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.

153

New York Beat

February Forays

by Nick Catalano
March 12, 2011

February is one of those months when this New York Beat column could expand into a full periodical because of the plethora of jazz activity occurring in Gotham. I began my trek early in the month, when the city was buried in crystal mounds of snow from winter storms that had pounded the city, week after week, producing record totals. I made my way down to Del Posto (which I'm told is the country's only four-star Italian ...

416

Book Review

Follow Your Heart: John McLaughlin Song by Song

by Ian Patterson
March 12, 2011

Follow Your Heart: John McLaughlin Song by SongWalter KoloskySoftcover; 306 pagesISBN: 978-0-9761016-5-9Abstract Logix Books2010 The title of Walter Kolosky's guide to the entire compositional oeuvre of guitarist/composer John McLaughlin captures the essence of what makes McLaughlin tick. Whether alienating jazz purists at the Newport Jazz Festival with the trail-blazing fusion of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, or incurring the displeasure of his record company for his forays into acoustic ...

250

Album Review

Jonathan Kreisberg: Shadowless

Read "Shadowless" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
March 12, 2011

A nascent modern day guitar hero, Jonathan Kreisberg's sixth solo effort, Shadowless, glistens with multihued rays of light amid memorable material and technical brilliance. With his band generating solicitous support and soling mechanisms, the proceedings soar into the jazz cosmos on the sizzling “Twenty One." Kreisberg's broad chordal vernacular is heartily emphasized, as he trades fours and spars with saxophonist Will Vinson. Featuring buoyant and odd-metered unison runs, Kreisberg weaves in between the rhythm section's fluid underpinnings, ...

117

Album Review

Julia Hulsmann: Imprint

Read "Imprint" reviewed by Jonathan Wertheim

by Jonathan Wertheim
March 12, 2011

Manfred Eicher's Munich-based ECM Records specializes in spacious, absorbing records that reveal their inner workings, labyrinth-like, over the course of many listens. Some releases reveal themselves from the first note; with others, it can take years. Pianist Julia Hülsmann's sixth record--and second for ECM--Imprint, manages both. Hülsmann's trio isn't new--it has had more than a decade to establish its stylistic identity. But when the ensemble moved to ECM, releasing its label debut, The End of a Summer, ...

265

Album Review

Yellowjackets: Timeline

Read "Timeline" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
March 11, 2011

To have worked thirty years in the business is exceptional for any band, especially in jazz. But since 1981, pianist/keyboardist Russell Ferrante and bassist Jimmy Haslip have maintained the award-winning Yellowjackets--from that year's eponymous Warner Bros. debut, with its infectious blend of fusion and funk, featuring guitarist Robben Ford, and the incorporation of jazz and strings in Greenhouse (GRP, 1991), with multi-reed master Bob Mintzer, to the twentieth anniversary double-CD Mint Jam (Yellowjackets Ent., 2001)--and the group's beat, in its ...

220

Live Review

Chick Corea / Gary Burton: San Diego, USA, March 1, 2011

by Robert Bush
March 11, 2011

Chick Corea / Gary BurtonAnthology,San Diego, CAMarch 1, 2011 Pianist Chick Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton first met in the late 1960s, as Burton was leaving, and Corea was joining saxophonist Stan Getz's band. Together, they released one of the most astonishing records of the 1970s, Crystal Silence (ECM, 1973). Since then, they have reunited several times, expanding their original concept of piano/vibes duet to a new plateau. Tuesday's concert at ...

219

Album Review

Larry Carlton: Plays The Sound of Philadelphia

Read "Plays The Sound of Philadelphia" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
March 11, 2011

Regardless of context, guitarist Larry Carlton has built a reputation as one of the tastiest guitarists around, whether he's supporting singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell, jazz/pop hybrid Steely Dan or soulful jazz/funksters The Crusaders. His own records, while always accessible--at times, crossing the line into smooth jazz territory--demonstrate a distinctive blend of sweet and gritty tone, bluesy soulfulness, and plenty of jazz chops, often surfacing in the most unexpected places. Live in Tokyo With Special Guest Robben Ford (335 Records, 2009), was ...

261

Album Review

Boris Savoldelli: Biocosmopolitan

Read "Biocosmopolitan" reviewed by Mark Redlefsen

by Mark Redlefsen
March 11, 2011

What a contrast Boris Savoldelli's Biocosmopolitan is to the vocalist's predecessor, Protoplasmic (MoonJune Records, 2009), which featured guitarist Elliot Sharp as his chief collaborator. While Protoplasmic was a brave dive into the experimental, Biocosmopolitan is a bright, infectious and singable work. The right balance of passion, delivery, and technology come together for 16 enjoyable tracks with brevity a main device, employed by Savoldelli, that helps maintain a constant sense of movement and flow. The style is a ...

189

Album Review

Suzanne Pittson: Out of the Hub: The Music of Freddie Hubbard

Read "Out of the Hub: The Music of Freddie Hubbard" reviewed by Wilbert Sostre

by Wilbert Sostre
March 11, 2011

The vocalese and scatting tradition is alive and well in singer Suzanne Pittson. With Out of the Hub: The Music of Freddie Hubbard, Pittson continues to establish herself as one of the best singers on today's jazz scene. Out of the Hub includes tunes written by or associated with trumpet legend Freddie Hubbard, with Pittson writing or co-writing five lyrics, which Hubbard approved just three months before his passing in 2008. To honor Hubbard, Pittson recruited ...

124

Live From Philadelphia

Larry Carlton Revisits Sounds of Philadelphia

by John Patten
March 11, 2011

Soulful sounds may have started in Motown or Memphis, but for many, it's the sounds of Philadelphia that captured their hearts. That's certainly the case for Larry Carlton, who released a collection of the biggest hits penned by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff on his 335 Records label, in February, 2011. Many of the songs were Top 10 hits by groups including The Spinners and The Stylistics, along with hits by other classic vocal groups.