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.

237

Album Review

Livia Devereux: Night Winds Whisper

Read "Night Winds Whisper" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
January 28, 2011

New York City vocalist Livia Devereux sings con brio. She packs a passel of this con brio into a brief set of eight songs with a total time less than 30 minutes. However, brevity is the soul of wit, and Devereux has no trouble rendering her music to the bare bone. The title, Night Winds Whisper, is derived from Patsy Cline's, “Walkin' After Midnight," setting the mood stage for this collection not-so- standard-standards. “Walkin' After Midnight" has ...

427

Album Review

Roxy Coss: Roxy Coss

Read "Roxy Coss" reviewed by Wilbert Sostre

by Wilbert Sostre
January 28, 2011

With the exception of a few instrumentalists like pianist Mary Lou Williams, most women in the so called golden era of jazz were singers. That situation has changed in the last few years, with more and more extraordinaire female musicians entering the jazz scene. Bassist Esperanza Spalding, pianist Hiromi, drummer Cindy Blackman and saxophonist/clarinetist Anat Cohen are just a few examples of the quality of female jazz musicians today. Newcomer Roxy Coss should be consider for inclusion in that list.

576

Extended Analysis

Silent Movies

by Warren Allen
January 28, 2011

Amidst all the guitar heroes, face-melters and shred lords, Marc Ribot has risen to prominence as one of the more distinctive players. Well-versed in punk, New Orleans, soul-jazz, metal, down-home roots music, the avant-garde and just about everything else in the musical kitchen sink, Ribot taps into a brash mix of energy and humor that allows him to toy lovingly with tradition and genre. From beautifully faux Cuban music to unabashedly dissonant punk-jazz, Ribot always plays with an edge, which ...

129

Album Review

Laura Harrison: Now...here

Read "Now...here" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
January 27, 2011

Canadian cum California girl Laura Harrison is blessed with a perfect mid-range alto that is sharply defined and true. She honed her talent in music through study and then by becoming a music educator. Finally, Dr. Harrison has gotten around to recording a jazz vocal disc, Now...here, and it is a daring treat. Harrison shows little fear in her repertoire, taking a wide variety of challenges and if the Great American Songbook fails to provide adequate challenge, she composes her ...

419

Live From New York

Dr. Lonnie Smith, Marva Whitney, Billy Prince, Marc Ribot & Steven Bernstein

by Martin Longley
January 27, 2011

Dr. Lonnie Smith Big Band Jazz Standard December 30, 2010 The holiday season allowed organist Dr. Lonnie Smith the luxury of surrounding himself with big band ranks. The virtual guarantee of sold-out sets created a situation where the Hammond B-3 man was able to make the change from his customary small combo settings. Indeed, the week had opened with Smith's regular trio playing for two nights, but the third evening of ...

372

Album Review

BMX: Bergen Open

Read "Bergen Open" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
January 27, 2011

Tradition, in a living, breathing art form, is something that is continually defined, refined and redefined. When drummer Paul Motian--first coming to fame in pianist Bill Evans' mid-1950s trio--trimmed his quintet of the early 1980s into a bass-less trio featuring then-emergent guitar whiz Bill Frisell and equally on-the-rise saxophonist Joe Lovano, its very first recording, It Should've Happened A Long Time Ago (ECM, 1985), defined a whole new aesthetic, challenging conventional roles and redefining how improvising musicians collaborate. Bergen Open, ...

552

Live From New York

Creature Combos In NYC: Los Lobos, The Detroit Cobras, Bonobo, Gato Loco & Fight The Big Bull

by Martin Longley
January 27, 2011

Los Lobos City Winery December 31, 2010 For no immediately apparent reason, New York City has recently been invaded by acts that peck or gobble their names straight out of a bestiary. Los Lobos played two shows on New Year's Eve, with this first set neatly sidestepping the hysteria of midnight, but nevertheless still swollen with celebratory anticipation. Even though the Winery had to be punctually cleared for the second show, ...

263

Album Review

Doug Webb: Renovations

Read "Renovations" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
January 27, 2011

April 24, 2009 was a busy day for saxophonist Doug Webb, his fellow musicians and the production team at North Hollywood's Entourage Studios. Recordings from that day have already been released on the excellent Midnight (Posi-Tone 2010): now Renovations delivers more music from the session, and very welcome it is, too. As with the previous recording Renovations features the core trio of Webb, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Gerry Gibbs on a collection of jazz standards, joined ...

292

Album Review

Hans Koller with Bill Frisell: Cry, want

by John Eyles
January 27, 2011

No, there is no need to re-read the heading or check the personnel list; guitarist Bill Frisell is included as a member of this Hans Koller twelve-piece ensemble. So, too, is Psi proprietor Evan Parker, making this the first recording featuring Parker and Frisell together--quite an occasion, eh? In addition, alongside German-raised, London-based Koller on electric piano, the ensemble features a wealth of fine British players. Of the eight tracks, six are Koller originals, joined by Charlie Parker's ...

277

Album Review

Gerald Cleaver / Uncle June: Be It As I See It

Read "Be It As I See It" reviewed by Nic Jones

by Nic Jones
January 27, 2011

Drummer Gerald Cleaver has a CV which takes in names like Mario Pavone, Joe Morris, Charles Gayle and Roscoe Mitchell. Of these names it's the last which inspires not only Cleavers's music, but also his appetite for working in new musical forms, and striving for new forms of musical expression. It's hardly surprising, then, that Be It As I See It, his fourth as a leader in his own right--and in the company of his Uncle June ensemble, featuring reed ...