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.

Take Five With...

Take Five With Frank Giasullo

by AAJ Staff
September 24, 2011

Meet Frank Giasullo: The Frank Giasullo Quartet has created a distinctive sound, enhanced by its strong repertoire of original compositions by Frank Giasullo. Giasullo is a classically trained jazz player but his piano playing and the music he writes comes as much out of his feeling for gospel, folk, and blues as his classical and jazz background. These influences give his music a rare naturalness and ease with which listeners instantly identify, yet it also ...

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Album Review

Agusti Fernandez: El Laberint de la Memoria

Read "El Laberint de la Memoria" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
September 24, 2011

An improviser's take on 20th century Spanish classical music might seem like odd subject matter for a worldclass free jazz pianist like Agustí Fernández, but El Laberint de la Memòria ("The Labyrinth of Memory") testifies to the artist's imagination and facility. In addition to being a member of several of Evan Parker's ensembles, recent sessions by the mega-talented Fernández's have included Joe Morris' Ambrosia (Riti, 2011), Peter Evans and Mats Gustafsson's Kopros Lithos (Multikulti, 2011) and, with the ...

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Album Review

Jake Hertzog: Evolution

Read "Evolution" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
September 24, 2011

Guitarist Jake Hertzog's previous recordings as leader, Chromatosphere (That's Out, 2009) and Patterns (Buckyball, 2010) created a stir, with reviewers comparing his talent to just about every jazz and rock guitarist who's ever been described as a legend, from the 1940s on. What this hints rather broadly at is Hertzog's cross-generational approach and stylistic variation which define his music, though he's essentially a modernist. The effusion of comparisons has, perhaps, heaped heavy expectations on both the guitarist--still only 25--and listener, ...

Album Review

Patrick Cornelius: Maybe Steps

Read "Maybe Steps" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
September 24, 2011

Maybe Steps is alto saxophonist Patrick Cornelius' third album, and his first for the excellent Los Angeles-based Posi-Tone Records. He's joined by the talented rhythm section of pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Peter Slavov and drummer Kendrick Scott in a graceful and melodically strong performance, mostly of his original tunes. Cornelius' compositions swing gracefully, with seemingly effortless ease on the part of all of the musicians. “Maybe Steps" typifies this relaxed groove; the tune also appears on Cornelius' ...

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Take Five With...

Take Five With Lauren Henderson

by AAJ Staff
September 24, 2011

Meet Lauren Henderson:Lauren Henderson is a Massachusetts-born singer and songwriter. With eclectic vocal influences and a style that spreads across genres, she produces a distinct yet versatile sound. Her diverse musical background is rooted in jazz and expands to rhythm and blues, Latin, soul, gospel, classical, fusion, neo-soul, pop, Nuevo-flamenco and many other forms. Beginning piano lessons at the age of seven, and singing in church and school choirs has helped mold her to the musician she is ...

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Live Review

Curacao North Sea Jazz Festival: Sept. 2-3, 2011

by R.J. DeLuke
September 23, 2011

Curacao North Sea Jazz FestivalWorld Trade CenterCuracaoSept. 2-3, 2011 The island of Curacao, in the Caribbean Sea, is an exotic place of sun and fun, and maybe the last place to expect a jazz festival. Then again, why not? Jazz music is all over the world, and festivals are global. So now there's one on this part of the globe, part of what was once The Netherlands Antilles, just about 38 miles north of ...

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Album Review

Stanley Jordan: Friends

Read "Friends" reviewed by David Rickert

by David Rickert
September 23, 2011

Stanley Jordan's breakthrough recording, Magic Touch (Blue Note, 1985), was aptly named; the guitarist's two-handed tapping technique seemed to be achieved through sorcery rather than practice. People had used tapping before, but never to the level that Jordan did--comping and soloing at the same time, and giving the illusions of two guitarists playing at once. Those who have never seen it should view the YouTube clip below, to get their bearings on the guitarist's idiosyncratic style.However, virtuosity does ...

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On the Road With...

Lenny White and RTF IV: Switzerland, France and Italy

by Carl L. Hager
September 23, 2011

Intro | #2 | #3 | #4 [Editor's Note: Lenny White and his fellow jazz/rockers have already returned home to the States, and picked up an opening act, Dweezil Zappa and his crack outfit, Zappa Plays Zappa. After touring the East Coast and Midwest, they have been lighting up the Left Coast. Today's installment was filed as RTF IV were wrapping up in Europe. There's big news here of a DVD-in-progress, plus White's interesting take on the ...

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Album Review

Brian Hughes: Fast Train To A Quiet Place

Read "Fast Train To A Quiet Place" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
September 23, 2011

Guitarist Brian Hughes might not consider comparisons between Fast Train To A Quiet Place and early Pat Metheny Group albums all that flattering, but he should. When Metheny was stretching the boundaries of jazz guitar with his recordings for the ECM label, he took the instrument places it had never been before. Metheny has moved on to conquer new musical frontiers, but Hughes, who seems to have been listening closely to Pat Metheny Group (ECM, 1978) American Garage (ECM, 1980) ...

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Contributor News

Kickin' it Up a Notch!

by Michael Ricci
September 23, 2011

Dear fellow contributor, We've had our mojo workin' since July as we continue to improve All About Jazz and roll out new features; we're also looking for two new editors to support our staff. Please read on for the latest...Index 1. Help Wanted: Take Five/iTunes Playlist Editor 2. Help Wanted: CD Review Editor3. Looking for CDs to Review?4. Improvements: A Bunch5. James Nadal: Wears ...