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.

310

Album Review

Milt Jackson: Sunflower

Read "Sunflower" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
February 6, 2011

With a series of mainstream dates to his credit dating back to the early 1950s—not to mention charter membership in the now-legendary Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) and one-offs with everyone from bop saxophonist Charlie Parker to “new thing" saxophonist John Coltrane—vibraphonist Milt Jackson was the clear link between his instrument's swing era beginnings with Lionel Hampton and more progressive things to come with then-relative youngsters Gary Burton and Bobby Hutcherson. Still—and despite the label's centrist-leaning proclivities on one hand, balancing ...

299

Live Review

John Scofield & Joe Lovano Quartet in Albany, NY

by R.J. DeLuke
February 6, 2011

John Scofield & Joe Lovano QuartetThe Egg, Albany NYJanuary 30, 2011 Catching the John Scofield & Joe Lovano Quartet wasn't just a case of experiencing two remarkable improvisers exercising their art, though there was that. With the incessant, fabulous rhythms of drummer Bill Stewart, and the rock-solid bottom supplied by bassist Matt Penman, there was great group synergy. Even though Scofield is one of the finer jazz guitarists and Lovano is a saxophonist with few ...

213

Album Review

Debbie Winter Quartet: Red Song

Read "Red Song" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
February 6, 2011

Classically-trained British vocalist Debbie Winter, formerly a member of Shifting Sands, makes her solo debut with Red Song. The recording may be brief, just 20 minutes, but in that time, Winter's quartet creates a rich and intriguing musical atmosphere with moments of breathtaking beauty. Winter co-wrote the songs with pianist and arranger Aidan Shepherd, taking inspiration for the lyrics to four of them from Edward Hopper's paintings. Like much of Hopper's work, Red Song has a melancholy ...

369

Album Review

North Mississippi Allstars: The North Mississippi Allstars: Keys to the Kingdom

Read "The North Mississippi Allstars: Keys to the Kingdom" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
February 6, 2011

Following a hiatus of sorts for The North Mississippi Allstars, during which time guitarist Luther Dickinson worked with The Black Crowes while drummer sibling Cody fronted his own band, Hill Country Revue, the group's reformation has fueled a fire within the music of Keys to the Kingdom. The music begins to flow in a rush of emotion, right from the beginning of “This A'Way," and “Jumpercable Blues," though a bit tongue-in-cheek, is a comparable torrent of feeling. “Ain't ...

176

Album Review

Gregg Allman: Low Country Blues

Read "Low Country Blues" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
February 6, 2011

Low Country Blues is Gregg Allman's eighth (not counting anthologies) solo recording. His previous solo effort was 1997's Searching for Simplicity (Sony), and for those counting, that was 14 years ago. His present recording reflects a trend established with Johnny Cash's American> releases (American Recordings, 1994-2010) and Joe Cocker's Organic (550 Music, 1996), and most recently manifesting in Tom Jones' Praise and Blame (Island Records, 2010) These are recordings made relatively late in each artists' career under ...

154

Album Review

Wayne Wallace: To Hear From There

Read "To Hear From There" reviewed by Wilbert Sostre

by Wilbert Sostre
February 6, 2011

Wayne Wallace continues to explore the infectious Afro-Cuban rhythms on To Here From There, the follow-up to his 2010 Grammy-nominated album, Bien Bien! (Patois Record, 2009).Wallace is a trombonist with vast experience that includes collaborations with artists such as Count Basie, Joe Henderson, Lionel Hampton, Sonny Rollins and Tito Puente. Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet plays like they were born in Cuba.The danceable “La Escuela" with its piano montuno and the distinctive clave of the Cuban son ...

288

Product Spotlight

955 Dreams Launches Jazz app for iPads

by Wade Luquet
February 6, 2011

Interested in the history of jazz? There's an app for that now--and it's a beauty. Created by the app start-up 955 Dreams, The History of Jazz (2011) is a gem of a program which is set up as a time line of jazz history. Its extensive descriptions are divided into eras and styles, and include biographies, music samples, Wikipedia links and lots of YouTube videos of the artists being chronicled. The app is pleasing to the eye with colorful graphics ...

327

Film Review

Phish: Alpine Valley 2010

by Doug Collette
February 5, 2011

PhishAlpine Valley 2010Jemp2010 During the online pre-order period for Alpine Valley 2010, a full-length, remastered compilation of selected performances from the quartet's previous appearances at the scenic Wisconsin venue was available. Hearing that disc, however, only reaffirms what the two DVDs and two CDs in this box-set suggest in no uncertain terms: Phish has become no less expansive, only more efficient in its improvisations since regrouping in 2009. Seeing and ...

291

Album Review

Django Bates Beloved: Beloved Bird

Read "Beloved Bird" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
February 5, 2011

Django Bates claims that he heard Charlie Parker records on the day he was born. Fifty years later, Bates has formed Belovèd, giving life to his longstanding love for Parker's music on his trio's debut, Belovèd Bird. It's an album that ably demonstrates how love means never having to play in the same old way, for this sparklingly inventive album is not a retread of old Parker arrangements, but a reappraisal of the sound--a reconstruction based on Bates' strongly-held belief ...

142

New York Beat

Sounds of Norway

by Nick Catalano
February 5, 2011

Perhaps because of the staggering snowfalls which have occurred in the northeast since winter started, my mind recently turned to Scandinavia. I was listening to some recordings that I brought back from Denmark on a visit last year, and wondering what those Nordic musicians were up to these days when some new music arrived in the mail from Norway. Sadly, the jazz scene in this part of the world is quite intense, and virtually inaccessible to Americans. ...