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.

158

Album Review

Daniel Smith: Bassoon Goes Latin Jazz!

Read "Bassoon Goes Latin Jazz!" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
May 24, 2011

It's about that sound--that down there, frog-like bellowing encountered on cartoon soundtracks, novelty TV commercials, and that marvelously masculine sound heard in the greatest of orchestral and chamber music repertoire. Rarely is the bassoon heard blowing improvisation in the jazz idiom, athough with the works of Daniel Smith, Paul Hanson and others, that's changing. Daniel Smith Goes Latin Jazz! is a good-natured, upbeat effort to take Smith's crossover bassoon into the world of Latin Jazz. And the ...

208

JazzLife UK

Gondwanaland and the Mystical North

by Bruce Lindsay
May 24, 2011

Good things continue to happen on the UK jazz scene. My cheery optimism remains in place. JazzLife UK gained a small smidgeon of recognition from the Big City. My new Blog, Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold, debuted to almost universal disinterest. Two new releases, the Kairos 4tet's Statement Of Intent (Edition Records) and Matthew Halsall's On The Go (Gondwana Records), are straight on to my Best Of shortlist for 2011. And there's only one enigma currently keeping me from contentment. ...

402

Interview

Tineke Postma: Keeping Honest in Holland

by R.J. DeLuke
May 24, 2011

Tineke Postma's bright voice from Holland has been making a mark on the U.S. scene over the last couple years, with its a bright, clear alto sax sound and a penchant for thoughtful, enthralling melodies. Postma started listening to classical music while growing up in Heerenveen in the northern part of The Netherlands, starting on flute before switching to saxophone. As she moved into music, she began exploring jazz little by little, among other forms of music. But her spirit ...

226

Album Review

Tommy Smith: Karma

by John Kelman
May 23, 2011

Tommy Smith is on a roll. Not that he's been on anything but for the last several years, with a string of superb albums, each as different as they are consistent in demonstrating the saxophonist's ongoing ascension as a player, writer and bandleader. But that's not all. Since returning to Scotland after graduating from Boston's Berklee College of Music in the 1980s and kick-starting his career with a series of albums on Blue Note, Smith has literally reinvented Scotland's jazz ...

161

Album Review

Peter Evans / Agusti Fernandez / Mats Gustafsson: Kopros Lithos

Read "Kopros Lithos" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
May 23, 2011

Much like conceptual artist Piero Manzoni's Merda d'artista project, trumpeter Peter Evans, pianist Agustí Fernández, and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson present this all-acoustic improvisation session called Kopros Lithos, or “fossilized dung."In 1961, Manzoni set about to produce 90 cans of his own feces as a limited edition art piece. In 2007, one can sold at auction for 124,000 Euro.This project refers to dinosaur droppings, a much prized fossil. Indeed, the group's sound (which is occasionally musical) draws ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Erin Dickins

by AAJ Staff
May 23, 2011

Meet Erin Dickins: I am a jazz singer and a founding member of the Manhattan Transfer. I have performed and recorded with everyone from Jaco Pastorius and The Talking Heads to Leonard Cohen and Dr. John. After taking a hiatus, I have returned to jazz with a new solo CD, Nice Girls. I am passionate about the power music has to to change lives, and have devoted many years to bringing the performing arts, especially music, to kids ...

219

Album Review

Arrive: There Was...

Read "There Was..." reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
May 23, 2011

It is astonishing to consider just how many differing ensembles in which a modern jazz musician might participate. Take, for instance, the players heard in alto saxophonist Aram Shelton's Arrive. Besides his own band Rolldown, vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz can be heard in seven other bands, including those of Rob Mazurek, Mike Reed, and Nicole Mitchell. Likewise, Tim Daisy (Ken Vandermark's favorite drummer) lists thirteen active bands, and bassist Jason Roebke, a half dozen. For his part, Shelton (who splits his ...

185

Album Review

NYJAZZ Initiative: Mad About Thad

Read "Mad About Thad" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 23, 2011

Twenty five years have come and gone since Thad Jones' passing, but interest in his music has never waned. Audiences composed of faithful fans and those new to his work still flock en masse to the Village Vanguard on Monday nights to witness the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra exploring his legacy on the very stage where the trumpeter first brought many of his compositions to life. While a good number of Jones' peers have passed on, those who remain still perform ...

233

Album Review

Nate Wooley Quintet: (Put Your) Hands Together

Read "(Put Your) Hands Together" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
May 23, 2011

(Put Your) Hands Together's cover art features a photo of trumpeter Nate Wooley putting his hands together, perhaps as a token of appreciation for his quintet's exemplary performance. Praise is in order because of the program's captivating synchronicity, artfully scaling between structure and improvisation to complement an abundance of polytonal facets. With penetrating compositions and thoughtful improvisational metrics, Wooley's bronze-toned lines and prophetic choruses loom as a commanding force. “Ethyl" features an idiomatic tenor that differs from several ...

326

Interview

Travis Sullivan: This Cat Plays the Sax

by R.J. DeLuke
May 23, 2011

Travis Sullivan composes and arranges with a fine flair. For about the last six years, he's proven himself a strong leader of a large band, running the Bjorkestra, an acclaimed unit that plays slick, intricate and sometimes burning jazz versions of songs by popular Icelandic singer/songwriter Bjork. It's a band that's an audience pleaser and one that musicians like to play in. In Milan, Italy, in December, trumpeter Dave Douglas was the guest soloist. “That's a really fun ...