 12, 2011

The Goat Rodeo Sessions is the perhaps not-so-unlikely collaboration between mandolinist Chris Thile, bassist Edgar Meyer, fiddle player Stuart Duncan and ubiquitous cellist Yo-Yo Ma. These four master musicians have together made some of the most lyrical and captivating music of 2011. As expected, the playing is superlative. The compositions were born of group improvisations but, while each musician is given ample room to shine, it is when they are truly playing together that the real drama ...

Album Review

Enrico Rava Quintet: Tribe

by Greg Simmons
November 12, 2011

Italian trumpet virtuoso Enrico Rava masters improvised atmospheric landscapes on Tribe. His thick, dark horn quests for firm structure and often, not finding anything solid, rolls back and forth over the rhythm section as it collaboratively meanders through the soundscape. Being drawn into the adventure is almost irresistible. “Amnesia" sets the expectation that this will be an exploratory affair, with the horns washing over the rolling arpeggios of the piano and arrhythmic bass and drum lines. Slow and ...

196

Film Review

Various Artists: The New Universe Music Festival 2010

by Ian Patterson
November 11, 2011

Various ArtistsThe New Universe Music Festival 2010Abstract Logix2011 Independent label Abstract Logix has come a long way since its tentative beginnings half a decade or so ago. Just when everybody thought--or hoped--that fusion was dead, Souvik Dutta's label has championed an exciting new wave of plugged-in virtuosity, and created a stable of outstanding musicians whose music defies simple categorization This double DVD--recorded at the New Universe Music Festival in Raleigh, North Carolina ...

144

Album Review

Christian McBride: Conversations With Christian

Read "Conversations With Christian" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
November 11, 2011

Plenty of ink has been spilled by those espousing their opinions on the art of the trio, but the duo format doesn't get its due nearly as often--either in print or on record. The trio format allows for various permutations in musical interaction, but pairing two artists together is all about direct, head-to-head conversation, and bassist Christian McBride knows a thing or two about this. While McBride has made a name for himself as a go-to bassist for all occasions ...

254

Extended Analysis

Global Noize: A Prayer For The Planet

by Jeff Winbush
November 11, 2011

Global Noize A Prayer For The Planet Lightyear/EMI 2011 Global Noize isn't simply a rather unconventional band. It's also a high concept on a mission. Take a musician with plenty of experience making jazz and pop music (keyboardist Jason Miles), mix in a turntablist (DJ Logic, who knows his way around hip hop and funk after gigging with Vernon Reid, Don Byron and ?uestlove); add a vocalist from Bombay, India (Falguni Shah a.k.a. Falu) ...

193

Album Review

Slumgum: Quardboard Flavored Fiber

Read "Quardboard Flavored Fiber" reviewed by Dave Wayne

by Dave Wayne
November 11, 2011

While it's true that a really great band is capable of expanding its listeners' musical vocabularies, it turns out that this LA-based quartet's name is also a vocabulary-builder in the literal sense. Slumgum is actually a real word that refers to the waste products from beekeeping operations. Those with the good fortune to hear either of Slumgum's recordings (Quardboard Flavored Fiber is the band's second) or catch the band live stand the chance of obtaining a mind-expanding double-whammy. This quartet ...

160

Album Review

Asian Jazz All-Stars Power Quartet: Live at the Living Room Jazz Festival, Bangkok

Read "Live at the Living Room Jazz Festival, Bangkok" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
November 11, 2011

The name says it all; four of Asia's leading jazz musicians--Singaporean pianist/organist Jeremy Monteiro, Philippine saxophonist Tots Tolentino, Hong Kong guitarist Eugene Pao and Thai drummer, Hong Chanutr Techatana-nan--combine to produce a powerful, electro-acoustic jazz fusion which draws inspiration from the Larry Goldings/Peter Bernstein/Bill Stewart trio. Recorded at the Living Room, Bangkok during a month-long jazz festival in June 2011 to celebrate the venue's tenth anniversary, this recording captures the quartet in exuberant mood. After thirty years ...