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.

121

Album Review

Chuck Weirich: You Don't Know Me

Read "You Don't Know Me" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
June 28, 2011

The great trumpeter Arturo Sandoval once commented that Trumpet Evolution (Crescent Moon, 2003) was one of his most challenging musical efforts. In that tour de trumpet, Sandoval brilliantly performed selections made famous or associated with great trumpet players--from Louis Armstrong to Maynard Ferguson to Wynton Marsalis--with all the nuance, phrasing and sound of the original artist. WithYou Don't Know Me, Tampa-based trumpeter Chuck Weirich proceeds in a similar cover-the-Masters vein, with ten selections popularized by individuals Weirich ...

296

Interview

Chris Taylor: Never Make Your Move Too Soon

by Ian Patterson
June 28, 2011

It's taken 30 years, but you can't rush something if it's not there. Chris Taylor's debut recording as leader, Nocturnal (Abstract Logix, 2011), is the result of the direction his composing has led him these last two or three years, but it could be seen in a wider context as the accumulated experience of three decades working as a guitar playing sideman, composer and producer. The material is undoubtedly strong, and reveals a compositional maturity that usually only comes with ...

373

Album Review

Gretchen Parlato: The Lost and Found

Read "The Lost and Found" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
June 27, 2011

Gretchen Parlato is emerging as the most important jazz singer since Cassandra Wilson. Her vocal approach is so unique and her repertoire so eclectic that she stands to create a jazz vocal genre unto herself. After placing first in the 2004 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition, Parlato released her eponymous debut, self-produced, in 2005. Warmly received, she followed her freshman effort up in 2009 with In a Dream (Obliqsound), her critical gravity growing. And those are ...

232

Album Review

Evan Weiss: Math or Magic

Read "Math or Magic" reviewed by David Rickert

by David Rickert
June 27, 2011

Combining jazz improvisation and classical composition has been an irresistible idea for many--an intellectual problem promising that, perhaps, the result will combine the best qualities of both. However, in practice, the third stream movement has largely been an indication of boring, pretentious recordings to avoid. But then a guy like Evan Weiss comes along with his debut, Math or Magic, which proves that there is a great deal of promise in the idea of creating music that isn't quite jazz, ...

140

Live Review

Peter Brotzmann: Vision Festival 16, June 8, 2011

by Warren Allen
June 27, 2011

Peter Brötzmann QuartetAbrons Art Center Main StageNew York, NYJune 8, 2011 On a hot June night in downtown NYC, the Vision Festival welcomed German tenor saxophonist Peter Brötzmann to the main stage of the Abrons Art Center. Famously nicknamed “Machine Gun" early on in his career by Don Cherry, for his unrelenting sound, and then cutting a legendary free jazz blasterpiece of the same name (FMP 1968), Brötzmann has been a fearless explorer of ...

247

Album Review

Brainkiller: The Inﬁltration

Read "The Inﬁltration" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
June 27, 2011

With a name like Brainkiller, it's easy to imagine a punk band thrashing the noise to a frenzied crowd of head-bangers. While the idea is not entirely a stretch in terms of The Inﬁltration's energy, there are clear differences: first, instead of the usual guitar or piano-led ensemble, there's an uncommon trio of trombone, keys, and drums; second, these seasoned musicians can deliver diversity, from avant-gardism and electronic exploitation to workings that are imaginative and progressive. Brass ...

234

Album Review

Frank Carlberg: Uncivilized Ruminations

Read "Uncivilized Ruminations" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
June 27, 2011

Pianist/composer Frank Carlberg continues to perfect his distinctive blend of poetry and left-of-center jazz. Carlberg does it together with a stellar cast of close collaborators; most important of them is vocalist Christine Correra, with whom he has been collaborating for two decades. Both have performed poetry by Wallace Stevens on Variations on a Summer Day (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2000); Jack Kerouac, Robert Creeley, and others on In the Land of Art State of the Union (Fresh Sound New Talent, ...

196

Live Review

Ted Daniel and Tomasz Stanko: Vision Festival 16, June 7, 2011

by Warren Allen
June 27, 2011

Ted Daniel's International Brass Membrane Society Salute to King OliverAbrons Art Center Main StageNew York, NYJune 7, 2011 Tuesday night at lower Manhattan's Abrons Art Center saw the Festival of New Trumpet team up with the hosting Vision Fest for a night of great music from musicians of all ages, who are looking to take the horn of Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown and Don Cherry in fresh directions. But rarely did past and present ...

165

Album Review

T.K. Blue: Latin Bird

Read "Latin Bird" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
June 27, 2011

New York City native TK (Talib Kibwe) Blue has seven previously released CDs to his leadership credit. His eighth, Latin Bird, bears promise as his most integrated and well-conceived. Blue interprets nine pieces composed by or closely associated with Charlie Parker's Latin muse. “Chi Chi" and “Si Si" were givens, the former enjoying both Blue's alto saxophone and flute playing over Parker's circuitous lines. Steve Turré demonstrates, on “Chi Chi," what a raving master of the creamiest trombone tone he ...

275

Interview

Gretchen Parlato: Quiet Revolutionary

by Ian Patterson
June 27, 2011

It's safe to say that singer Gretchen Parlato has her admirers. The Boston Globe praised her as “the most original jazz singer in a generation," and pianist Herbie Hancock has described her connection to music as “almost magical." Saxophonist Wayne Shorter has likened her art to that of Frank Sinatra. It's hard to remember the last time a jazz singer has created such a stir and excited such high praise. The growing chorus of admirers is not without good reason; ...