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.

351

Album Review

New Tricks: Alternate Side

Read "Alternate Side" reviewed by David A. Orthmann

by David A. Orthmann
July 14, 2011

Each of the nine tracks of Alternate Side by New Tricks, a quartet co-led by saxophonist Mike Lee and trumpeter Ted Chubb, is a journey of an irregular route with lots of detours. The melodies and some of the tunes' structures resemble hard bop but, in general, the music is freer and more intensely interactive. The give and take between the four principals never ends. Because things frequently change in an instant, nothing can be taken for granted. The band ...

253

Album Review

Monty Alexander: Harlem-Kingson Express: Live at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola

Read "Harlem-Kingson Express: Live at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola" reviewed by Larry Taylor

by Larry Taylor
July 14, 2011

Pianist Monty Alexander has always worn his Jamaican heart on his sleeve, incorporated his country's good time music with jazz for over 50 years. With Harlem-Kingston Express: Live, his Motéma debut, , he ventures even further into reggae territory. Six of the 11 tracks were recorded in 2010 at Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club Coca Cola Club in New York City, with this, his most “reggaefied” group yet. A hybrid crew is onboard, stretched out across the club's stage, ...

196

Take Five With...

Take Five With Roger Chong

by AAJ Staff
July 14, 2011

Meet Roger Chong: Classic jazz guitar-playing with a youthful edge--that;s what jazz guitarist Roger Chong does. A graduate of music from York University in Toronto, Canada, Roger has a solid musical know-how courtesy of his mentors--jazz musicians and educators Roy Patterson, Matt Brubeck, Casey Soko, and Mike Cado. While there, he honed his guitar skills as part of the university jazz orchestra led by its founder, renowned jazz bassist Al Henderson of Time Warp.With Roger;s debut ...

278

Profile

The Devil and Gil Scott-Heron

by Jeff Winbush
July 14, 2011

Live long enough and you'll either be disappointed by your heroes or you'll bury them.Did I say “heroes"? Sorry. I meant to say Gil Scott-Heron wasn't my hero. He was an innovator, a trailblazer, a pioneer and an inspiration, but he wasn't my hero.He was just one of the coolest brothers I ever heard in my life.Without Gil Scott-Heron would rap music ever been born? Probably, but without the social consciousness of a Scott-Heron, ...

409

Extended Analysis

Kurt Elling: The Gate

by John Kelman
July 13, 2011

Kurt Elling The Gate Concord Music Group 2011 It's amazing how small age differences can impact on the music that resonates in our youth--experiencing it after the fact being so different than living in its time. For 43 year-old vocalist Kurt Elling, the music that reached his young, impressionable ears came from sources as diverse as Earth, Wind & Fire's I Am (Columbia, 1979) , the early-1980s incarnation of King Crimson and Discipline ...

250

Album Review

Samuel Blaser: Consort in Motion

Read "Consort in Motion" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
July 13, 2011

Initially defined by composer Gunther Schuller in the late 1950s as a synthesis of jazz improvisation and classical composition, the Third Stream movement has since drifted into relative obscurity. However, in the ensuing decades the milieu has provided fertile ground for a number of visionary artists to make bold statements. The increasingly commonplace role of conservatory educations for enterprising jazz musicians has also brought newfound potential to this aesthetic; the number of young artists versed in classical composition and jazz ...

226

Album Review

John Escreet: The Age We Live In

Read "The Age We Live In" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
July 13, 2011

Pianist John Escreet's meteoric rise into the pantheon of forward-thinking jazz composers has everything to do with his understanding of the fast-paced way of life that seems to have overtaken much of society. Everything is absorbed in little bites, quick flashes, and small doses by the younger generations that have been brought up in this short-attention-span world, and Escreet's music is accepting of this fact. However, it doesn't bow down to the idea that these quick flashes of information can't ...

277

Extended Analysis

London Improvisers Orchestra: Lio Leo Leon

by John Eyles
July 13, 2011

London Improvisers Orchestra Lio Leo Leon Psi 2011 Each year at London's Freedom of the City (FOTC) festival of improvised music, one of the most eagerly anticipated highlights is the Sunday evening appearance of the London Improvisers Orchestra (LIO). Although the LIO meets monthly throughout the rest of the year, on the first Sunday in May at FOTC they seem to produce something a bit special, not least because there is always a good ...

230

Album Review

Jeff Hackworth: Night Owl

Read "Night Owl" reviewed by Greg Simmons

by Greg Simmons
July 13, 2011

Tenorist Jeff Hackworth taps late 1960s soul jazz on Night Owl. The instrumental mix, with Hammond B3, vibraphone and drums, draws a straight line to the traditions of masters like Lou Donaldson and Big John Patton. The use of organ, in particular, is a distinctive and tacit embrace of the instrument's ability to make anything sound like it's straight out of that era. Hackworth is a first-rate soloist., blowing a forceful, fast and exciting solo on “Sideswipe," a ...

215

Album Review

Itai Kriss: The Shark

Read "The Shark" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
July 13, 2011

Swimming through the ocean of jazz, navigating the currents of melodies and harmonies while avoiding the jaws of a shark, can be a blissful experience. There is one shark, though, that needn't be feared, masterfully created by Israeli-born flautist Itai Kriss. The Shark is an exercise in modern hard-bop and Caribbean/Latin rhythms that takes a big bite of jazz and leaves quite an impressive mark. His first album as leader, New York-resident Kriss has been actively involved in performing with ...