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.

293

Album Review

Michel Reis: Point of No Return

Read "Point of No Return" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
March 3, 2011

With Point of No Return, pianist Michel Reis--born in Luxembourg and now New York-based after formal education at Berklee School of Music and the New England Conservatory--has recorded an album of atmospheric, often somber, and consistently beautiful music. The twenty-something musician avoids the trap into which so many budding artists fall: that of mixing styles and concepts on a single set, trying to show off everything they can do.The finely focused, mostly piano trio effort is augmented on ...

519

Extended Analysis

Brad Mehldau: Live in Marciac

by John Kelman
March 2, 2011

Brad Mehldau Live in Marciac Nonesuch Records2011 If there's any (relatively) young pianist ready to take the torch from Keith Jarrett when it comes to solo performance, it's Brad Mehldau. In the space of (again, relatively) a few short years, from his mid-1990s emergence with saxophonist Joshua Redman through his early--and, some might suggest, rather precocious, were they not already so well-formed and mature--Art of the Trio series, the 40 year-old pianist has emerged ...

165

Album Review

Ernest Dawkins' New Horizons Ensemble: The Prairie Prophet

Read "The Prairie Prophet" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
March 2, 2011

Since 1978, saxophonist Ernest Dawkins has led his flagship band, The New Horizons Ensemble, through myriad jazz traditions, from blues, swing and funk to post-bop, avant-garde and beyond. The Prairie Prophet, their fifth album on Delmark, is dedicated to one of Chicago's most venerated scene leaders, the late tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson, a founding member of the AACM and proprietor of The Velvet Lounge. Exuding an air of celebratory reverence, the session includes homages to spiritual leaders, fellow artistic innovators ...

552

Interview

James Lent: The Man at the Piano

by Gary Bennett
March 2, 2011

The Other Side has been a landmark of Hyperion Avenue, sandwiched between a gymnasium and an eatery or two in the Silverlake section of Los Angeles, for several decades. Ownership has changed once or twice; bartenders have come and gone. But faithful patronage of the restaurant-bar hasn't waned. Inside, the blood-red walls are accented by soft lighting, black leather stools and white shuttered windows. The focal point of the room is a black piano framed by mirrored ...

587

Extended Analysis

Lajos Dudas: 50 Years With Jazzclarinet - The Best Of Lajos Dudas

by Douglas Payne
March 2, 2011

Lajos Dudas50 Years With Jazzclarinet: The Best Of Lajos DudasJazz Sick Records2011 The clarinet is one of the most important instruments in the foundation of jazz. But it lost its luster after Benny Goodman fell out of popularity in the 1950s. After 1960, the few of the American clarinetists still left playing the instrument mostly migrated to Europe. It was only in Europe that the clarinet seemed to thrive after 1960. ...

308

Album Review

Soren Moller: Christian X Variations

Read "Christian X Variations" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
March 2, 2011

While Danish-born pianist Soren Moller and American saxophonist Dick Oatts--of Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz orchestra fame--have had an ongoing partnership on record, the seeds of this union have finally reached full bloom with Christian X Variations. The music on this recording, written to honor the Danish King who made significant efforts to protect Jews from deportation and discrimination during World War II, is easily the most ambitious and powerful that Moller has ever created. Whether veering into ...

344

Album Review

Carlo De Rosa's Cross-Fade: Brain Dance

Read "Brain Dance" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
March 2, 2011

There are “musician-for-hire" gunslingers--professionals employed at a moment's notice to bring their skills to a gig or recording. But the mercenary analogy is only a small part of their repertoire, as many of these invaluable side musicians are leaders and composers just awaiting the opportunity to release their own material. Such is the case with Brain Dance, by bassist Carlo De Rosa, who has performed with The Chico O'Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Yo-Yo Ma, Rudresh Mahanthappa, and many others. ...

277

Album Review

Jackie McLean: New Soil

Read "New Soil" reviewed by Greg Simmons

by Greg Simmons
March 2, 2011

Jackie McLean's New Soil, is not the most acclaimed album in the classic Blue Note catalogue, but this 1959 release deserves more attention that it gets, being supremely well-played, well-written and--within the limitations of its time--well-recorded. This vinyl reissue, remastered from the original tapes by the good folks at Acous-Tech, is part of a series of albums--fifty titles in all, so far--that includes some of the most well-known Blue Note recordings from the 1950s and '60s, and may well represent ...

248

Album Review

Luciano Troja: At Home with Zindars

Read "At Home with Zindars" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
March 2, 2011

Italian pianist Luciano Troja--like saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, drummers Philly Joe Jones and Tony Williams, accordionist Dino Saluzzi, guitarists Larry Coryell and Emily Remler,and trumpeter Donald Byrd before him--discovered the beauty of pianist/composer Earl Zindars' music via the numerous interpretations of pianist Bill Evans. Enchanted by Zindars' compositions, Troja embarked on a five-year odyssey to meet the sources of Zindars' inspiration--his wife and daughters--and to record, over several years, sixteen of Zindars' pieces. Troja's dedication and evident inspiration gave rise to ...

377

Live From New York

Wayne Shorter, Roscoe Mitchell & Oliver Lake

by Martin Longley
March 1, 2011

The Wayne Shorter Quartet The Town Hall February 9, 2011 When observing Wayne Shorter on the stage, he's immediately remarkable for possessing an eccentric body language. In his childlike way (particularly the exploratory, enquiring nature of the as-yet-unformed), Shorter reveals his inner self, always responding to his surroundings in an intuitive fashion. So, it was clear that, at the outset of this performance, he wasn't settled, comfortable or happy with his ...