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.

279

Album Review

Julian and Roman Wasserfuhr: Gravity

Read "Gravity" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
May 20, 2011

Julian and Roman Wasserfuhr, trumpeter and keyboard player respectively, started their recording careers early. They recorded their debut, Remembering Chet (ACT, 2006), under the heading of Young German Jazz, when Julian was 17 years old and Roman was barely 21. Even though the brothers are still in their early and mid-20s the “Young" element of that title has gone--and rightly so, for their third album, Gravity, is a stylish recording of atmospheric, laidback jazz. The brothers' maturity ...

158

Album Review

SoCorpo: On Becoming

Read "On Becoming" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
May 20, 2011

SoCorpo's debut is one of those recordings that could easily fly under the radar. Composed of two vocal artists who are based in New York--multi-instrumentalist Sasha Bogdanowitsch, also heard on Meredith Monk's Impermanence (ECM, 2008) , and Uruguay-born Sabrina Lastman, who has also collaborated with Monk. Both of them also partnered previously on Bogdanowitsch's SaReel Project. The duo's fascinating vocal technique references classical Indian vocal traditions, polyphonic Scandinavian vocal style, contemporary new music, and is even reminiscent ...

169

Album Review

Alon Nechushtan: Words Beyond

Read "Words Beyond" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
May 20, 2011

Pianist Alon Nechushtan is in the thick of things, amid a vibrant New York City jazz culture that often spawns deviating tangents and inventive ideologies. Indeed, the pianist reveals astounding technical faculties and a far-reaching approach to composition. Nechushtan's jazz-klezmer band TALAT, amid numerous forays into modern jazz and unconventional settings, intermittently gels to the beat of a markedly different drummer The program conveys Nechushtan's unbounded vision, as he overhauls the tried and true. With the musicians' pristine ...

251

Extended Analysis

Bela Fleck & The Flecktones: Rocket Science

by John Kelman
May 19, 2011

Béla Fleck & The Flecktones Rocket Science E One Music Group 2011 Some say you can't go back, but that's not always true. Emerging from his formative years as a rising star in the blue/newgrass community, banjoist Béla Fleck lept onto a much bigger radar with the release of Béla Fleck & The Flecktones (Warner Bros., 1990), after forming the group in 1988. Stretching and, in some cases, breaking down the boundaries of jazz, ...

108

Album Review

Alexis Cuadrado: Noneto Ibérico

Read "Noneto Ibérico" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
May 19, 2011

Bassist Alexis Cuadrado imparts his vernacular as a composer in Noneto Ibérico, a nine-movement work commissioned by The Chamber Music America-Doris Duke Foundation's “New Works" program. With a potent nine-piece band that includes Alan Ferber, Avishai Cohen, and others, Cuadrado puts a fresh timestamp on Spanish Flamenco and modern jazz with writing in the vein of contemporary composers such as Guillermo Klein. This crosspollination of idioms has been covered in numerous recordings, yet Cuadrado's insight fleshes out ...

233

Extended Analysis

Sabor de Gracia: Sabor Pa' Rato

by Chris May
May 19, 2011

Sabor de GraciaSabor Pa' RatoWorld Village2011 For some non-native enthusiasts, Catalan rumba starts and finishes with Ojos de Brujo. But the word is that the Barcelona collective's album Corriente Vital: 10 Ans (Warner Music Spain, 2011) may be its last: after seven world tours and a string of luminous studio and live albums, the Ojos de Brujo ("eyes of the wizard") musicians are said to want a break, and the space ...

108

Album Review

Dan Wilensky: Group Therapy

Read "Group Therapy" reviewed by Charles Walker

by Charles Walker
May 19, 2011

Tenor saxophonist Dan Wilensky possesses a warm, accessible tone on his instrument, and at first glance Group Therapy seems tailor-made to feature this broad, bluesy sound on ten straightforward compositions. However, less than two minutes into “Reckless Tongue," the album opener, the syrupy head breaks down into a standstill of rests and whole notes before sliding back into the relaxed groove that carries the tune the rest of the way. This brief moment of suspense perfectly encapsulates what makes the ...

200

Live Review

Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland 2011: Days 4-6

by Matt Marshall
May 19, 2011

Days 1-3 | Days 4-6 | Days 8-10 32nd Annual Tri-C JazzFest ClevelandCleveland, OhioApril 28-May 8, 2011 Chapter Index April 30: Women in Jazz: a Tribute to Betty Carter May 1: Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet / Tia Fuller Quintet May 1: Maurice Brown May 2: The Dave Sterner Quintet April 30: Women in Jazz: a Tribute to Betty Carter The JazzFest's yearly Women in Jazz program has become ...

119

Album Review

Jim Snidero: Interface

Read "Interface" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 19, 2011

The digital age has completely changed the way language is used. People talk about “googling" things, discovering new “apps," and “friending people" all the time, so it wouldn't be surprising if the word “interface" eventually replaces “communication" in common, everyday conversations. Interfacing can essentially be viewed as a modern day synonym for communication, and that, after all, is one of the cornerstones of jazz. Saxophonist Jim Snidero knows this all too well. With an impressive résumé as a sideman, decades ...

140

Album Review

The Brian Landrus Quartet: Traverse

Read "Traverse" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
May 19, 2011

Boasting an extensive résumé as a sideman in addition to his 2010 debut Forward (Cadence Jazz), baritone saxophonist/bass clarinetist Brian Landrus focuses on the mainstream jazz strata on Traverse. Landrus is equally adept as an outside player but delves, on this album, into more conventional persuasions, garnering sympathetic support from his venerable band mates. Landrus incorporates fluency and warmth into his repertoire. He generates soul-stirring overtones and capacious qualities via an acute sense of dynamics. These attributes shine ...