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.

262

Extended Analysis

Hot Tuna: Steady As She Goes

by Doug Collette
April 23, 2011

Hot TunaSteady As She GoesRed House 2011 Singer and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen's last solo album, River Of Time (Red House, 2009), sounded more than a little like a vintage Hot Tuna album, so it's little surprise the group's first studio album in 20 years has come along in such short order. Like its predecessor, it was recorded at Levon Helm's Barn in Woodstock New York, and also produced by Larry Campbell, ...

319

Album Review

Ayako Shirasaki: Falling Leaves - Live In Hamburg

Read "Falling Leaves - Live In Hamburg" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 23, 2011

Energy is one of the most important and elusive elements in jazz. Some people foolishly equate energy with speed or skill, but the two aren't necessarily linked. Bill Evans didn't sprint around the keyboard, but his music created a cocoon of energy that enveloped an audience in a way that few pianists could ever emulate. Energy comes from the way an artist connects to a song and the way they can take an audience, whether in the room or listening ...

457

Bailey's Bundles

Emmanuel Krivine: Beethoven Complete Symphonies

by C. Michael Bailey
April 23, 2011

La Chambre Philharmonique, Emmanuel KrivineBeethoven Complete SymphoniesNaive2011 The French record label Naïve has released a new Beethoven Symphony cycle as a single 5-CD unit, forgoing individual releases of the symphonies, which have typically come out two to a disc, with the last reserved for the lengthy Ninth Symphony. Other notable characteristics of this set is that it is the product of the relatively young La Chambre Philharmonique led by conductor Emmanuel ...

168

Album Review

Eliane Amherd: Now And From Now On

Read "Now And From Now On" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
April 23, 2011

Eliane Amherd creates bright and cheery, easy to listen to; jazz music that's a perfect soundtrack to sunny summer days. She also writes and performs material with a harder edge, darker and raunchier. She's blessed with a strong voice that's capable of intimate romance and bluesy hollers, and she is a fine guitarist, with touches of Marc Ribot's style. All of this goes together to ensure that Now And From Now On is a constantly rewarding album that establishes the ...

249

Album Review

New Tricks: Alternate Side...

Read "Alternate Side..." reviewed by Greg Simmons

by Greg Simmons
April 23, 2011

Here's something you don't read in album liner notes every day: “We recorded in Shawn's apartment...using only blankets wrapped around music stands for audio separation." New Tricks has seemingly recorded Alternate Side... in some no-frills circumstances, but there's truth in the old saying that adversity sometimes brings out the best in people. This piano-less collective, featuring a trumpet and tenor sax front line, plays an energetic brawl of traded solos, hard bop melodies, and freely constructed harmonization. Likely ...

233

Album Review

J. Leandre / N. Mitchell / D. Van Der Schyff: Before After

Read "Before After" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
April 23, 2011

Flutist Nicole Mitchell's strong attachment to the Vancouver creative scene has borne unpredictable fruit. She has been an artist in residence at the city's International Jazz Festival from 2006-2010, but it was only when bassist Joëlle Léandre was likewise featured, in 2009, that the two combined, along with Vancouver native Dylan van der Schyff behind the drums, for the performance documented here as Before After. Over four collective inventions in a 43-minute program, the three participants reach an ...

533

Album Review

The Uptown Jazz Collective: She Do What She Do

Read "She Do What She Do" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
April 23, 2011

The Uptown Jazz Collective makes a strong impression on She Do What She Do, fitting firmly into several grooves. The group is as much at ease singing the blues as it is filtering the essence of jazz, and giving gospel a big slab of soul--even delving into poetry. The band is tight and swings deliciously, creating some fine aural textures that not only complement, but also draw a tangent to, baritone vocalist T.C. III. The singer is in ...

308

Album Review

David Mott: Dragonhorn

Read "Dragonhorn" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
April 22, 2011

Baritone saxophonist David Mott has turned out the finest solo sax recording since Anthony Braxton's Wesleyan 12 Altosolos (Hat Hut Records 1992). That is not to suggest that Mott's Dragonhorn is similar to Braxton's particular style. Mott's ten compositions are not given to episodic jumps, vibrations or anything remotely antiseptic. Rather, they are packed with emotion, atmosphere and with a sound as rich and full as a group formation and achieved without aberrant enhancements. “Continuum" begins the collection ...

239

Live Review

Kurt Elling: Denver, Colorado, April 9, 2011

by Geoff Anderson
April 22, 2011

Kurt EllingSoiled Dove UndergroundDenver, COApril 9, 2011 Perhaps it's ironic: jazz wants to be free, yet boundaries abound. Nowhere has a boundary been more touchy or controversial than the line between jazz and rock. Miles Davis blurred it, trounced it, trod upon it, spat on it. And, in some circles, he was vilified; in others celebrated. Still is. You'd think the famous quote from Duke Ellington would put this sort of thing to rest, ...

272

Album Review

Mathias Eick: Skala

by John Kelman
April 22, 2011

Those who've caught Mathias Eick live, since the release of The Door (ECM, 2008), know that, as strong a first salvo as that debut was, it was no preparation for the power of the Norwegian trumpeter in performance. When his quartet performed at Mai Jazz 2008, with pianist Andreas Ulvo replacing The Door's Jon Balke, it was patently clear that Eick was looking to bridge his intrinsically melodic concerns with the youthful energy of groups like Jaga Jazzist, with whom ...