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.

267

From Far and Wide

A Merger In Jazz Education

by Ed Hamilton
July 23, 2011

A musical merger of higher education has been established at the last university to include jazz into their curriculum--UCLA. Jazz Studies, under Director/guitarist Dr. Kenny Burrell, The Herb Alpert School of Music , and the Thelonious Monk Institute, guided by Herbie Hancock, have all joined jazztistical bonds in providing not only jazz but all-around musical learning for all students seeking the realms of higher educational degrees in music.Jazz education was brought to UCLA when Burrell started teaching “Ellingtonia," ...

334

Live Review

Kongsberg Jazz Festival, July 6-9, 2011

by Josef Woodard
July 22, 2011

Kongsberg Jazz FestivalKongsberg, NorwayJuly 6-9, 2011 By now, it's a self-evident truth that Norway has become something of a hot spot on the global jazz map... again. This is hardly a late-breaking news sensation, given the long arc of jazz lore and fanaticism and support systems in place in this Scandinavian corner, not only in the care and feeding of its own jazz musicians but also the strength of the Norwegian festival scene. Molde celebrated its ...

326

Album Review

Jacob Karlzon: The Big Picture

Read "The Big Picture" reviewed by Jack Huntley

by Jack Huntley
July 22, 2011

There is a crisp lyricism to even the most penetrating tracks on Jacob Karlzon 3's The Big Picture that propels the music from the somber to the majestic with equal vitality. Karlzon's nuanced keyboards seamlessly move from spacious repeating themes to intense flurries of solos, all the while supported by Hans Andersson's nimble bass and Jonas Holgersson's plush percussion. This is truly a group recording, with each member providing to a whole, which adds up to a prolific musical experience. ...

362

Extended Analysis

Denny Zeitlin: Labyrinth

by Dan McClenaghan
July 22, 2011

Denny ZeitlinLabyrinthSunnyside Records2011 Pianist Denny Zeitlin recorded a handful of fine albums for Columbia Records in the mid-1960s, forward-leaning trio affairs showcasing his often cerebral but always approachable technique and his superb songwriting. This was at a time when he was studying medicine. He became, and continues to be, a practicing psychiatrist and university professor, so something--jazz would be the expected pick--could easily have taken a back seat. But while Dr. ...

304

Album Review

Ben Britton's Unconventional Riot: Children At Play

Read "Children At Play" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
July 22, 2011

The name of saxophonist Ben Britton's new outfit, Unconventional Riot, might suggest some hard-edged, in-your-face, Mostly Other People Do The Killing type of jazz. The title of the band's debut “mini album," Children At Play, is more indicative of a looser, lighter and less serious approach. The reality is somewhere in the middle--a tight, swinging trio of straight-ahead tunes with some subtle musical twists and turns, and a mix of gentleness and wildness that amalgamates and also belies the titles ...

232

Album Review

Richard Pinhas: Metal/Crystal

Read "Metal/Crystal" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
July 22, 2011

Think of sheaths of titanium splintering across a room at the speed of light, and a moveable wall of sound that poses a daunting proposition. These are components that signal the vivid imagery, supplied by pioneering French progressive space-rock guitarist and synthesist Richard Pinhas on a set that is based on mental disorder symptoms. Along with guests and revered Japanese noise-shaping artist and author Merzbow (Masami Akita), the program casts a semi-structured outline, infiltrated by variable electrical impulses amid an ...

356

Album Review

Tomas Janzon: Experiences

Read "Experiences" reviewed by Jim Santella

by Jim Santella
July 21, 2011

Hanging out with straight-ahead jazz from a veteran quartet is like vacationing in an out-of-the-way place where there are no cares for weeks on end. This place would lead to feeling good and being rested for a long time. Both jazz and vacation offer rare qualities without interference, and both provide stimulating forces from the inside out.Guitarist Tomas Janzon leads his quartet on Experiences, where jazz standards receive the respect due them and improvisation serves as the focus. ...

196

Take Five With...

Take Five With Steve Slater

by AAJ Staff
July 21, 2011

Meet Steve Slater: I am the drummer/songwriter for Park St. Trio. I play a lot of music with a lot of groups, from rock to jazz to classical. My greatest love though is writing for my jazz group. I find the most joy comes from creating new, original tunes for people to enjoy, and then performing them live. Instrument(s): Drums.Teachers and/or influences? Scott Amendola, Wally Schnalle, I knew ...

243

Album Review

Sarah Marie Young: Expressive

Read "Expressive" reviewed by Alex Marianyi

by Alex Marianyi
July 21, 2011

Who needs a drummer, anyway? Not Sarah Marie Young. It's a certainty that the Chicago-based vocalist has nothing personal against drummers, but despite the absence of drums and percussion on Expressive, the rhythmic intensity, drive and energy they normally bring to the music are certainly not lacking. Expressive's tracks demonstrate considerable variety, from tempo to time signature to style. “Goodbye To You and Me," a loping jazz waltz, features Young's sensitive and relaxed swing feel, while her ...

403

Reassessing

Something Else!!!!

by C. Michael Bailey
July 21, 2011

Robert Louis Stevenson noted that, “The mark of a good action is that it appears inevitable in retrospect." The middle-to-late 1950s in jazz were populated with several “good actions," all considered inevitable evolutionary reactions to earlier genre, specifically swing and bebop--the latter the complex and elevated jazz style that had dominated the creative American musical structure the decade before, and, to some degree has done so since. These unfolding styles included hard bop--perhaps the most direct descendant of bebop; modal ...