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.

285

Album Review

Samir Zarif: Starting Point

Read "Starting Point" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
February 23, 2011

Among the many new voices with something unique to say, Texas-born saxophonist Samir Zarif's Starting Point is as fresh a debut as they come. A member of the internationally acclaimed group The Story--whose names include rising stars, pianist John Escreet and saxophonist Lars Dietrich--Zarif also contributed to singer Maria Neckam's memorable Deeper (Sunnyside, 2010). In both cases, his horn has been impressive, but leading and composing his own release is a real opportunity for the saxophonist to shine.

216

Album Review

Vladimir Kostadinovic: Course Of Events

Read "Course Of Events" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
February 23, 2011

The first choice of instrument may not always be the one that lasts through life. Serbian born drummer Vladimir Kostadinovic began playing the accordion when he was seven. When he got his first drum set from his brother four years later, the instrument became his passion. He attended music school in Belgrade, and graduated from the jazz department before he went to the Berklee College of Music on a scholarship. And when it came time to hone his skills, Kostadinovic ...

187

Album Review

Grateful Dead: Road Trips Vol. 4 No. 2: April Fools' '88

Read "Road Trips Vol. 4 No. 2: April Fools' '88" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
February 23, 2011

Adorned with some of the most colorful packaging in the Grateful Dead's Road Trips archive series, Vol. 4 No. 2: April Fools' '88Jerry Garcia's survival of a near fatal coma in 1986 and the Dead's penetration into mainstream culture in 1987 following its hit, “Touch of Grey." This was also a year after the group collaborated with Bob Dylan, so it's not surprising four covers of his songs appear on these three discs. The convoluted lyrics of “Ballad ...

143

Mix Tape

Essential CTI: Part 3

by Douglas Payne
February 23, 2011

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Founded by legendary producer Creed Taylor in 1970, CTI Records achieved a legacy that is unrivaled in jazz. CTI produced records that were not only commercially successful but many that were superbly and artistically satisfying. Some of them are immortal. This is the third of three such sets devoted to the “Essential CTI" recordings. TrackNameTimeArtistAlbum1 Sunflower8:53Milt JacksonSunflower2 Corazón [Album Version]6:04Hank CrawfordWildflower3 Too High13:24Joe FarrellPenny Arcade4 Catch ...

409

Live Review

Mark Dresser, Matthias Ziegler and Denman Maroney: San Diego, February 4, 2011

by Robert Bush
February 22, 2011

Mark Dresser / Denman Maroney / Matthias ZieglerConrad Prebys Concert Hall, UCSDSan Diego, CAFebruary 4, 2011 Dresser, Maroney and Ziegler have a wealth of performing experience as a unit, although surprisingly, this was their first performance together since 2003. Held in the acoustically superb Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, this reunion (which brought Denman Maroney from New York and Matthias Ziegler from Switzerland) was first class all the way. The roots of ...

139

Album Review

Ben Winkelman Trio: Odysseys

Read "Odysseys" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
February 22, 2011

Something special is needed for a piano trio to make a splash these days, so crowded are the waters with talent. With Odysseys, however, pianist Ben Winkelman's trio manages just that. For seventy absorbing minutes, the trio captures the ear, providing thrilling evidence of a stellar contemporary trio to rank among the best. Australia's press has lavished praise on Winkelman since his debut Stomps, Pieces and Variations (Jazzhead, 2005), but the outside world has been slow to catch on.

295

Album Review

Fred Hersch: Alone at the Village Vanguard

Read "Alone at the Village Vanguard" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
February 22, 2011

Pianist Fred Hersch almost cashed out back in 2008, when he fell ill with AIDs-related complications and spent seven weeks in a coma. The recovery was arduous, the resumption of his wide-ranging and top-level musical artistry uncertain--an uncertainty erased without a trace by Whirl (Palmetto Records, 2010), a trio set so assured, vibrant and beautiful that it would surely show up in any knowing top ten list of the best piano trio sets of the new millennium's first decade.

646

Interview

Stanley Clarke: Path Maker

by Esther Berlanga-Ryan
February 22, 2011

Innovation is a cherished quality in any art form and, truth be told, some follow greatness while others create the patterns that make that same greatness possible. There are teachers, and then, there are students. In jazz, musicians skilled in all sorts of instruments tend to look at their older peers in amazement, and challenges within their very souls are triggered and fed by an almost supernatural need to be unique; for only those who manage to be unique will ...

302

Album Review

Endangered Blood: Endangered Blood

Read "Endangered Blood" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
February 22, 2011

Endangered Blood formed in 2008, to play a benefit concert to help pay for fellow musician Andrew D'Angelo's medical bills. For the performance, drummer Jim Black and bassist Trevor Dunn--two of the saxophonist's band mates--enlisted saxophonists Chris Speed and Oscar Noriega. As happens so often in modern groups, familiar players in different combination produce compelling results.Black and Speed are both veterans of Tim Berne's vanguard band, Bloodcount, as well as Human Feel, Pachora, Yeah No and Alas No ...

284

Live Review

Wayne Shorter Quartet: Toronto, February 12, 2011

by Alain Londes
February 22, 2011

Wayne Shorter QuartetMassey HallToronto, CanadaFebruary 12, 2011 During a recent NPR interview with Michelle Mercer, the author of Footprints: The Life and Music of Wayne Shorter (Tarcher, 2004) talked about how the saxophonist is still capable of keeping people interested through his continuous playing and writing. His quartet has not recorded together in years, and yet, what defines these musicians is less about releasing albums than intersecting musicality in performance. At the center of all ...