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.

199

Album Review

U-Z: Ultimate Zero - Live

Read "Ultimate Zero - Live" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
December 31, 2010

Since returning to the progressive rock scene with a new group/EP--UKZ's Radiation (Globe Music, 2009), U.K. co-founder and Frank Zappa/Jethro Tull alum Eddie Jobson has been dealing with the same problems that every indie musician does: keeping a band together for less than regular touring. With UKZ in suspension, the keyboardist/violinist began touring U-Z--devoted to performing classic progressive rock and fusion music from back in the day--with a revolving-door including fellow legends, bassists Tony Levin and John Wetton, alongside younger ...

111

From Far and Wide

Dave Holland: Passing the Torch

by Dylan McGuire
December 31, 2010

Standing onstage in the auditorium of the Philadelphia School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA), a lanky, grey-haired gentleman stands by the piano, directing a small group of student musicians playing Herbie Hancock's “Cantaloupe Island." He stops the song during the trumpet solo and says to the student in a British accent, “Did you listen to the recording?" The student looks at his feet and replies, “No." “You always have to listen to the ...

196

Album Review

Three Squared: Object

Read "Object" reviewed by Florence Wetzel

by Florence Wetzel
December 30, 2010

If you say “Colorado," the first things that come to mind are probably mountains, cowboys, and the Balloon Boy. But don't forget jazz: Denver's central location has always made Colorado an ideal stop for touring bands, and back in the day the Five Points section in Denver was host to greats such as Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and Charlie Parker. And of course, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and local legend Neal Cassady all lived here and dug the music, and ...

339

Live Review

Paris Jazz Diary 2010

by Patricia Myers
December 30, 2010

Travelers who stay in Paris for more than three days without hearing live jazz will miss a vital element of Parisian life. Jazz is as easily available as French wine and crusty baguettes, with performances seven nights a week throughout the City of Light. It's been this way since jazz first entered Paris in the 1920s, when American bands came to entertain the World War I troops and boost the spirit of locals. The enthusiastic reception of America's music convinced ...

126

Album Review

Cyrus Chestnut Trio: Journeys

Read "Journeys" reviewed by Larry Taylor

by Larry Taylor
December 30, 2010

During a career spanning 20 years, Cyrus Chestnut has risen to be one of the most esteemed and productive of jazz pianists. Journeys makes 16 recordings under his name. He regularly performs with his trio and is the go-to guy on numerous recording dates and gigs. Having apprenticed with the incomparable vocalist Betty Carter, Chestnut's playing displays a style and technical virtuosity that has him compared to jazz legends from Jelly Roll Morton and Oscar Peterson to ...

369

Album Review

Noah Preminger: Before The Rain

Read "Before The Rain" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
December 30, 2010

How do you follow up one of the finest debut jazz albums of the new millennium? For saxophonist Noah Preminger, you pair down the sextet heard on Dry Bridge Road (Nowt Records, 2008) and display more of your own sound.The twenty-something saxophonist returns with bassist John Hébert and pianist Frank Kimbrough on his Palmetto Records debut, Before The Rain (maybe a play on John Coltrane's “After The Rain"), along with everyone's favorite drummer, Matt Wilson. The quartet gambles ...

350

From Far and Wide

The Ticket

by Wade Luquet
December 30, 2010

One of the perks of being a jazz writer is that I can often get free tickets to concerts. This great benefit has offered me the opportunity to take my wife to some nice jazz events and meet some interesting people. Aside from taking notes in the dark, our jazz dates are just like any other night out. OK, I must admit that shaking hands with Wynton Marsalis and Esperanza Spalding make these dates a little different, but the tickets ...

172

Album Review

Bob Gluck: Something Quiet

Read "Something Quiet" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
December 29, 2010

Thoroughly explaining the Julliard-trained Bob Gluck would be an exhaustive analysis. An accomplished composer of electronic music, a Rabbi, an educator and historical writer, he ventured deeper into jazz with Sideways (FMR Records 2008). Only Gluck himself remains from that recording's trio, a customary piano trio configuration but with Gluck's various synthesizers included. Something Quiet presents saxophone and bass to compliment Gluck's piano on a solely acoustic outing. It is a highly original and brilliantly creative collection of free jazz ...

443

Year in Review

Jakob Baekgaard's Best Danish Releases of 2010

by Jakob Baekgaard
December 29, 2010

The Danish jazz scene has evolved tremendously during recent years. The recurring Copenhagen Jazz Festival is a testament to the strength of the Danish jazz scene and its ability to soak up influences from outside. Openness towards musical influences is also reflected in this year's harvest of the best Danish records, which often bring in American collaborators to create an amalgam of transnational beauty. While the following picks only cover the tip of the iceberg, they nevertheless represent the diversity ...

364

Album Review

Fourplay: Let's Touch the Sky

Read "Let's Touch the Sky" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
December 29, 2010

For Fourplay, it's all a numbers game. 2011 marks the band's 20th anniversary, Let's Touch the Sky is their 12th album, and “new guy," Chuck Loeb is both Fourplay's third personnel change and third guitarist replacing Larry Carlton, who stepped in for Lee Ritenour in 1998.Personnel changes in long-established bands happen when a disgruntled member bolts over the dreaded “creative differences" or out of necessity, as when Carlton decided to return to his solo career. When it was ...