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.

218

Album Review

Rich Pellegrin Quintet: Three-Part Odyssey

Read "Three-Part Odyssey" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
August 11, 2011

What a strange, compelling, often circuitous trip Three-Part Odyssey is. Pianist/composer/bandleader Rich Pellegrin has collected a youthful quintet of Seattle's boldest and most energetic musicians for his debut CD--73 minutes of audacious grooves inside a set of freewheeling compositions that showcase each band member's individual virtuosic prowess without abandoning the collective mood.Along with the leader, three of the quintet's members contribute to the songwriting, starting off with trumpeter R. Scott Morning's labyrinthine “Part 1: Nothing Comes To Mind," ...

140

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith's Organic: Heart's Reflections

Read "Heart's Reflections" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
August 11, 2011

The creative arc of Wadada Leo Smith describes a man of many talents. He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) before forming the Creative Construction Company with Anthony Braxton and Leroy Jenkins. He has organized music into rhythm units and added a form of notation he called Akhreanvention. He plays several instruments, primarily the trumpet and flugelhorn. His instincts have also led to the formation of different groups to give voice to the ...

139

Album Review

Mik Keusen's Blau: Nalu

by Greg Simmons
August 11, 2011

Mik Keusen's Blau clearly articulates a musical vision. A typical jazz lineup--piano, bass, drums, and reeds--Nalu spawns music that is anything but typical. Instead, it is post-modern and ambient, with almost industrial rhythmic drive. Nalu is as far from the core of blues and standard-based jazz as Pluto is from the sun. Tightly composed with very limited improvisation, Nalu's core is it's deep bass lines, layered with concise melodic statements. Pianist Keusen has constructed his music deliberately: “Usually ...

239

Live Review

Montreux Jazz Festival: Montreux, Switzerland, July 3-5, 2011

by Phillip Woolever
August 10, 2011

Montreux Jazz FestivalMontreux, SwitzerlandJuly 3-5, 2011 The 45th Edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival included many iconic profiles, bonded in unique partnership, and rare as the sunset air. Those collaborated chords ensured Montreux remains at the pinnacle of performance packaging, as the festival continued a streak atop European “must see" musical destinations. The 2011 program retained a global eye on legends of jazz and other popular genres, while including more commercial (i.e.: younger ...

286

Album Review

Sean Nowell: Stockholm Swingin'

Read "Stockholm Swingin'" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 10, 2011

Tenor saxophonist Sean Nowell's third CD is an engaging set of music that was recorded live at the Glen Miller Café in Stockholm at the end of a fourteen-day tour through Sweden. Nowell's band mate in Travis Sullivan's Björkestra, drummer Joe Abba, and a solid crew of Swedish musicians help to flesh out this riveting set of music which, as the title implies, is built on, but not limited to, swinging selections. The program starts off with ...

154

Album Review

Mik Keusen's Blau: Nalu

by John Kelman
August 10, 2011

With the sudden appearance of pianist Nik Bärtsch and Stoa (ECM, 2006), a new musical paradigm emerged from Switzerland: a rigorous musical aesthetic combining post-Steve Reichian minimalism with funk and cross-cultural tinges of Japan and Indonesia. Bärtsch's music actually dates back to the early part of the millennium, but it was ECM's attention that gave the “Zen Funk / Ritual Groove Music" of Bärtsch's Ronin the opportunity to gain international acclaim, both critical and popular. Ongoing Monday ...

205

Take Five With...

Take Five With Jackson Evans

by AAJ Staff
August 10, 2011

Meet Jackson Evans: Based in Savannah, Georgia, Jackson is known throughout the southeast as an in-demand band leader, composer, arranger and accompanist. In addition to organizing several regional tours he has performed in concert series and festivals including an appearance as a featured guest at the Savannah Jazz Festival.Jackson holds a BM from Utah State University where, as an undergraduate student, he had the opportunity to teach beginning guitar courses. His reputation as a personable and ...

251

Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Rafale

Read "Rafale" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
August 10, 2011

It's no easy task keeping track of the bands under the baton of pianist Satoko Fujii. The prolific avant-garde artist from Japan leads numerous ensembles, including four distinct big bands and multiple quartets and trios, in addition to co-leading duo outings with her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, very notably on the marvelous Chun (Libra, 2008). She seems to put together at least one new ensemble per year, and in 2011 it's Kaze, a quartet featuring her musical soul mate Tamura, ...

151

Album Review

POING / Maja S.K. Ratkje: Wach auf!

Read "Wach auf!" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
August 10, 2011

Wach auf! (Wake up! in German) is only the third release by POING in its 12 years of activity, but what a remarkable achievement from a Norwegian trio whose repertoire encompasses compositions by pioneer minimalist composer Terry Riley, nuevo-tango composer Astor Piazzolla , political alt-rock band Rage Against The Machine, Russian songwriter Vladimir Vysotsky, Prince, Charles Mingus, and many more. This genre-bending trio decided, this time, to pay tribute to some of the iconic, socialist-tinged songs of ...

114

Dan's Den

Discovering Discover and Doing a Double-Header

by Dan Morgenstern
August 10, 2011

It took me only 27 years to discover the annual Discover Jazz Festival in Burlington, VT, but now, having attended part of the 28th, I must say it was about time! Burlington, where Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream was whipped up, is a charming college town. For 10 days in June, the festival dominates the community, featuring concerts by major artists and loads of free music performed outdoors at stages in the heart of town.The main drag is ...