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.

260

Album Review

Melvin Jones: Pivot

by Edward Blanco
May 19, 2011

Melvin Jones offers a variety of musical styles on Pivot, with a selection of modern romp and simmering ballads on this very impressive debut as a leader. For the trumpeter, “pivot" is the defining moment--indeed the turning point--in which different genres come together in one special album. Jones contributes the majority of this thirteen-piece, nearly all original repertoire, borrowing a few charts from Atlanta saxophonist Mace Hibbard and pianist Louis Heriveaux. No novice in the world of jazz, ...

156

Live Review

Vijay Iyer Trio: Washington, DC, April 30, 2011

by Franz A. Matzner
May 18, 2011

Vijay Iyer TrioSixth & I Historic SynagogueWashington, DCApril 30, 2011 Sponsored by the Washington Performing Arts Society, pianist Vijay Iyer's concert placed his innovative trio in the sumptuous setting of Washington, DC's Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. The domed ceilings and intricate décor provided an appropriate backdrop to Iyer's powerfully evocative, enormously creative musical explorations, the serenity and seriousness of the space reflecting the complexity and spiritual clarity of Iyer's music ...

Album Review

Fred Van Hove: Piano Solo

Read "Piano Solo" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
May 18, 2011

Belgian pianist Fred Van Hove has always been identified with the European free music movement, but he also stands outside the cadre of players that formed the FMP label. This rerelease (first time on CD) of two solo LPs, Prosper (1981) and Die Letzte (1986), reaffirm his personality and uniqueness as an improvising player. Piano Solo comes as part of the limited edition box FMP im Rückblick--In Retrospect (1969-2010), with its extraordinary 218-page book full of photographs, articles, ...

123

Album Review

Nat Janoff: Come Together Move Apart

Read "Come Together Move Apart" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
May 18, 2011

Guitarist Nat Janoff's Come Together Move Apart appears over a decade after his critically-applauded debut, Looking Through (Independent Records,1999). He's not been idle during the intervening years, but his recorded output has been sporadic. That's to be regretted, for Janoff's playing is a delight, and his fellow musicians on this album are some of the brightest and best on the scene. Janoff's early influences include Eddie Van Halen, whose playing was the catalyst for Janoff's move from ...

495

Interview

Rusty Taylor: Jazz + Country = Southern Comfort

by Guy Zinger
May 18, 2011

Rusty Allen Taylor is an engaging example of a new a new country-jazz, male vocalist. With his touch of country zing, he creates a mix of sweetness and mellowness, on the one hand, and speckles it with dirt, on the other. This bittersweet mix is a parallel to his life and generates a truly unique sound. After 16 years of what Rusty describes as “incarceration in the corporate world," he has made his hobbies into his full-time ...

199

Album Review

Roseanna Vitro: The Music Of Randy Newman

Read "The Music Of Randy Newman" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 18, 2011

With Randy Newman's long-awaited Songbook Vol. 2 (Nonesuch, 2011) and vocalist Roseanna Vitro's album-length salute to his music hitting stores a week apart, it would seem that it's time for revived interest in all things Newman. While the singer/songwriter's release is a solo journey through his own catalog, Vitro's album presents ten of his pieces dressed in newly tailored arrangements from pianist Mark Soskin. Vitro touches on material from throughout Newman's storied career, but she tends to avoid ...

168

Album Review

Jim Snidero: Interface

Read "Interface" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
May 18, 2011

Alto saxophonist Jim Snidero is a masterful mainstream jazz man, though he's proven his versatility and overall musical acumen, including a third stream lean, on his Strings (Fantasy Jazz, 2003), a set that featured a jazz quartet teamed with strings. Interface finds Snidero back in a straight-ahead frame of mind, teamed, for his third consecutive recording on the Savant Records label, with guitarist Paul Bollenback. The pairing is an auspicious one. Bollenbeck--an outstanding leader in his own ...

128

Album Review

Mark Alban Lotz: Istanbul Improv Sessions May 5th

Read "Istanbul Improv Sessions May 5th" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
May 18, 2011

German-born flautist Mark Alban Lotz grew up in Thailand and Uganda, and has had an interesting career path. He began playing the flute when he was 17, and went on to study jazz and classical music as well as contemporary musical idioms. His music is nourished by all three forms, but he also has a healthy approach to open improvisation and various strands of world music. Lotz has been shaping his professional career from the time he formed ...

254

Album Review

The Cookers: Cast the First Stone

Read "Cast the First Stone" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
May 17, 2011

Cast the First Stone is the sophomore follow-up to Warriors (Jazz Legacy Productions, 2010), the debut recording of the all-star ensemble The Cookers, whose name was inspired by the 1965 Blue Note live album series Night of the Cookers. Lending credence to its namesake, this powerhouse septet swings mightily through a series of post-bop originals and a sole cover, bolstered by the presence of special guest, acclaimed saxophonist Azar Lawrence, whose recent resurgence has found the renowned firebrand in riveting ...

537

Interview

Derek Gripper: Finding the New Cape

by Seton Hawkins
May 17, 2011

In 2002, Cape Town-based guitarist, violist, and composer Derek Gripper began a musical collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Alex van Heerden. In doing so, the two men sparked a musical partnership that would, in only a few months, smash through stylistic boundaries on their debut recording Sagtevlei > (New Cape Records, 2010). Drawing upon the rich ghoema musical tradition of Cape Town, Sagtevlei proved to be a haunting and magical journey into the artistic legacy of the Cape, and showcased two young ...