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.

121

Live Review

Gary Burton Quartet: New York, NY, September 21, 2011

by Dan Bilawsky
September 30, 2011

Gary Burton QuartetBlue NoteNew York, NYSeptember, 21, 2011 Lionel Hampton carved out a place for the vibraphone in a swing setting, and Milt Jackson brought the instrument into bop, but Gary Burton remains the guru and guiding light in virtually every other aspect for vibraphonists and fans the world over. As a visionary educator, he helped to make Berklee the place to go for aspiring jazzers, and as a performer, he's redefined the very ...

171

Album Review

Tierney Sutton: American Road

Read "American Road" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
September 30, 2011

While Tierney Sutton's oeuvre is, essentially, a survey of American music in all of its glory, the shades of red, white and blue that pop up on American Road are far more vivid than any that have appeared in her work before. Sutton and her musical soul mates, who've been with her for nearly two decades, don't turn their backs on what they're known for here, but dig deeper to explore hymns, spirituals, folk songs and patriotic music in inimitable ...

205

Reassessing

Free Jazz

by C. Michael Bailey
September 30, 2011

Ornette Coleman Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation by the Ornette Coleman Double Quartet Atlantic 1961 Alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman's masterpiece, Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation by the Ornette Coleman Double Quartet, is one of the hinges of jazz evolution. As a musical hinge, Free Jazz, heard from this side of its development, is a bit of an anticlimax compared with the two-label, five album prelude to this point: Something Else!!!! (Contemporary, ...

241

Album Review

Westchester Jazz Orchestra: Maiden Voyage Suite

Read "Maiden Voyage Suite" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
September 30, 2011

Maiden Voyage (Blue Note, 1965) was a classic quintet recording from pianist Herbie Hancock, a concept album with the sea as the theme. With a clear view in hindsight, The Westchester Jazz Orchestra's re-imagination of that timeless music with Maiden Voyage Suite seems a natural. The sound of the original had oceanic ebb and flow, from gentle and tidal to turbulent and stormy, and the added harmonics of the multiple brass and reeds enhances this atmospheric.At the time ...

187

Album Review

Charles Lloyd / Maria Farantouri: Athens Concert

Read "Athens Concert" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
September 30, 2011

What might on the surface appear as a meeting of disparate minds--jazz with Byzantine airs--ignores the fact that multi-reed/woodwind player Charles Lloyd has been embracing the music of the world for half a century with singular conviction and grace. Greek classical singer Maria Farantouri is herself a musical adventurer and risk taker; over the course of fifty years, she has collaborated with guitarist John Williams, Turkish composer Zulfu Livaneli, Cuban guitarist/composer Leo Brouwer, electronic legend Vangelis and saxophonist Jan Garbarek. ...

211

Album Review

Mogwai: Earth Division EP

Read "Earth Division EP" reviewed by Kevin Davis

by Kevin Davis
September 30, 2011

Even when tending to the minimalistic, the music of Scottish post-rock instrumentalists Mogwai has always been about grandeur--atmospheric swells of guitars and keyboards stacked relentlessly atop each other in suffocating layers, jarring transitions from near-silent white noise to frightening explosions of high-decibel distortion. In the fourteen years since the release of its debut Young Team (Chemikal Underground, 1997), Mogwai has carved out a comfortable niche for itself between these two extremes, perfecting a variation on alternative rock's loud-soft dynamic that ...

319

Album Review

Antonio Adolfo: Chora Baiao

Read "Chora Baiao" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
September 30, 2011

Chora Baiao (Cry, Baiao) explores the influences of European dances, classical music (choro) and the Moorish-flavored musical environment of the Iberian Peninsula (baiao), on Brazilian music in a light and melody-rich interpretation from Brazilian master Antonio Adolfo. An important composer, musician and exponent of the genre, the pianist is also an educator by profession, touching on Brazilian, jazz and even pop music at the Antonio Adolfo School of Music in Hollywood, FL, an experimental Brazilian music school.Choro and ...

181

Book Review

William Parker: Conversations

by Steve Dalachinsky
September 30, 2011

Conversations William Parker, Jacques Bisceglia, Ed Hazell Hardcover; 445 pages Rogueart 2011 Not since drummer Art Taylor's Notes and Tones (Da Capo, 1993)--the book which bassist William Parker says inspired him to undertake this project--has there been a book of interviews so vital, so down to earth and so personal. What we have here are 34 interviews conducted by Parker over approximately the last decade, 30 of which are with so-called free ...

160

Album Review

Ron Westray / Thomas Heflin: Live from Austin

Read "Live from Austin" reviewed by Josep Pedro

by Josep Pedro
September 29, 2011

A live recording is always a great chance to experience some of the core principles of jazz. Improvisation and spontaneity arise when musicians feel free and comfortable with the tunes and arrangements. A collaborative effort between trombonist Ron Westray and trumpeter Thomas Heflin, Live from Austin was recorded in 2009 at the Elephant Room, one of the few jazz venues in the Texas capital, while both musicians were involved with the University of Texas. This recording not ...

167

Live Review

Matthew Shipp Quartet with Paul Dunmall: London, September 8, 2011

by John Sharpe
September 29, 2011

Matthew Shipp Quartet with Paul DunmallThe VortexLondonSeptember 8, 2011 For a growing number of American improvisers, London is becoming a home away from home. Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith is on record as saying how much he enjoys communing with the capital's finest, and reedmen Ken Vandermark and Joe McPhee have both become regular visitors over the last three years. But at the forefront of the trend is pianist Matthew Shipp, thanks to his connection ...