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.

272

Album Review

Adam Linson: Figures and Grounds

Read "Figures and Grounds" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
August 9, 2011

The personnel of double-bassist Adam Linson's System Quartet is so good that it sets the juices flowing even before a note of music has been heard. Figures and Grounds was recorded in January 2008, when Linson still lived in Berlin, and he took full advantage of his adopted city's resources, recruiting trumpeter Axel Dörner, bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall plus expat English drummer Paul Lytton. Linson says that his role in bringing this group together was to provide a ...

230

Mr. P.C.'s Guide to Jazz Etiquette and Bandstand Decorum

August 2011

by Mr. P.C.
August 9, 2011

Dear Mr. P.C.: I've been a professional jazz pianist for more than 20 years and have enjoyed many healthy, long-term relationships with musicians playing other instruments. Recently I played my first gig with another pianist, and I really enjoyed it and can't stop thinking about it. Does this make me gay? Bi-Instrumentally Curious

Dear BIC: Of course not! Think about it: Saxophonists play with one another all the time. Yet they multiply like ...

319

Album Review

The Young Lizards: Our Modern Lifestyle

Read "Our Modern Lifestyle" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 9, 2011

The organ trio, once a focal point of soul-drenched jazz in the heyday of such elder statesmen as Jimmy Smith, Richard Groove" Holmes, Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Charles Earland, Don Patterson and others, hasn't been nearly as prominent in recent years as the ranks of virtuosic organists (Joey DeFrancesco notwithstanding) have thinned. Nevertheless, the organ remains a persuasive jazz instrument, capable of creating uncommon qualities and textures that are implausible in its absence. When a horn is added, as ...

253

Take Five With...

Take Five With Brian McCarthy

by AAJ Staff
August 9, 2011

Meet Brian McCarthy: A staple of the ongoing music scene from Vermont to New York, equally comfortable in modern jazz settings, Latin ensembles, and funk outfits. Brian is a first-rate saxophonist, arranger, and composer currently performing with Ray Vega's Quintet and the Grippo Funk Band. He has arranged for jazz heavyweights Kenny Garrett and Mulgrew Miller. He has performed with the Clark Terry Big Band and recorded with Mike Gordon, while always finding time in his schedule to ...

257

Album Review

Soft Machine: Tales of Taliesin: The EMI Years Anthology 1975-1981

Read "Tales of Taliesin: The EMI Years Anthology 1975-1981" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
August 9, 2011

With the release of Bundles (Harvest, 1975), Soft Machine moved more definitively into the riff-based fusion territory that keyboardist/reed man Karl Jenkins had begun pushing the band since his arrival on Six (Sony, 1973). With reeds becoming increasingly less dominant, and the group's only remaining founding member, keyboardist Mike Ratledge, relegated to a backline position, this incarnation--distanced completely from the minimalist-informed, free jazz-centric, but still high volume and rock-edged classic quartet that recorded albums like the seminal Third (Sony, 1970)--truly ...

216

Album Review

Dominick Farinacci: Dawn Of Goodbye

Read "Dawn Of Goodbye" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 9, 2011

After recording seven CDs for release in Japan, Julliard-trained trumpeter Dominick Farinacci finally dove into the U.S. music market with Lovers, Tales & Dances (Koch 2009). While that album found some success, both commercially and artistically, it might not have presented a true picture of Farinacci's artistry and personality. The participation of an all-star cast, an international and broad range of songs, and the presence of strings, turned it into a finely polished affair, but the album found Farinacci reaching ...

313

Interview

Jason Reolon: Raising the Bar

by Seton Hawkins
August 9, 2011

South Africa may well be in the midst of its third jazz renaissance. While the late 1950s saw the rise of legendary artists such as Kippie Moeketsi, Abdullah Ibrahim, and Philip Tabane, the early 1990s marked the emergence of trailblazers Moses Taiwa Molelekwa and Zim Ngqawana. The past five years have born witness to a surge of local jazz talent, as charismatic young musicians draw upon a wide range of inspirations and set a new precedent for instrumental prowess and ...

262

Album Review

Ralph Peterson's Unity Project: Outer Reaches

Read "Outer Reaches" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
August 8, 2011

To build the kind of staying power that keeps fans coming back for more, you've got to have consistency. In a jazz world where artists are expected to be self-reliant when it comes to promotion, dropping out for more than half a decade can have some serious implications. Emerging loudly as part of 1980s young lion supergroup Out of the Blue, drummer Ralph Peterson has since built a significant discography with his instrumentally intriguing Fo'Tet, last heard on Fo'Tet Augmented ...

224

Album Review

Freddie Hubbard: Pinnacle

Read "Pinnacle" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 8, 2011

Pinnacle is a testament to the trumpet prowess of the one and only Freddie Hubbard, but it's also a salute to the San Francisco-based jazz club that played host to Hubbard on numerous occasions. Todd Barkan's Keystone Korner was ground zero for some of the best live jazz on the West Coast during its eleven-year lifespan, and this set of music, along with Jaki Byard's Sunshine Of My Soul: Live At The Keystone Korner (HighNote, 2007), Mary Lou Williams Live ...

192

Multiple Reviews

Cuong Vu: Cooking in Seattle

by Ian Patterson
August 8, 2011

Returning to home town Seattle after 15 years on the east coast has been a good move for trumpeter Cuong Vu judging by the outstanding music on these three CDs and the movement he has largely inspired in Seattle's young creative musicians. Bassist Luke Bergman is a constant on these recordings, adding new depth to Vu's 4-Tet on the uniquely atmospheric live recording Leaps of Faith, and wonderful grooves to Agogic, the self-titled debut of an exciting quartet. A little ...