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

Lubriphonic: Lubriphonic: The Gig Is On

Read "Lubriphonic: The Gig Is On" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
March 4, 2011

Its moniker equal parts lubricious and euphonious, Lubriphonic is nothing if not emphatic in its rendering of traditional funk music. But The Gig Is On finds the Chicago band paying authentic tribute to likeminded roots that complement its forte. The septet demonstrates an intrinsic sense of dynamics that allows its players to transcend a style too imitative of Oakland's great Tower of Power. “No Blues" radiates the bittersweet warmth of vintage Philly soul, while “Punk" belies its title, ...

139

Album Review

John Surman: Flashpoint: NDR Jazz Workshop - April '69

Read "Flashpoint: NDR Jazz Workshop - April '69" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
March 4, 2011

Flashpoint: NDR Jazz Workshop--April '69 is a stunning discovery. Featuring unreleased material executed by a unique ten-piece line-up of European jazz luminaries, it provides a fascinating window into the development of British saxophonist John Surman at the very beginning of his career. Capturing an international all-star ensemble working through Surman's formative concepts, this informal studio session was taped in Hamburg, Germany for the NDR Jazz Workshop, a weekly television series. Despite being recorded in mono for televised broadcast, the audio ...

267

Album Review

California Guitar Trio: Andromeda

Read "Andromeda" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
March 4, 2011

California Guitar Trio celebrates it twentieth anniversary on Andromeda. Protégé's of iconic progressive rock guitarist Robert Fripp (of King Crimson fame), the trio's distinct and borderless methodologies have garnered acclaim throughout the past two decades. The band was often the opening act during King Crimson's late 1990s and early 2000s renaissance. Here, the artists and a special guests pay a bit of homage to the constellations. “Andromeda" finds the trio incorporating a touch of classical inferences and folk-rock, ...

288

Album Review

New York Electric Piano: Keys To The City Volumes 1 & 2

Read "Keys To The City Volumes 1 & 2" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
March 3, 2011

New York Electric Piano started its life as a trio, staying that way for its first three albums. The fourth recording, King Mystery (Buffalo Puppy, 2008), found the band expanding to a septet. Following a minor reshuffle, Keys To The City Volumes 1 & 2 sees further expansion, to an octet with guests, and to a two-CD set. Keyboardist, vocalist and composer Pat Daugherty is still at the helm of a group which is still creating a fascinating sound.

290

Live Review

Noah Preminger Quartet, Boston, February 23

by Gordon Marshall
March 3, 2011

Noah PremingerScullers Jazz ClubBoston, Mass.February 23, 2011 To judge by his sophomore effort, Before the Rain (Palmetto, 2011), tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger's singular forte is the reinvention of the ballad. He does it so well, and so nearly exclusively, that it came as a pleasant surprise, during his performance at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston, Mass., that there is so much more to him than that (not least his power to surprise), and that he ...

272

Live Review

Tessa Souter: Half Moon Bay, February 13, 2011

by Bill Leikam
March 3, 2011

Tessa SouterDouglas Beach HouseHalf Moon Bay, CaliforniaFebruary 13, 2011 There are times, at the Douglas Beach House (aka the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society), when a singer comes in and subtly moves the audience to a deeper attention than might otherwise be the case. So it was, when jazz vocalist, composer, and lyricist Tessa Souter took the stage on Sunday, February 13, 2011. Aside from Souter, the quintet consisted drummer Akira Tana, bassist Dan ...

206

Album Review

Roger Davidson & David Finck: Umbrellas & Sunshine

Read "Umbrellas & Sunshine" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
March 3, 2011

Many people never take the time to truly say how they feel about important people in their lives until it's too late. The same holds true in the jazz community. Posthumous tributes pour out of magazines, newspapers and websites, and are delivered via recordings when important figures of the music pass on, but something resonates more deeply when an artist is still around to receive these plaudits. The great Johnny Mandel recently received such an honor when the DIVA Jazz ...

317

Album Review

Jerry Bergonzi: Convergence

Read "Convergence" reviewed by Greg Simmons

by Greg Simmons
March 3, 2011

Saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi has become one of the most reliable recording artists in jazz. In between his day job as a Berklee College of Music professor, and performing, he turns out a great album or two every year. Featuring mostly tenor horn, Convergence follows dutifully in that pattern. The album splits between a classic piano-based quartet and the more risky piano-less trio with equally good results. Bergonzi, who also overdubs soprano sax for a few tracks, has no problem carrying ...

486

Live Review

Rusty Scott Organ Group: Cambridge, February 9, 2011

by Timothy J. O'Keefe
March 3, 2011

Rusty Scott Organ GroupRegattabarCambridge, MAFebruary 9, 2011 The cold February night, part of a long winter that dropped 60 inches of snow on Boston, didn't prevent a crowd from gathering as Rusty Scott celebrated his release of The Thrill is Gone (CD Baby, 2010). Scott, a Boston area pianist, slid away from the ivories and, for this latest collection of arrangements, chose instead to explore the Hammond B3 organ. “The organ is ...

274

Album Review

Joe Lovano: Joe Lovano - Bird Songs

Read "Joe Lovano - Bird Songs" reviewed by Jonathan Wertheim

by Jonathan Wertheim
March 3, 2011

Joe Lovano's Us Five debut, Folk Art (Blue Note, 2009), was a triumphantly energetic outing, filled with the sound of two drummers and running through a program of Lovano's originals. It was a highly personal and emphatic debut, and a great one too, but Bird Songs is important in completing the portrait of this ensemble. Bird Songs confirms what was previously just a suspicion--that this ensemble has a wide range of expression that can be applied to ...