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.

154

Album Review

Fritzel's New Orleans Jazz Band: Fritzel's New Orleans Jazz Band Volume Two

Read "Fritzel's New Orleans Jazz Band Volume Two" reviewed by Wade Luquet

by Wade Luquet
August 22, 2011

Coming off of the success of its first studio CD, Fritzel's Jazz Band delivers once again with its fifteen-song Volume Two. Fritzel's is the venerable forty year-old New Orleans jazz club, located in the 700 block of Bourbon Street that has established an international reputation for Dixieland jazz in a fun European-style bar setting. This CD includes many old chestnuts, including “Tiger Rag," “Ice Cream," “Rockin Chair" and “My Bucket Got A Hole In It." As is true of the ...

175

Album Review

Deep Blue Organ Trio: Wonderful!

Read "Wonderful!" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 22, 2011

When it came time for the SFJAZZ Collective to choose a composer to honor in their eighth season, they surprised a lot of people when they went with the one and only Stevie Wonder. While some likely view this decision as a statement that, after covering Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock and Horace Silver, the revered jazz composer well had run dry, those with a keen ear and a strong pulse know better. ...

184

Extended Analysis

Splashgirl: Pressure

by Chris May
August 22, 2011

Splashgirl Pressure Hubro 2011 This radiant album from Norwegian piano trio Splashgirl is unlike anything that came before it, except, in some measure, its immediate predecessor, Arbor (Hubro, 2009), whose trajectory it develops. Certainly, nothing quite like it has come out of central Europe or the US. An approximate comparative starting point would be the work of Australian trio The Necks, with which Splashgirl shares a fondness for quietness, pretty tunes, gently mesmerizing grooves ...

185

Album Review

Larry Vuckovich: Somethin' Special

Read "Somethin' Special" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
August 22, 2011

Pianist Larry Vuckovich made his recording debut as a leader with Blue Balkan (Inner City Records, 1980), although his playing career began in the '50s, after he arrived in the United States from his native Yugoslavia as a teenager. His recorded output as a leader has been relatively sparse--around a dozen albums--but he's carved out a successful career as a sideman, most notably in a 25-year relationship with singer Jon Hendricks. On Somethin' Special, Vuckovich and his ...

137

Album Review

Charlotte Hug: Slipway to Galaxies

Read "Slipway to Galaxies" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
August 22, 2011

On parts of her last Emanem release, Fine Extensions (2010)--a duo with cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm--in addition to playing her customary viola Charlotte Hug also used her voice. She sang in a quasi-operatic style as well as vocalizing, to produce eerie, other-worldly sounds, her voice combining with and complementing the strings to good effect. Now, on Slipway to Galaxies, Hug uses her voice for the first time on a solo recording. Recorded at the studio of Swiss radio DRS, ...

237

Interview

John Escreet: Music for This Age

by R.J. DeLuke
August 22, 2011

Looking forward--moving forward--is an essential quality to pianist John Escreet, a United Kingdom native who moved to the United States, specifically New York City, in 2008 to pursue an education at the Manhattan School of Music. So is achieving a unique sound and approach, both for artistic and practical reasons.Escreet, age 22 when he moved from England, has been playing music on the modern edge of jazz with artists like David Binney, Ambrose Akinmusire and Tyshawn Sorey--all people ...

169

Album Review

Les Doigts De L'Homme: 1910

by Bruce Lindsay
August 21, 2011

The French quartet Les Doigts de L'Homme plays gypsy jazz, inspired very directly by the work of Django Reinhardt, and like much of Reinhardt's own music 1910 swings. In fact, it swings like the clappers. Acoustic guitars, double-bass, and an occasional clarinet create a wave of musical energy, of sheer danceable fun, that would do justice to almost any electrically powered-up group or full-scale big band around. 1910 was the year of Django Reinhardt's birth. The title ...

221

Live Review

Rich Perry: Nyack, NY, July 24, 2011

by David A. Orthmann
August 21, 2011

Rich PerryOlive'sNyack, NYJuly 24, 2011 The opening night of Nyack Jazz Week 2011, an annual event which encompassed a variety of acts and venues, kicked off at Olive's with a set by tenor saxophonist Rich Perry. Best known for his tenure with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, Perry's live dates as a leader are few and far between. Eighteen recordings on the SteepleChase label testify to ...

191

Album Review

Ken Fowser / Behn Gillece: Duotone

by Dan Bilawsky
August 21, 2011

"Duotone" is a term that belongs to the world of photography, but it makes perfect sense when applied to this recording. Tenor saxophonist Ken Fowser and vibraphonist Behn Gillece superimpose their tonal colors and personalities against one another, to create an aural portrait that's both traditional and modern. While the supporting personnel have changed on each of their three Posi-Tone dates, the basic template by which their music is designed remains, essentially, the same. On each album, ...

294

Extended Analysis

Miguel Zenon: Alma Adentro - The Puerto Rican Songbook

by Dan Bilawsky
August 21, 2011

Miguel ZenonAlma Adentro: The Puerto Rican SongbookMarsalis Music2011 When so-called “Latin jazz" comes up in conversation, music or musicians connected to Cuba or Brazil are usually the topic of conversation. While it's true that Afro-Cuban stylings, bossa nova beats and sizzling samba numbers seem to dominate in this umbrella category, they're only the tip of the iceberg that is the music of Latin America. Thankfully, some important jazz musicians are helping ...