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.

279

Live Review

Lest We Forget: Remembering Myrna Lake at the Lenox Lounge 2006

by Daniel Kassell
February 19, 2011

In his All About Jazz review of Yesterdays (Jazzing Music, 2008), Samuel Chell described singer Myrna Lake's recording as “an exploration of the power of memory itself, a musical narrative yielding the discovery that memory, like the songs that are eventually designated standards, is a moment in the present, an instant distinguished by heightened awareness and relived, powerful emotion." Remembering the legendary Myrna Lake, who died last November from complications of heart disease, I recall her performance ...

339

Album Review

Eclectica!: Flight Of Fancy

Read "Flight Of Fancy" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
February 19, 2011

Eclectica! is a European string quartet that brings together four exceptional musicians from the realms of jazz and classical music. Flight Of Fancy, the band's second album, continues with its fusion of musical genres, mixing classical, pop and original tunes in a beautifully performed collection. String quartet is an accurate description of Eclectica!, but not one that does justice to the depth of the band's talents or its musical diversity. The combination of strings--violin, cello and two ...

151

Album Review

The New World Jazz Composers Octet: Transitions

Read "Transitions" reviewed by Greg Simmons

by Greg Simmons
February 19, 2011

The best of jazz generally ensures that there is a leader, a composition, or at least an agreed upon theme that holds the work together, and herein lies the conundrum of The New World Jazz Composers Octet's Transitions.Musical egalitarianism is one of the hallmarks of jazz--the notion that everyone has an opportunity to make their personal statement, and that compositions should leave spaces for those statements, has been at the core of the craft since Duke Ellington started ...

153

Album Review

David Lopato: Many Moons

Read "Many Moons" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
February 19, 2011

Pianist David Lopato's Many Moons could just as easily have been called Many Moods, with the variety of approaches he takes on these twelve original piano pieces. Jazz is only one area of expertise on Lopato's large resume, which also includes extensive studies on African drumming and Javanese gamelan, scoring work for theater and dance, and many years spent as the producer of a concert series concentrating on modern improvised music, and he uses his diverse experiences to color his ...

130

Album Review

Shawn Costantino: Waltz for Anne

Read "Waltz for Anne" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
February 19, 2011

Director of Jazz Studies at the prestigious Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, Shawn Costantino features a blend of contemporary and modern jazz in a nicely packaged collection of originals and covers on Waltz for Anne, the saxophonist/educator's first recoding as leader. Armed with a graduate degree from DePaul University, where he honed his skills as the lead alto player for the renowned DePaul Jazz Ensemble, Costantino established himself performing behind such giants as the late James Moody, Phil ...

163

Take Five With...

Take Five With Gordon Hazlewood

by AAJ Staff
February 19, 2011

Meet Gordon Hazlewood: Gordon Hazlewood plays music on the VibraCanz musical instrument, his invention. He is a member CanVolution, based in Georgia. The novelty of the VibraCanz is quite a curiosity with audiences and other jazz enthusiasts. His instrument is manufactured by Musical Kinetics and will soon be offered to the public. Instrument(s):VibraCanz.I knew I wanted to be a musician when... at a very early age, around five or so, I discovered that I ...

250

Album Review

Marcus Miller: A Night in Monte Carlo

Read "A Night in Monte Carlo" reviewed by Chuck Koton

by Chuck Koton
February 19, 2011

It's been more than four years since James Brown, the “hardest working man in show business," departed this Earth for an ethereal stage, time enough to anoint a successor. Bassist Marcus Miller deserves consideration--a tribute that would, no doubt, put a smile on the face of the Godfather of Soul. After all, a typical year for the virtuosic bassist includes months of global touring (he just returned from a tour that took him to five continents, featuring his unforgettable '80s ...

206

Mix Tape

Solid Gold Soul

by Tracy Pierce
February 19, 2011

Smooth and soulful. A few well know artists with some songs you may not know. TrackNameTimeArtistAlbum1 Here I Am (Come And Take Me)4:18Al GreenSolid Gold Soul: 19732 Share Your Love With Me3:17Aretha FranklinSolid Gold Soul: 19693 Going In Circles4:14The Friends Of DistinctionSolid Gold Soul: 19694 You Got Me Hummin'2:54Sam & DaveThe Best Of Sam & Dave5 Bring It On Home To Me2:46Sam CookeThe Best of Sam Cooke6 The World Is A Ghetto4:07WarSolid Gold Soul: 19737 Jealous Kind ...

124

Live Review

Peter Nero/Philly POPS, with Ann Hampton Callaway, February 6, 2011

by Lewis J Whittington
February 19, 2011

Peter Nero and the Philly POPS with Ann Hampton CallawaySingin' & Swingin'Kimmel Center Verizon HallPhiladelphiaFebruary 6, 2011 Peter Nero is so charming a bandleader for the Philly POPS that he could easily get away with phoning the music in, but with the pianist/conductor, that is never the case. The POPS' unique turf of symphonic jazz and big-band swing was on ample display at its Singin' & Swingin' concert, headlined by vocalist Ann Hampton ...

302

Album Review

Alon Nechushtan: Words Beyond

Read "Words Beyond" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
February 18, 2011

Playing jazz can be like driving a car. Sometimes you can sit back, rely on cruise control, and simply revel in a straightforward journey, but more precise maneuvering is often required. Lightning quick reflexes, an ability to comfortably navigate hairpin turns, and a strong directional sense are equally important, and pianist Alon Nechushtan exhibits all of these traits from behind the driver's seat on Words Beyond. The left-leaning klezmer jazz that Nechushtan delivered with his Talat band ...