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.

247

Album Review

Morton Feldman: Neither

Read "Neither" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
August 7, 2011

Neither is not an opera in any sense of the conventionally accepted form. There is no story, a dramatis personae of just one; no mise-en-scène... and no libretto; just 87 words by the poet and playwright, Samuel Beckett, set down on a page as if it were poetry. While there is a distinct drama in the presentation of the words and music, the absence of theater is palpable. However, there is an almighty intensity that arises from the deeply emotional ...

326

Album Review

Evan Parker & konstruKt: Live at Akbank Jazz Festival

Read "Live at Akbank Jazz Festival" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
August 6, 2011

The Akbank Jazz Festival, which is held annually across several venues in Istanbul, Turkey, gives local acts the opportunity to play with international musicians. The venue lures some big names, with the Sun Ra Arkestra, John Surman, the Count Basie Orchestra and Evan Parker among those who have performed in the past. konstruKt performed with Peter Brötzmann in 2008 and with Bik, Bent and Braam the following year. They wanted to play with Parker. who agreed to their request. and ...

337

Album Review

Michel Camilo: Mano A Mano

Read "Mano A Mano" reviewed by Larry Taylor

by Larry Taylor
August 6, 2011

With Mano A Mano, Michel Camilo goes hands-to-hands in spirited exchange with conguero Giovanni Hidalgo, surely hearkening back to the pianist's Dominican/Afro-Cuban roots. This approach results in the great pianist tempering his style. His flamboyant virtuosity is mostly restrained; here, he is more subdued than bombastic. His playing, though, is just as effective, but in a different way. Camilo points out in press notes that Hidalgo plays up to six tuned congas on the CD, resulting in ...

193

New York Beat

The Tierney Sutton Band: New York City, July 24, 2011

by Nick Catalano
August 6, 2011

Tierney Sutton Band Dizzy's Club Coca Cola New York City, NY July 24, 2011 Fresh from conquests in Geneva, The Tierney Sutton Band roared into town in the midst of a record New York heat wave and revealed more of its unique trademark arrangements. The band's continuing pattern of standard song deconstruction continues to pay large dividends as it cunningly finds subtle new ways to interpret established composers. At this outing Gershwin, Berlin, Mancini, ...

158

Album Review

Susana Santos Silva: Devil's Dress

Read "Devil's Dress" reviewed by Daniel Lehner

by Daniel Lehner
August 6, 2011

The Portuguese big band Orquestra Jazz De Matisinhos (OJM) has played engagements and recorded albums with big names like Lee Konitz and Kurt Rosenwinkel. One of its trumpeters, Susana Santos Silva, has gathered four other members of the ensemble for her debut album, Devil's Dress. As with the OJM, Silva's music acts as a testing ground for challenges and concepts in composition and improvisation, scaled down to the intimate confines of a quintet setting. Much of the ...

157

Live Review

Styx / Yes: Wantagh, NY, July 11, 2011

by Mike Perciaccante
August 6, 2011

Styx and Yes, with special guest Shane Alexander 2011 Nikon at Jones Beach Concert Series Wantagh, New York July 11, 2011The 2011 co-headlining Styx and Yes Progressive Tour rolled into Long Island, NY's Jones Beach Amphitheater on a windy July evening. Coming at the end of an exceedingly hot and humid day, the cool breezes that blew through the outdoor venue were just as welcome as the concert itself. Shane Alexander, a singer/songwriter/guitarist ...

240

Take Five With...

Take Five With Christian Grimshei

by AAJ Staff
August 6, 2011

Meet Christian Grimshei: I started out as a techno DJ in the '90s. I worked on several projects with Erik Hillestad from Kirkelig Kulturverksted (KKV) in Norway, including Acid Queen: Tranzania (1997). Then I got very sick and didn't make music for 10 years. I studied the history of music during this time. I then stated the label Rabiangrecords.com, which is for electronic music with jazz and classical influences. Instrument(s): Piano, electronics.Teachers ...

330

Album Review

John Cage: Ryoanji

Read "Ryoanji" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
August 6, 2011

In the vivid imagination of John Cage, a perfect storm of ideas was always at work. And when the composer's mind opened up to the exactitude of spatial geometry and the asymmetrical balance of nature, magical things happened in the world of music. One of these was Ryoanji, a singularly beautiful work inspired by a visit to a 15th Century, eponymous Zen garden. Cage visited Ryoanji (Peaceful Dragon) in 1962, and the garden had a profound and transformative effect on ...

126

From Far and Wide

Ahmad Jamal's Identity Crisis

by Fradley Garner
August 6, 2011

Ahmad Jamal's Identity CrisisAhmad Jamal aterrorist? Surely not the renowned American pianist who's given hundreds of concerts over the last half century. So it was puzzling why the $10,000 that the Festival da Jazz in Moritz, Switzerland ordered paid to Jamal in advance of his July 16 appearance, was promptly frozen by U.S. authorities. The artist's management insisted it was a case of mistaken identity. Jamal Ahmad Mohammad Al Badawi, a convicted Yemeni on the FBI most-wanted list ...

260

Extended Analysis

Ferdinand Povel & Pete Christlieb: Live at the Amsterdam Bimhuis

by Jack Bowers
August 5, 2011

Ferdinand Povel & Pete Christlieb with the Rein de Graaff TrioLive at the Amsterdam BimhuisTimeless Records2011 Put two of the world's outstanding tenor saxophonists together on the same stage, add a marvelously supple and supportive rhythm section, and what you have is a night to remember and appreciate for years to come--and for those who weren't lucky enough to be at the Amsterdam Bimhuis on that memorable evening in November 2008, ...