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.

423

Live Review

Jazzkaar 2011: Tallinn, Estonia, Days 4-6

by John Kelman
April 29, 2011

Days 1-3 | Days 4-6 | Days 7-8 Gourmet Duo / Joel Remmel Trio / Rebecca Kontus / UMA & Andi Pupato Jazzkaar Festival 2011 Tallinn, Estonia April 23-25, 2011 It may be small--both geographically, sandwiched between the Baltic Sea and Russia, with only 159.2 square kilometers and a population of a mere 1.3 million as of its last census--but Estonia has a cultural tradition that dwarfs many larger countries. And for ...

137

Album Review

Jason Parker Quartet: Five Leaves Left

Read "Five Leaves Left" reviewed by Greg Simmons

by Greg Simmons
April 29, 2011

For its fourth album, the Jason Parker Quartet takes a sharp departure from its previous three efforts. Rather than simply cutting another solid straight-ahead quartet date, trumpeter Parker has added vocalist Michele Khazak, and multi-woodwind blower Cynthia Mullis, to reinterpret an entire folk-pop album: Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left (Island Records, 1969). Despite being far outside the typical jazz cannon, Drake's music continues to receive coverage from a number of jazz artists, including pianist Brad Mehldau, proving that unexpected choices ...

105

Album Review

Agogic: Agogic

by Jerry D'Souza
April 29, 2011

Table and Chairs music is a new label dedicated to harnessing Seattle's rich music legacy. Its first release, Agogic, is the eponymous debut featuring trumpeter Cuong Vu and saxophonist Andrew D'Angelo. D'Angelo cast his dye as an alto saxophonist in Seattle before moving to New York, and has played with Kurt Rosenwinkel and Erik Friedlander, among others. Vu has made an indelible impression as a thoughtful and resourceful musician, one who is never afraid to forge ahead and create new ...

Album Review

Gretchen Parlato: The Lost And Found

Read "The Lost And Found" reviewed by Wilbert Sostre

by Wilbert Sostre
April 29, 2011

Despite being completely different singers, there's a lot to connect Gretchen Parlato with the legendary Billie Holiday. Holiday was a singer with a phrasing deeply rooted in the blues, while Parlato is a jazz singer with the modern influences of R&B and pop music, but what draws them together is the uniqueness of their respective styles. Neither has the greatest vocal range, but the originality and pure feeling of their voices is what has set them apart from any other ...

336

Live Review

Mark Dresser / Myra Melford / Michael Dessen: San Diego: April 17, 2011

by Robert Bush
April 28, 2011

Mark Dresser / Myra Melford / Michael DessenUC San Diego, UC IrvineSan Diego, CAApril 17, 2011 The University of California has been heavily involved in the advancement of “telematic" performances now for over 10 years. Utilizing the Internet2 (a not-for-profit advanced networking consortium) and super high-speed bandwidth networks, as well as state-of-the-art video and audio connections, telematic events feature musicians in different co-locations, interacting with each other and the audience in absolute real-time. The ...

118

Album Review

John Martin Quartet: Dawning

by Chris May
April 28, 2011

The debut album from London saxophonist John Martin comes with some heavyweight commendations. Flugelhornist Kenny Wheeler, whose music inspired one tune and whose influence courses through the disc, calls it “a lovely album," and saxophonist Iain Ballamy says it is “an honest, cohesive and sophisticated release." Dawning introduces an engaging young saxophonist, in whose music echoes of Africa can be heard alongside those of Wheeler and a more general ECM-like ambience. Martin has long experience of playing ...

237

Live Review

Cape May Jazz Festival, April 8-10, 2011

by Sandy Ingham
April 28, 2011

Cape May Jazz Festival Cape May, NJ April 8-10, 2011 Poncho Sanchez never fails to ignite his audience, and his Latin jazz band came out blazing as the Saturday night opening act/headliner at the semiannual Cape May (N.J.) Jazz Festival, April 8-10. Sanchez, the hammer-handed conga player and leather-lunged lead singer for the eight-piece band, had a crackerjack three-horn front line as always, a pianist who doubled on electrifying organ, and a couple fellow percussionists blending ...

130

Album Review

Mary Lou Williams: Mary Lou Williams At Rick's Cafe Americain

Read "Mary Lou Williams At Rick's Cafe Americain" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
April 28, 2011

The second album of this double CD issue was released by Storyville in 1998, under the same title. Valuable enough in its way, featuring pianist Mary Lou Williams three years before her death, playing standards that include one of her own, “What's Your Story, Morning Glory?," originally composed for the Andy Kirk band in the days when she was the “baby at the baby grand." But the icing on the cake of this reissue is another disc, that features six ...

130

Album Review

Jared Gold: All Wrapped Up

Read "All Wrapped Up" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
April 28, 2011

Jared Gold's fourth album as leader, All Wrapped Up, finds fresh faces joining the organist as he releases his first recording without a guitarist. This is also Gold's first all-originals album--although he shares the writing credits with his band mates, who each contribute a tune. The new lineup and new tunes ensure that this album, and Gold's playing, sounds bright and upbeat from the off. All Wrapped Up is Gold's follow-up to 2010's relaxed, almost laidback Out Of ...

102

Album Review

Audrey Silver: Dream Awhile

Read "Dream Awhile" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
April 28, 2011

eviews touting a singer's perfect diction are reminiscent of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (or the Lerner and Lowe 1956 musical and 1964 movie, My Fair Lady), and the plight of Eliza Doolittle to straighten out her coarse Cockney into the Queen's speech). Diction has been a driving force in describing singer Audrey Silver's sophomore recording Dream Awhile. The issue is not that Silver has perfect diction (she has) but why it is so perfect. Silver's first recording, ...