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.

337

Album Review

Duane Padilla: Sentimental Swing

Read "Sentimental Swing" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 5, 2011

Hot Club of Hulaville violinist Duane Padilla echos the golden age of Stéphane Grappelli, by way of Joe Venuti. Sentimental Swing presents nothing new and breaks no revolutionary jazz ground, being made up of ten well-worn jazz standards, presented in a violin-piano-bass trio format. Was all this necessary? Perhaps not, but Padilla does put a pleasant retro spin on some old classics, showing why it is important to recall the past when considering the present. Padilla opens ...

207

Album Review

Chris Schlarb: Psychic Temple

Read "Psychic Temple" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
July 5, 2011

Chris Schlarb isn't your typical composer, working for a year on this music before writing any melodies. However, given that his previous recording, the beguiling Twilight and Ghost Stories (Asthmatic Kitty Records, 2007), took four years and long periods of soul-searching, little the guitarist and electronics musician of such adventurous outfits as Create (!) and I-Heart-Lung does is that surprising anymore. Except, that is, for the music itself. It would've been difficult to imagine a follow-up recording more beautiful or ...

457

Album Review

Boom Box: Jazz

by John Eyles
July 4, 2011

Surprises can come in the most unlikely guises and under the least likely names. Jazz is the latest example of that old maxim to never judge a book by its cover. The combination of the group name Boom Box--conjuring up images of hip-hop and oversized ghetto blasters--and a graphic style reminiscent of Peter Brötzmann albums does nothing to hint at the subtle delights to be found within. Fortunately, the album title itself is well chosen, acting as a counterweight to ...

201

Interview

Arto Tuncboyacıyan: Mr. Avant-Garde Folk

by Ian Patterson
July 4, 2011

Though a good number of notable jazz fusion bands and musicians have sprung up over the course of the last 40 years, the same few names from the '70s continue to serve as references--and sources of inspiration--in this, the second decade of the 21st century. Most notable are Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Tony Williams' Lifetime, Herbie Hancock and Return to Forever, which emerged from the shadow and guidance of trumpeter Miles Davis. Tribal Tech and Vital Information kept the fusion ...

192

Album Review

Pear: Extemp'ore

Read "Extemp'ore" reviewed by David Rickert

by David Rickert
July 4, 2011

Most jazz albums involve at least a little bit of preparation: song selection, rehearsals, selection of sidemen and so on. Pear, on the other hand, is after something much more spontaneous and pure on its debut, Extemp'ore. The group is comprised of percussionist Rick Milne and keyboardist Nick Pierone. They enter the studio and play whatever comes to mind, sometimes inviting a few other musicians along for the ride, like bassists Jennifer Leitham and Jimmy Johnson). The songs are then ...

207

Live Review

Vision Festival: Day 1, June 5, 2011

by John Sharpe
July 4, 2011

Day 1 | Days 2-3 | Day 4 | Days 5-6 | Day 7 Vision FestivalAbrons Arts CenterNew York, NYJune 5-11, 2011 Now in its 16th year, the annual Vision Festival in NYC's Lower East Side remains the premier showcase for the city's avant jazz talent. While for residents, chances to witness many of the hometown participants may come along with complacency-inducing regularity, the concentration of performance into a seven day period proves ...

193

Album Review

Kayo: I Wish You Love

Read "I Wish You Love" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
July 4, 2011

Should jazz challenge conventions or uphold traditions? While opinions vary on this matter, pianist Kayo Hiraki leans toward the latter school of thought on this all-standards affair. As the daughter of a classical pianist, Hiraki had music flowing through her veins at birth and proved to be a child piano prodigy. She honed her craft at the renowned Kunitachi Music College in Japan, came stateside in 1988 and developed her artistry through studies with the great Barry Harris and Larry ...

192

Album Review

Peter Zak: Down East

Read "Down East" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 4, 2011

Block chords, swinging touch, trio setting, full-throated playing: this must be Red Garland. No, its New York City pianist and composer Peter Zak and his loquacious piano style, tasteful and full-bodied. Down East is Zak's sixth release for the Danish Steeplechase label. Zak's piano approach is easily stated, even and uniformly dense. His Ornette Coleman ("Invisible") reveals a connection with Thelonious Monk ("Gallop's Gallop") and a spiritual kinship with Clifford Brown ("Tiny Capers"). “Tiny Capers" was featured ...

336

Live Review

Montreal Jazz Festival 2011

by John Kelman
July 4, 2011

Days 1-3 | Days 4- 6 Festival International de Jazz de Montréal Montreal, Canada June 25- July 4, 2011After a hiatus in 2010, in order to take a three-week Norwegian road trip, it's great to get back to the festival that the Guinness Book of Records calls “The biggest jazz festival in the world." But for those who think such a designation has to mean a populist-driven festival, geared towards accessibility and big ...

217

Album Review

Amina Alaoui: Arco Iris

Read "Arco Iris" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
July 3, 2011

Following her outstanding performance with the cross-cultural, century-spanning ensemble of Norwegian keyboardist/composer Jon Balke's Siwan (ECM, 2009), it's no surprise that the German label has tapped into the Moroccan singer for an album of her own. But as sprawling and ambitious as Siwan was, Arco Iris is, while being no less dramatic, on a much smaller scale; its greatest strength coming from Alaoui's nuanced delivery and acute ability to unveil the hidden power in a set of music that, like ...