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.

162

Album Review

Benjamin Drazen: Inner Flights

Read "Inner Flights" reviewed by A. Lienhard

by A. Lienhard
March 9, 2011

Alto saxophonist Benjamin Drazen has been plying his trade around Manhattan's network of small jazz bars--places like 55 Bar, Smalls, and The Garage--for over a decade. At long last, the New York native unveils his debut outing, Inner Flights. In a program of mostly original music, Drazen consistently delivers strong post-Coltrane fire, with a sound that lies somewhere between Jackie McLean and Gary Bartz. Paired with Drazen, his band is a juggernaut, everyone possessed of the frenetic, driving pulse destined ...

294

Live Review

39th Annual Lakeland Jazz Festival: February 24-27, 2011

by Matt Marshall
March 9, 2011

39th Annual Lakeland Jazz FestivalKirtland, OHFebruary 24-27, 2011 The Lakeland Jazz Festival routinely catches the ire of Mother Nature, with winter storms often hampering travel of artists and fans alike, at times limiting attendance or even necessitating the cancellation of a show here or there. But that's life for a February festival in the heart of Northeast Ohio's snowbelt. Yet Lakeland's festival, now in its 39th year, soldiers proudly on. Its organizers even opted for an ...

207

Album Review

Twelves: The Adding Machine

Read "The Adding Machine" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
March 9, 2011

In 2008, Twelves Trio released its debut album, the evocatively-titled Here Comes The Woodman With His Splintered Soul (1965 Records). The band has since added guitarist Rob Updegraff, dropped the Trio appellation, changed record labels, and released album number two, the more prosaically named The Adding Machine. The band's intention to explore, improvise and develop sonically remains strong on this release. Twelves is one of a growing number of young British jazz groups characterized by technical ability ...

247

Album Review

ICP Orchestra: Jubilee Varia

Read "Jubilee Varia" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
March 9, 2011

ICP Orchestra's recordings echo the dynamics and ingenuity of European progressive-jazz improvisation. The largely Dutch band, featuring co-founders, pianist Misha Mengelberg and drummer Han Bennink, instituted the ICP Orchestra in parallel with the ICP record label in the late 1960s. The critically heralded 1999 Hat Art album, Jubilee Variance, enjoys renewed life via this 2010 reissue. The band and respective musicians' legacy is well-documented, spanning several decades. Nonetheless, ICP's creative sparks reside within asynchronous projections of improvisation and ...

407

Catching Up With

Keiko Matsui: And The Road...Goes On

by Jeff Winbush
March 9, 2011

Keiko Matsui has been out of the studio but relentlessly trotting the globe since 2007's Moyo (Shout! Factory), her acclaimed South African-inspired recording that featured the Japanese-born pianist/composer/producer collaborating with trumpeter Hugh Masakela, among others. The Road... (Shanachie, 2011) marks the further evolution of her signature sound and demonstrates a new chapter in her artistic growth. “When I started this project I spent a lot of time reflecting on the soul and where it comes from," Matsui explains. “I am ...

181

Album Review

Lee Shaw Trio: Live At Art Gallery Reutlingen

Read "Live At Art Gallery Reutlingen" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
March 8, 2011

After over fifty years as a musician, composer and educator Lee Shaw remains active and in demand. While never the most prolific recording artist, she continues to record in her 80s, and 2011 may well be one of her busiest years, with two albums in quick succession. Together Again: Live At The Egg (Artists Recording Collective) featured Shaw and John Medeski, her former pupil. Live At The Art Gallery Reutlingen comes from three concerts recorded at this German venue in ...

604

Profile

John McNeil's Backbone

by Ben Waltzer
March 8, 2011

Like many trumpeters, John McNeil has a unique brand above his upper lip where flesh meets metal. It looks like a setting sun, and was visible from up close, as he removed his instrument from his mouth, rose steadily from his stool, and grasped the microphone. “This is the part of any jazz gig where the band plays a blues and one of us talks over it. That's how you know it's jazz...I think," said McNeil, 62, ...

320

Album Review

Joel Harrison String Choir: The Music of Paul Motian

Read "The Music of Paul Motian" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
March 8, 2011

Joel Harrison has stretched the boundaries of form and freedom for over fifteen years, but Urban Myths (HighNote, 2009) and, in particular, the ambitious The Wheel (Innova, 2008), have represented significant evolutionary leaps. The Wheel married a conventional horn-led jazz quintet with a classical string quartet, its collection of Harrison originals pushing the limits of cross-pollination by eliminating all preconceived stylistic delineators. The Music of Paul Motian takes The Wheel's advancements a step further, focusing on Motian's writing, rather than ...

705

Interview

Justin Kauflin: Humble Beginnings

by Marshall Taylor
March 8, 2011

The beauty of music lies in its subliminal spirituality. Religious or not, few can argue the effects of music on the human emotions and how it impacts our perception of things beyond what is skin-deep. For 24 year-old Justin Kauflin, a New York-based pianist notable for his work with Jae Sinnett, and for his freshman release of Introducing Justin Kauflin (Self Produced, 2010), the interconnection of music and faith is not only a sure conversation-starter, but also ...

277

Album Review

Fred Hersch: Alone at the Vanguard

Read "Alone at the Vanguard" reviewed by Charles Walker

by Charles Walker
March 8, 2011

If there's anything left to be said about pianist/composer Fred Hersch's resurgence after his 2008 battle with AIDS-related dementia and the subsequent two-month long coma that entailed the complete loss of motor skills in both of his hands, it's this: there is not a single measure of this seventy minutes of solo piano that requires the slightest bit of apology, disclaimer or defense. His touch is so varied and sure, his melodic imagination so seemingly limitless, his abstracted arrangements of ...