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.

246

Album Review

Matthew Halsall: On The Go

Read "On The Go" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
April 13, 2011

Sometimes it's best to get straight to the point, to stop beating around the bush and avoid going round in circles. This is one of those times. On The Go is superb, a finely-crafted, emotionally and spiritually engaging work that stands comparison with anything the jazz world currently has to offer, and with plenty of the finest from the jazz world's past. On The Go is the third album from trumpeter Matthew Halsall, one of a growing ...

158

Album Review

Ken Peplowski: In Search Of ...

Read "In Search Of ..." reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
April 13, 2011

The splenetic and hard-nosed clarinetist/bandleader Benny Goodman admired tenor saxophonist Ken Peplowski enough to hire the younger musician on for his last performing band, during the mid-1980s. But the Cleveland, Ohio-born and bred Peplowski's main ax was, in fact, the clarinet. He spent a good part of his early career playing in Polish polka bands, and hiring on to play whatever other music jobs that were available. He eventually joined the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, under the baton of Buddy Morrow, ...

244

Take Five With...

Take Five With Lars Dietrich

by AAJ Staff
April 13, 2011

Meet Lars Dietrich: Born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Lars was introduced to the saxophone at the age of 10. After performing a duo TV show with famed jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, Dietrich decided to pursue a career in music. At the age of fifteen he got accepted to study saxophone at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. In 2005 after completing his Masters in Music degree in Amsterdam Lars received a full scholarship from Manhattan School of Music, Dietrich moved to New York ...

251

Album Review

Don "Sugar Cane" Harris: Cup Full of Dreams

Read "Cup Full of Dreams" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
April 13, 2011

While Sugar Cane's Got the Blues (MPS, 1972; Reissued Promising Music, 2008), teamed the violinist with Europeans including Norwegian guitarist Terje Rypdal, German keyboardist Wolfgang Dauner and British (though, with a life-changing accident looming, not for long) drummer Robert Wyatt, Cup Full of Dreams finds Don “Sugar Cane" Harris back on American turf, with a group of players that would feature, in various permutations and combinations, on his remaining MPS releases into the mid-1970s, after which he'd mysteriously disappear, until ...

167

Album Review

Eddie Mendenhall: Cosine Meets Tangent

Read "Cosine Meets Tangent" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
April 13, 2011

Pianist/composer Eddie Mendenhall is a young music professor at Monterey Peninsula College, and serves as an instructor at the renowned Monterey Jazz Festival Summer Jazz Camp. As a music professional, Mendenhall leads his own uncommon quartet on Cosine Meets Tangent, his debut as leader, featuring the combination of piano and vibes as lead instruments. Mendenhall's professional background includes a seven-year stint on the Tokyo jazz scene, and performing as a member of Ray Brown's Great Big Band for the last ...

249

Album Review

Jan Garbarek / The Hilliard Ensemble: Officium Novum

Read "Officium Novum" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski

by Nenad Georgievski
April 13, 2011

Officium (ECM, 1993) paired renowned Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek with The Hilliard ensemble--a vocal group with a formidable reputation in the fields of both early and new music--playing a riveting and gorgeous set of compositions that were 500 years old. This unusual pairing proved to be a match made in heaven, as the subtle and wistful tone of Garbarek's 20th century instrument somehow found its place as another voice among the beautiful voices of the Hilliard ensemble, receiving rave reviews. ...

670

Interview

James Polk: Recipes from the Doctor

by Josep Pedro
April 13, 2011

Pianist Dr. James Polk's musical knowledge and worldwide experience spans over more than 50 years. His style, deeply-rooted in the blues, is an example of richness and experience. Polk came up along with a group of incredible Texan musicians; jazz and blues artists like David Fathead" Newman, Russell Jacquet, Arnett Cobb, Don Wilkerson, and Ornette Coleman, and his sound has that unique Texas flavor. An accomplished musician who has played almost every instrument, Polk was born on September 10, 1940 ...

243

Album Review

Human Element: Human Element

Read "Human Element" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
April 12, 2011

Things may not always work out the way they're planned, but that doesn't mean that can't actually work out better. When keyboardist Scott Kinsey began work on the overdue follow-up to his well-received (and equally overdue) debut as a leader, Kinesthetics (Abstract Logix, 2006), the plan was to focus on a small, consistent line-up, as opposed to the cast of nearly 20 musicians that contributed to Kinesthetics' exploration of a post-Zawinul world, where synthesized orchestrations blended with percussion-heavy world music ...

218

Album Review

Ken Peplowski: In Search Of ...

Read "In Search Of ..." reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
April 12, 2011

Ken Peplowski is a clarinet virtuoso, with a tone of such warmth and beauty that it takes only a few bars to create a feel-good atmosphere, either in performance or, as he ably demonstrates on In Search Of ..., in the studio. Although Peplowski has over 20 albums to his name as leader, he's still experimenting, still trying out new ideas--still, presumably, in search of something. The first nine tunes are recordings from a February 2010 quartet ...

221

Take Five With...

Take Five With Mike Rood

by AAJ Staff
April 12, 2011

Meet Mike Rood:Born into a musical family, Mike has always been immersed in music. He has been playing guitar since he was seven, and his early influences include Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix. Mike also studied classical piano for 13 years, performing in dozens of recitals and competitions. He won the Nicolas Flagello Piano Competition in 2000 and 2001. Drawn to improvised music from an early age, studies with legend John Patitucci during late high school sparked ...