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.

224

Album Review

Janya: Janya

Read "Janya" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 11, 2011

The name “Janya" can loosely be translated “genesis" or “beginning." In Sanskrit, it means “to be born" and in the Korean vernacular, “around dawn." Janya is both the ensemble name and debut recording title of four young Korean and Korean-American musicians attempting to cast Korean shamanic music in more modern terms than it was conceived. Korea appears to be one of the only countries where shamanism was practiced as a state religion. As a result, shamanic ritual and music in ...

318

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

July 2011

by Mr. P.C.
July 11, 2011

Dear Mr. P.C.: F# or Gb? Jim L.

Dear Jim: Sharp is more than; flat is less than. Sharps revel in shameless excess; flats suffer in dire need. How can we promote justice and equality? In the Accidental Community the gold standard is, of course, the circle of fifths. In order to gain some ground for the oppressed flats, I'd set my sights on Fb, two degrees beyond the neutral territory of ...

250

Album Review

Ernie Krivda: Blues for Pekar

Read "Blues for Pekar" reviewed by Matt Marshall

by Matt Marshall
July 11, 2011

On Blues for Pekar, Cleveland saxophonist Ernie Krivda pays tribute, not only to the late writer, critic and jazz aficionado Harvey Pekar, but also to the time and place from which both men hailed. Working with the Detroit Connection rhythm section also featured on the saxophonist's Live at the Dirty Dog (CIMPoL, 2010), Krivda swings mightily through a set of bebop standards and originals that skip, sing and warmly sway to the pulsing beat of the rust belt in its ...

211

Album Review

Heiner Stadler: Tribute to Bird and Monk

Read "Tribute to Bird and Monk" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
July 11, 2011

In the winter of 1978, Heiner Stadler lent his consummate skill to conceiving, arranging and conducting a project featuring the music of two of the most beloved icons of modern music: Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker. Tribute to Monk and Bird (Tomato, 1978) was released as a 2-LP set, produced by Michael Cuscuna, and eleven years later, it was re-released as a 2-CD set. Now, 22 years later, this magnificent session makes its reappearance yet again. Why is this important? ...

250

Album Review

Daniel Gassin: Daniel Gassin Sextet

Read "Daniel Gassin Sextet" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
July 11, 2011

Daniel Gassin's third album ventures into new territory, leaving behind the intimacy of the trio format which has been Australian pianist's preferred musical setting until now. Daniel Gassin Sextet features ten original pieces of modern jazz performed by a standard rhythm section, with a small horn section of trumpets and saxophones, to produce a superb, light ensemble sound. While the performance of the players is always contributes to the caliber of the project, it is Gassin's compositions that make this ...

509

Interview

Jeff Lofton: Jazz to the People

by Josep Pedro
July 11, 2011

Born in Germany and raised in South Carolina, Jeff Lofton's trumpet sound has become a striking force in Austin's music scene since moved there about four years ago. Friendly and bright in his reasoning, Lofton has proved to be a versatile, mature musician overtly combining straight-ahead jazz with fusion. His appealing, laidback character and soulful playing has certainly earned him a rising recognition not only in Austin but across the general jazz circuit. A talented, open-minded musician, composer ...

413

Race and Jazz

Gary Giddins on Ignored Black Jazz Writers

by Greg Thomas
July 11, 2011

In the first essay for the Race and Jazz column, I gave a first-person account of how my love and appreciation of certain “white" saxophonists served to safeguard me from the temptation of racism back in college during the early-to-mid-'80s. My second essay privileged culture over race, and told the story of how attorney and constitutional law professor Charles L. Black's love of Louis Armstrong's genius from the early '30s gave him a way out of the morass of Southern ...

327

Album Review

Aimee Allen: Winters & Mays

Read "Winters & Mays" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 10, 2011

Vocalist/composer/arranger Aimée Allen exists as a whole, self-sustaining entity. Her round, sensuous alto has only smooth edges with a caress of warm linen. Her songwriting (and that which she does with brother David Allen) is top-notch, fully formed and in abundance on Winters & Mays. But it is her singing that is exceptional, particularly on the standards mash-up “Bye Bye Blackbird/It Could Happen to You." Accompanied only by guitarist Pete McCann and bassist Craig Akin, Allen begins ...

159

Extended Analysis

Rory Gallagher: Notes From San Francisco

by Doug Collette
July 10, 2011

Rory GallagherNotes From San FranciscoEagle Rock2011 The level of excellence to which the archiving of singer/guitarist Rory Gallagher's canon has risen lately, on audio and video, hits another peak with Notes From San Francisco. Consisting of an entire, previously unreleased studio album, plus outtakes, in addition to a complete, previously unreleased concert recording, this double CD package also shows the attention to detail aficionados love--and which the nascent devotee of the ...

201

Live Review

Undead Jazz Festival: Day 4, June 26, 2011

by Daniel Lehner
July 10, 2011

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 Undead Jazz Festival New York, New York June 23-26, 2011 The last night of the Undead Jazz Festival, which had paraded its way from the chic, well-lit streets of the West Village down into the depths of restored Brooklyn habitations, gave its final hurrah with the most ambitious night yet: three venues, four stages, 17 acts and the most diverse ...