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

Bones & Tones: Bones & Tones

Read "Bones & Tones" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
February 9, 2011

Percussion might very well be the oldest form of communication known to man, but practitioners of the percussive arts are often relegated to supporting roles in the majority of today's music. When percussionist Lloyd Haber received an invitation to form a group for the 2009 Long Beach Jazz Festival, he fought this notion and put together Bones & Tones, which places percussion right at the center of the action. Using marimba and vibraphone as the lead voices, Haber formed a ...

220

Album Review

Thomas Savy: The French Suite

Read "The French Suite" reviewed by Greg Simmons

by Greg Simmons
February 9, 2011

Frenchman Thomas Savy seems intent on making a statement with his bass clarinet, and he's doing so in a challenging format: a trio, accompanied only by bass and drums. He's out of the gate running with French Suite. The bass clarinet is a terrific sounding instrument, with a big wooden resonance and dimensional texture, and it should be featured in jazz more frequently. There is a small, but significant body of work on the instrument, with Eric Dolphy ...

198

Album Review

James Kinds: Love You From The Top

Read "Love You From The Top" reviewed by Nic Jones

by Nic Jones
February 9, 2011

Guitarist/vocalist James Kinds was hailed as a promising young bluesman back in 1977, but since then success that might have promised has eluded him. Indeed, it's not unfair to say that he hasn't even managed to maintain a profile of the likes of Billy Branch and Lurrie Bell, with whom he toured Germany back in the late 1970s, which makes the title of this disc, Love You From The Top, a matter of righting a wrong, especially as it's his ...

713

Big Band Caravan

DIVA Jazz Orchestra / Paul Read Orchestra / Andy Farber and His Orchestra

by Jack Bowers
February 8, 2011

DIVA Jazz OrchestraJohnny Mandel: The Man and His MusicArbors Jazz2010 Note to NARAS members: please do not cast your vote for Best Big Band Album of 2011 without first having listened to Johnny Mandel: The Man and His Music, recorded in concert at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in Manhattan by the superlative DIVA Jazz Orchestra with guest vocalist Ann Hampton Callaway. Great as the band is on every number, Callaway almost steals the ...

215

Album Review

Peter Eldridge: Mad Heaven

Read "Mad Heaven" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
February 8, 2011

"Easy listening" is a term that's often associated with bland, tepid material which serves as background fodder in supermarkets and shopping malls, but the term isn't negative by nature. Easy listening has a positive side, and Peter Eldridge's Mad Heaven is the proof. Eldridge packages charming pieces in an easy-to-swallow format that belies the sophistication behind his music, and provides an easy-on-the-ears entrance point into the world of modern jazz vocals. Eldridge's arranging skills have always been ...

372

Album Review

Vinicius Cantuária / Bill Frisell: Lagrimas Mexicanas

Read "Lagrimas Mexicanas" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
February 8, 2011

The fruit of Lagrimas Mexicanas is one born of mutual respect and collaboration between two distinct music icons. Bill Frisell's trajectory has spanned the paths of jazz and Americana, becoming one of the most respected guitarists in the business. A fine guitarist in his own right, but more noted for his heartthrob vocals, Brazilian singer-songwriter Vinicius Cantuária has released a number of popular recordings and worked with names ranging from Marc Ribot to Ryuichi Sakamoto. Influenced by New ...

540

Interview

Tom Moon: From Musician to Critic--And Back Again

by R.J. DeLuke
February 8, 2011

Award-winning writer Tom Moon spent about three years doing research for a book that recommends recordings people should listen to at some point, well, before they die. It's a well-considered and valuable book, and it champions a great way to fill leisure time while enlightening oneself. It guides readers into musical areas they may otherwise not investigate, exposing them to broad musical samplings that can push them toward even more explorations.Moon's tome, “1000 Recordings to Hear Before You ...

276

Live Review

The Aaron Goldberg Quartet At The Village Vanguard

by Dan Bilawsky
February 8, 2011

Aaron Goldberg QuartetVillage VanguardNew York, NYFebruary 3, 2011 Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night could keep pianist Aaron Goldberg from his appointed rounds at the Village Vanguard. While Goldberg's opening night met with all of the aforementioned conditions, and a few other treats that the weather gods saw fit to bring down upon the people, things had settled down by the third evening of the engagement and his augmented trio was in ...

177

Album Review

Theo Travis: All I Know: An Anthology

Read "All I Know: An Anthology" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
February 8, 2011

He's been on the scene for twenty years, but it's only been in the past few that Theo Travis has risen to prominence beyond the expanding group of musicians who call him up when they need a saxophonist/flautist with jazz chops but a rock sensibility--and an appreciation of the organic marriage of technology with acoustic instruments to expand their sonic reach. Travis has collaborated with King Crimson co-founder Robert Fripp on two improvised soundscape recordings including Live at Coventry Garden ...

260

Album Review

Douglas Detrick's AnyWhen Ensemble: Rivers Music

Read "Rivers Music" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
February 8, 2011

The preciousness of youth. Douglas Detrick is not even 30 years old, and already has multiple ensembles and music projects going on the East and West coasts. One such music combo is the AnyWhen Ensemble, which Detrick terms a “Chamber Jazz Group." The music he pushes through this group is not as easily categorized. Part of the charm is that the makeup of the AnyWhen ensemble resembles more a “parlor" ensemble of family musicians, bringing whatever instrument they can play ...