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.

202

Album Review

Gonzalo Rubalcaba: Fe...Faith

Read "Fe...Faith" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
September 12, 2011

Cuban-born/Miami-based pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba boasts a discography of some 25 albums, including a dozen discs for the esteemed Blue Note label. Having established star status for himself with numerous Grammy nominations and two wins, Rubalcaba steps out with the first release on his independent 5Passion label, Fe...Faith.Over the course of his career, Rubalcaba has worked with some of the best modern jazz players, including Joe Lovano, Michael Brecker, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, but introduces his new record company ...

195

Album Review

Roberto Magris Quintet: Morgan Rewind: A Tribute to Lee Morgan Vol. 1

Read "Morgan Rewind: A Tribute to Lee Morgan Vol. 1" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
September 12, 2011

It isn't always easy paying tribute to a legend, but pianist Roberto Magris does it quite successfully on this tip of the hat to Lee Morgan, one of the defining figures of hard bop. Magris succeeds because he has a trumpeter, in Brandon Lee, who is not afraid of being adventurous, and a more than adept alto saxophonist in Logan Richardson, The pianist, as he has shown, is comfortable in any frame, playing with virtuosity, finesse and clear vision.

145

Extended Analysis

Eddie Vedder: Ukulele Songs

by Kevin Davis
September 11, 2011

Eddie Vedder Ukulele Songs Monkey Wrench 2011 The ballad “More Than You Know" was written by Vincent Youmans, Billy Rose and Edward Eliscu in 1929, a souvenir from a long gone era that a romantic might be tempted to posit represented “simpler times." Insofar as it's unlikely that anyone reading this remembers much about 1929, it may be difficult to ascertain the accuracy of that familiar maxim; while it seems reasonable that earlier generations of ...

141

Album Review

William Hooker: Crossing Points

Read "Crossing Points" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
September 11, 2011

After his well-received Earth's Orbit (No Business Records, 2010), drummer/composer William Hooker raids the archives for Crossing Points, drawn from a 1992 New York City date with saxophonist Thomas Chapin. The drummer has straddled the free jazz and noise camps, but here almost merges the two in a 76-minute program where the energy levels barely move out of the red. Chapin, whose early death from leukemia in 1998, at the age of 40, thwarted a career that sought to gloriously ...

181

Album Review

Sonny Rollins: Road Shows, Vol. 2

Read "Road Shows, Vol. 2" reviewed by Greg Simmons

by Greg Simmons
September 11, 2011

The Beacon Theatre in New York holds 2,700 people, and--much like fans claiming to have seen the final game of the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field--there may already be 20,000 people who swear they were there for Sonny Rollins' 80th Birthday performance. At 80 years old, Rollins is still a damn good tenor saxophonist, and Roadshows Volume 2 captures terrific performances from three 2010 live dates, with a heavy emphasis on that birthday party and some A-list guests.

329

Album Review

Deep Blue Organ Trio: Wonderful!

Read "Wonderful!" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
September 11, 2011

Since the 1960s, Stevie Wonder's “My Cheri Amour" has remained one of the most memorable love songs in popular music. In collaboration with Motown songwriters Henry Cosby and Sylvia Moy, the hit song was originally titled “Oh My Marcia"--at the time, a tender ode to Wonder's girlfriend in his adolescent years. The two broke up, the song underwent a name change, and the rest is history. The Deep Blue Organ Trio offers its own heartfelt rendition of ...

160

Mix Tape

New Jazz & World Music: 2011

by Michael Simon
September 11, 2011

Some of the most creative jazz and world music artists on the scene right now that deserve wider recognition. TrackNameTimeArtistAlbum1Sangre Mandinga6:2Alex WilsonMali Latino2Bamako 20005:29Alex WilsonMali Latino3Choro6:16Banda Jazz Sinfonica de Diademainterpreta Noel Rosa4Galactic Panama5:4Danilo PérezProvidencia5Providencia5:8Danilo PérezProvidencia6Firi Na Gron'6:18FrafraSoundBlack,Dutch & More7Guess What?6:24FrafraSoundBlack,Dutch & More8Blen Blen Blen3:5Gerardo RosalesGerardo Rosales and his Afro Cuban Jazz Quintet “Chano Pozo's Music"9Straight, No Chaser4:26Jorge GlemLa Siembra del Cuatro10Bily3:19Jorge GlemLa Siembra del Cuatro11Serendipity6:41Leo BlancoAfrica Latina12Afro East4:43Leo BlancoAfrica Latina131 Si S-Au Iubit8:1Modern Balkan Jazz OrchestraPrimavara Master ...

253

Album Review

Kim Pensyl & Phil DeGreg: Melodious Monk

Read "Melodious Monk" reviewed by Greg Simmons

by Greg Simmons
September 10, 2011

At some point or another, it seems, every jazz musician takes up the challenge of interpreting Thelonious Monk. It must be an unbearable temptation to try to bring some perceived new angle to such a distinct set of compositions, especially when those compositions are so inextricably intertwined with Monk's odd playing style. As if responding to that ancient query about why someone would climb Mount Everest, with the inevitable “because it's there," trumpeter Kim Pensyl and his partner, pianist Phil ...

188

Live Review

Bob Sheppard Quartet: Half Moon Bay, CA, August 7, 2011

by Bill Leikam
September 10, 2011

Bob Sheppard QuartetDouglas Beach HouseHalf Moon Bay, CaliforniaAugust 7, 2011 Gradually, the Douglas Beach House (aka Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society) filled with people coming in for a jazz treat for that Sunday afternoon. On the lineup was Bob Sheppard on tenor sax, flute, and soprano sax, Larry Koonse on guitar (Bob Brookmeyer, Terry Gibbs, Wayne Marsh, Mel Torme), Jeff D' Angelo (Dane Donohue, Jeff Tyzik, Bill Cunliffe, Bob Hamilton) on stand-up bass and ...

188

New York Beat

Computer Music, Part 1

by Nick Catalano
September 10, 2011

A couple of years ago I wrote a review about Wallace Roney at Joe's Pub. Roney has been known as a trumpeter who frequently seeks cutting-edge developments in music, and his recordings usually contain something new. On this night, Roney had hired a turntablist for his bandstand aggregation, and It was to be the first time I was to hear turntable scratchings in a jazz group. For a while, at the millennium turn, there was a predictable ...