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.

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Interview

Darius Jones: From Johnny Hodges To Noise Jazz

by AAJ Staff
January 11, 2011

Alto saxophonist Darius Jones--who won most critics' nomination for the best jazz newcomer album of 2009 for Man'ish Boy (A Raw And Beautiful Thing) (AUM Fidelity, 2009)--is a great fan of Johnny Hodges. He says that the lyrical Duke Ellington altoist is his hero, and this is pleasantly noticeable at the beginning of Man'ish Boy. It is also a good thing; not only did Hodges possess one of the most beautiful sounds in music, but Jones' focus on Hodges-like bends ...

157

Album Review

Jake Fryer / Bud Shank Quartet: In Good Company

Read "In Good Company" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
January 11, 2011

Jake Fryer second recording, In Good Company, finds the British alto saxophonist recording in San Diego with fellow altoist Bud Shank and his rhythm section. Fryer's previous release, On Our Terms (Nuts About Jazz, 2008), was the live debut of the London Bebop Collective; Fryer also leads the Jake Fryer Quartet and is part of the Little Big Band. With two saxophonists in front, it is not surprising that this turns out to be a blowing session in ...

168

Album Review

Cheryl Bentyne: The Gershwin Songbook

Read "The Gershwin Songbook" reviewed by Larry Taylor

by Larry Taylor
January 11, 2011

Cheryl Bentyne's The Gershwin Songbook is among the best vocal albums of 2010. A member of The Manhattan Transfer since 1979, she frequently strikes out on her own to record, and has released eight albums in the past two decades. Perfecting her talent in vocalese with Manhattan Transfer, Bentyne performs jazz choruses with a pitch-perfect soprano in the tradition of Annie Ross, by way of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. In this set of 15 Gershwin classics, she ...

668

Interview

Dave Liebman: A New York Story

by John Kelman
January 10, 2011

A few months shy of 65, saxophonist Dave Liebman may be having the busiest time of his career, now in its fifth decade. In the past 12 months, nearly a dozen releases have demonstrated the tremendous stylistic breadth of a musical oeuvre that kicked into high gear early, when, in the short span of three years, Liebman participated in three recordings that remain important touchstones for their artists: guitarist John McLaughlin's My Goals Beyond (Ryko, 1970), drummer Elvin Jones' Live ...

345

Album Review

Jean-Marie Machado / Dave Liebman: Eternal Moments

Read "Eternal Moments" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
January 10, 2011

As Dave Liebman approaches the beginning of 2011, and his Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), his discography continues to grow in unexpected and rapid leaps and bounds, with each release further affirming his stylistic and contextual breadth. He's collaborated with French pianist Jean-Marie Machado since 2003, largely in the intimate context of the duo, though there have been rumblings about a collaboration with a symphony orchestra. Eternal Moments is the pair's second release, following ...

191

Album Review

Leslie Pintchik: We're Here to Listen

Read "We're Here to Listen" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
January 10, 2011

Leslie Pintchik inhabits an ocean of sound by herself and much more with her trio. The pianist creates her own ebb, and rip currents with the undulating swell of her playing. Her technique is flawless, and she has a natural tendency for irony, and even humor, as she simply spreads her hands on the keyboards and lets her fingers do the singing. She does, indeed, favor the vocal pursuit of music, as her songs unfurl like diaphanous arias swelling in ...

330

Multiple Reviews

Two Aspects of Dave Liebman

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
January 10, 2011

Records on which the prolific saxophonist David Liebman appears, not counting those under his own leadership, could constitute an entire jazz sub-genre on their own. So the two records reviewed here are part of a crowded field.And although Liebman's presence is the common denominator, it is more than a little unfair to the leaders on each date to identify these discs under the veteran saxophonist's name. For, if it is clear that Liebman came to play, it is ...

183

Album Review

Barry Harris: Live In Rennes

Read "Live In Rennes" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
January 10, 2011

The city of Detroit was once an incubator for some of the greatest jazz piano talent in the world. Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan and Sir Roland Hanna all came from the Motor City and contributed volumes to jazz history. Sadly, all three of those giants are gone now, but Barry Harris is keeping the flame alive. Harris is the last man standing from this exclusive club, and he continues to educate the masses through his workshops in New York and ...

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Album Review

Joe Morris: Camera

Read "Camera" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 10, 2011

Influential improvising guitarist Joe Morris ignites luminous imagery that casts a musically minded paradigm on how the diffraction of light may traverse a camera lens. However, individual interpretations can yield other enticing persuasions on Camera, engineered upon the grouping of stringed instruments and drums. “Street Scene" exemplifies Morris' clever articulations via fluttering storylines, largely executed at a brisk pace. Drummer Luther Gray lays out a peppery backbone for the soloists' dissecting call-and-response patterns, where subliminal nods to blues, ...

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Album Review

Dana Lauren: It's You or No One

Read "It's You or No One" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
January 10, 2011

Vocalist Dana Lauren has a beautifully balanced alto voice that is pliant and malleable, one well suited for jazz. It's You or No One (Self Produced, 2010) was the singer's well-received debut, a smart collection of standards rendered well by top-notch musicians. Lauren sings inside and outside the box, straight-ahead and sideways with equal intensity and sensitivity. She is also effective in small spaces. In a minimalist trend that echoes Lawrence Lebo's “less-is-more" approach, Lauren retires her ...