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.

231

Album Review

JC Stylles: Exhilaration And Other States

Read "Exhilaration And Other States" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
July 17, 2011

The photos that adorn the cover and back panel of guitarist JC Stylles Exhilaration And Other States make Stylles look like a cross between a '50s rockabilly musician and a Brian Setzer wannabe, but his music has nothing to do with either one. The Australian-born and New York-based guitarist deals in burning organ trio swing, with a few ballads and some other seasonings thrown in for good measure, as he tackles standards and a few surprises from outside the jazz ...

237

Live Review

Hall & Oates: Wantagh, New York, June 11, 2011

by Mike Perciaccante
July 17, 2011

Hall & Oates With Special Guest Chris Isaak 2011 Nikon at Jones Beach Concert Wantagh, New York June 11, 2011 On a misty and cold Saturday evening, Hall & Oates and superb opening act Chris Isaak performed their classic hits to a less than sold-out Jones Beach Ampitheatre. It had rained off-and-on all day, which did not bode well for an outdoor concert, and the inclement weather definitely contributed to the sparse crowd. Those who did ...

248

Album Review

Cindy Bradley: Unscripted

Read "Unscripted" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
July 17, 2011

Every now and then a musician gets bold and breaks the mold. Cindy Bradley's Unscripted is the sound of an artist just going for it. The nearly eight-minute “Prelude/Massive Transit/Interlude" suite that kicks off the album is like a rush of cool air to the face on a hot summer day. It's fast, furious and funky, with Bradley blowing the hell out of her trumpet as she dukes it out with producer Michael Broening's keyboards and Tim Veder's sax solos.

226

Jazz Poetry

Black Sage (for Henry Grimes)

by Gordon Marshall
July 17, 2011

I have seen the stage lights playthe sly sagacity of Henry's smile:the lightning on his lips, decadesdark with spattered starlight coming back to his eyes.To win words from that smilethat opens like a jackknifedrawing blood from parchment spurting the sanguine melodythe black sage spun like spiderin fury wrapping Ayler's axe--it is a dream, unless the song ...

449

Album Review

Boom Box: Jazz

Read "Jazz" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
July 17, 2011

Inspired by the spirit of the great reeds and woodwinds player Eric Dolphy, Thomas Borgmann is not the only musician in Europe to become a Dolphy acolyte. Dolphy is, in fact, all but deified across the pond and it is not hard to understand why. In many ways he personifies not only the eternal, fluttering quality of the magic of music, but also its mysterious milieu, seeming to exist in each fleeting moment of its echo. It was also Dolphy, ...

222

Live Review

The TAO Saxophone Quartet on Tour

by Gilles Laheurte
July 17, 2011

The TAO Saxophone Quartet UNIS Theatre / Bowery Wine Company / Zebulon's New York, NY April, 2011 After an absence of eight years--last appearing in the USA at the legendary Knitting Factory in 2002--the TAO Saxophone Quartet returned to New York. Formed in 1991 by reedman Noël Pelhate--a devoted fan of composer/saxophonist Steve Lacy--in Besançon , eastern France, the quartet's format has changed since alto/soprano saxophonist Jean-Luc Salgues' sudden passing in June, 2009. Three saxophones--Jean-Philippe ...

234

Album Review

Gerald Wilson Orchestra: Legacy

Read "Legacy" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
July 16, 2011

The beauty of listening to an orchestra in fine form is like being treated to an oceanic swell of music that rises and falls, creating great harmonic waves of sound. This further regales the intellect with the swish of brushstrokes as the music changes in color, from sometimes thick, dark dripping shades, evoking brooding emotion to the pale and moist shades of elation in an ever-changing palette. Then there are the timbres that refresh the soul and the rhythms that ...

279

Film Review

Rory Gallagher: Irish Tour '74

by Doug Collette
July 16, 2011

Rory GallagherIrish Tour '74Eagle Video2011 However much acclaim he received during his lifetime, and to whatever extent his legacy has grown posthumously since his untimely death in 1995, guitarist Rory Gallagher will be best remembered for the feverish abandon of his live performances. Assembled with the same creative spark and attention to detail as the most recent archive releases, Irish Tour '74 reaffirms the Irish bluesman's direct connection to his fans, ...

205

Album Review

Charlie Apicella & Iron City: The Business

Read "The Business" reviewed by Greg Simmons

by Greg Simmons
July 16, 2011

Charlie Apicella and Iron City have funk, groove, and insistent swing on The Business. Nominally a guitar/organ/drums trio, this date adds the tenor saxophonist Stephen Riley and conguero Mayra Casales, to fill out the sound. Apicella exhibits a sturdy competence on guitar, with an emphasis on getting all the basics right--never resorting to flame-throwing arpeggios, and with a great sound. This record owes a lot to some of the great proto-funk and soul bands of the 1960s. In ...

277

New York Beat

Erin Dickins: Rediscovering Repertoire

by Nick Catalano
July 16, 2011

One of the great challenges for any established recording vocalist is finding material. Often, even the best arrangements fall short if the composition is a tired standard that has been recorded to death. Success in this area is rare, so when a debut CD contains one thoughtfully performed obscure gem after another, it is time to sit up and take notice. This is surely the case with Nice Girls (Champagne, 2011), the debut solo album from Erin ...