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.

228

Live Review

Ernie Watts: Bangkok, Thailand, June 18, 2011

by Ian Patterson
July 3, 2011

Ernie WattsThe Living RoomSheraton Grande HotelBangkok, ThailandJune 18, 2011 It's been celebration time this past month at The Living Room in the Sheraton Grande Hotel--Bangkok's best jazz venue--as it celebrates 10 years of hosting concerts. Veteran tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts provided the main highlight, serving up serious musical muscle for four nights, with long-time musical collaborator Jeremy Monteiro on piano, drummer Shawn Kelley and bassist Christy Smith making up a potent, swinging ...

223

Album Review

Leszek Mozdzer: Komeda

by Bruce Lindsay
July 3, 2011

Krzysztof Komeda, the Polish musician and composer who died, age 38, in 1969, was a key figure in the emergence of European jazz, and remains a major source of inspiration for musicians across the continent. On Komeda, his ACT solo album debut, pianist Leszek Możdżer pays his own beautifully crafted tribute to his fellow countryman. Despite his early death, Komeda's body of work is extensive and influential--showing that it was possible to take the ideas and themes ...

365

Film Review

Jimi Hendrix: Band of Gypsys Live at the Fillmore East

by Doug Collette
July 3, 2011

Jimi HendrixBand of Gypsys Live at the Fillmore EastExperience Hendrix/Legacy Recordings2011 Given the latter years of guitarist Jimi Hendrix's life were fouled by business disputes, it comes as no surprise that the Band of Gypsys, perhaps the foulest such entanglement of them all, was not comprehensively recorded in video or audio. While we're fortunate to have the black & white footage contained on this DVD-- paired with a feature ...

242

Live Review

Mart'nalia: New York, NY, June 19, 2011

by Ernest Barteldes
July 3, 2011

Mart'NaliaCentral Park SummerstageNew York, NYJune 19, 2011A line of cajóns, played at the same time, ushered the entrance of Brazilian singer Mart'nalia, the featured artist on the closing night of the 9th Brazilian Film Festival in New York City, with films screened in Tribeca Cinemas throughout the preceding week. Backed by an eight-piece band, formed of six percussionist, an acoustic guitarist and a bassist, she started out with a selection of contemporary sambas from her ...

438

Album Review

Erin Dickins: Nice Girls

Read "Nice Girls" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 3, 2011

Erin Dickins is notable for being one of the founders of jazz vocal group The Manhattan Transfer. Since that time, the singer has been quite the journey- woman performer, occasionally taking time off from the music industry. She concludes one such sabbatical (10 years) with the release of Nice Girls, a patiently assembled collection of show tunes and not-so-standard standards. The erstwhile title tune, composed by Jerome Leshay and Bobby Troup, was originally recorded by Julie London ...

367

Album Review

Splatter: Scraffiti

Read "Scraffiti" reviewed by Luca Pagani

by Luca Pagani
July 3, 2011

There is music that creates an environment by using sound more as an element of space than of time. It results in something unique, where the end of a piece does not bring about an end to the listening experience, but expands beyond the confines of time. This is what happens with “High Plains," where long and protracted notes from the saxophone and clarinet create an acoustic wave reminiscent of “Tnoona" on The Art Ensemble of Chicago's Fanfare for the ...

224

Live From New York

Arrington De Dionyso, Mary Halvorson, Liturgy, Sightings, Peter Brotzmann & Pulverize The Sound

by Martin Longley
July 2, 2011

Arrington De Dionyso's Malaikat Dan Singa Cake Shop May 25, 2011 When I first witnessed the singer, reedsman, guitarist and performance artist Arrington De Dionyso at The Stone, he was working as a solo act, exploring extended timbres, textured multiphonics, confrontational starkness and isolated honking eruptions. In more recent times, this Olympian (that's Olympia, in Washington) has been applying these out-there improvisational strategies to the rock 'n' roll zone, forming the Malaikat Dan ...

252

Album Review

Pandelis Karayorgis Quintet: System Of 5

Read "System Of 5" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
July 2, 2011

A longstanding adherent of intimate duo and trio settings, Boston-based pianist Pandelis Karayorgis' discography has been dominated by small combo recordings since the early 1990s, with many founded on the venerable configuration of piano, bass and drums. A radical traditionalist with a penchant for the acute angles and strident tonalities of advanced post-bop, Karayorgis' recent exploits with bassist Jef Charland and drummer Luther Gray have earned him well-deserved praise. System Of 5 is the debut of Karayorgis' newest ensemble, presenting ...

231

Reassessing

Donald Byrd: Slow Drag

by Greg Simmons
July 2, 2011

Donald ByrdSlow DragBlue Note2011 (1967) In 1967 trumpeter Donald Byrd was a busy guy, teaching or lecturing at no fewer than four universities. It's a wonder he had time to play, let alone record. Fortunately, he did find the time, and the resulting Slow Drag takes an honorable place in his catalog. The album features Byrd's working unit, fresh off a stint at New York's Five Spot Café. It's ...

229

Album Review

Ketil Bjornstad: Early Piano Music

Read "Early Piano Music" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
July 2, 2011

For a label that's been instrumental in reinventing the concept of solo piano performance, it's surprising that ECM has never released a recital from Ketil Bjørnstad. Instead, they've provided a forum for the Norwegian neo-classicist to experiment in contexts ranging from the duos of Life in Leipzig Night Song to the trio of Remembrance, and the expansive sextet on the forthcoming Antonioni Project, recorded in performance at Molde Jazz 2010. But long before he began achieving international prominence with ECM, ...