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.

117

Album Review

Tim Berne / Jim Black / Nels Cline: The Veil

Read "The Veil" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
June 22, 2011

Recorded live at The Stone in New York City on a sweltering July evening in 2009, The Veil is the debut of BB&C (also known as The Sons of Champignon), an acronym for alto saxophonist Tim Berne, drummer Jim Black and guitarist Nels Cline--veteran improvisers with a long history of collaboration. Cline first recorded with Berne in the early '80s, while Black was a member of Berne's revered '90s era Bloodcount quartet. Unfolding as a single uninterrupted long-form improvisation and ...

320

Extended Analysis

Art Pepper: Blues for the Fisherman

by C. Michael Bailey
June 22, 2011

Art PepperBlues for the FishermanWidow's Taste2011 Laurie Pepper has been the lightning rod for the music of her late husband, Art Pepper, since the saxophonist's death at 56 in 1982. She took proper control of his musical legacy in 1981 on the advice of the couple's accountant, transferring ownership of the saxophonist's works and contracts to the entity Arthur Pepper Music Inc., where, as intellectual assets, the corpus was protected from ...

126

Album Review

Orrin Evans: Freedom

by Dan Bilawsky
June 22, 2011

Philadelphia was a symbol of freedom long before Elton John ever penned his well-known tribute to tennis legend Billy Jean King. The city was a hotspot for American revolutionaries when the British were running the show, and Philadelphia played host to the First Continental Congress and the Second Continental Congress, which signed the Declaration of Independence. This city has come to represent the ideals of freedom within American society, and its rich jazz history is a reflection of the city's ...

182

Take Five With...

Take Five With Rhinoceri Trio

by AAJ Staff
June 22, 2011

Meet Rhinoceri Trio: The Rhinoceri trio, named for the most ponderous and terrifying beast of the primeval forest, both ponders and terrifies. Firmly rooted in the jazz tradition, the group's repertoire spans and blends a tapestry of influences from Duke Ellington's jungle jazz, Eastern European folk music, Ornette Coleman, Bach, Wagner and minimalism. Given the history of its members, the Rhinoceri Trio's wide musical pallet is hardly surprising. Cooney and Mervine are ...

247

Album Review

Patty Ascher: Bossa, Jazz ‘n’ Samba

Read "Bossa, Jazz ‘n’ Samba" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
June 22, 2011

Brazilian singer Patty Ascher has an embarrassment of talent riches. She is an accomplished singer and songwriter who displays both talents convincingly on Bossa, Jazz 'n' Samba. Supported by a superb band, Ascher displays an impressive depth and breadth of lyric invention carefully arranged by an array of composers. Her voice is a well-balanced mezzo, creamy and rich with a smooth and silky texture. Among the ten originals on Bossa, Jazz 'n' Samba is Ascher's “Booking Time," ...

152

Album Review

Orrin Evans: Freedom

Read "Freedom" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
June 22, 2011

Orrin Evans' first three Posi-Tone releases formed a diverse but high-quality trilogy: the piano trio (Faith In Action, 2010); the freer, more left-field small band (Tarbaby's End Of Fear, 2010); and the hard-blowing and exciting big band (Captain Black Big Band, 2011). Hot on their heels comes Freedom, Evans' fourth album in less than two years. The quality remains high. Freedom harks back to the lineup and style of Faith In Action. Evans' home town of Philadelphia ...

Album Review

Andy Snitzer: Traveler

Read "Traveler" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
June 22, 2011

Even without uttering a single word, music can convey many moods, and Traveler, Andy Snitzer's first album in a decade, finds the saxophonist in a reflective mood. The degree of restraint and reserve in Snitzer's playing runs counter to many of his contemporaries, where loud and long soloing is standard operating procedure.If overplaying can be excessive, underplaying is not always a virtue. Snitzer occasionally takes a few moments in the spotlight, but opts to be one of the ...

285

Album Review

Jamie Ruben: Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene

Read "Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene" reviewed by Florence Wetzel

by Florence Wetzel
June 22, 2011

Guitarist Jamie Ruben's Groove-O-Ly-O-Scene is an absolute treat for the ears. There's something deliciously mellow and laidback about this music, and at the risk of using a word that brings terror to many jazz fans, it is wonderfully smooth. Wait, don't stop reading! One dictionary defines “smooth" as “even and uninterrupted in flow or flight." That's exactly how this music rolls: it possesses a marvelously spacious ambience, woven through with fantastic grooves. In fact, “groove jazz" is the ...

131

Album Review

David S. Ware / Cooper-Moore / William Parker / Muhammad Ali: Planetary Unknown

Read "Planetary Unknown" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
June 21, 2011

Renowned saxophonist David S. Ware continues to explore new avenues following his successful kidney transplant two years ago. Since then, Ware released Saturnian (AUM Fidelity, 2009), a stoic solo set, and Onecept (AUM Fidelity, 2010), a bristling trio excursion with bassist William Parker and drummer Warren Smith. Planetary Unknown surpasses even these notable recordings, featuring an all-star quartet whose members' combined experience encapsulates the last four decades of free jazz history.Parker has been Ware's primary colleague for almost ...

205

Album Review

Nancy Walker: New Hieroglyphics

Read "New Hieroglyphics" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
June 21, 2011

Amidst an overcrowded community, even the cream of the crop has difficulty getting heard beyond their own locales. A regular visitor to relatively nearby Ottawa, Toronto-based Nancy Walker is an Ottawa Jazz Festival regular as part of John Geggie's trio at the late night jam sessions--also participating on the bassist's recent Across the Sky (Plunge, 2010), an at times lyrical, other times incendiary modern mainstream date featuring better-known saxophonist Donny McCaslin. The pianist has been delivering albums under her own ...