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.

200

Album Review

Andre Matos: Quare

by Nic Jones
December 19, 2010

Quare is Portuguese-born/New York-resident guitarist André Matos' third album as a leader, and his first for saxophonist Greg Osby's Inner Circle Music label. The label might be the guitarist's natural musical home, as he offers a variation on the theme of the tradition every bit as singular as Osby's; this album could have been yet another take on the post-bop mainstream, Matos clearly has a deep enough appreciation of the music to realize that it withers on the vine if ...

145

Album Review

Torben Waldorff: American Rock Beauty

Read "American Rock Beauty" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 19, 2010

On his second release for ArtistShare, Danish guitarist Torben Waldorff has chosen to test the rare telepathic interplay among his quintet members on songs that were sketched intuitively in a matter of minutes. This unique approach has resulted in some very infectious tunes with strong, beautiful melodies, though it does feel as though this gifted quintet could have risen to higher challenges. Joining Waldorff are tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin, bassist Matt Clohesy and drummer Jon Wikan--all of ...

313

Take Five With...

Take Five With Jason Parker

by AAJ Staff
December 18, 2010

Meet Jason Parker:Seattle trumpeter Jason Parker leads the Jason Parker Quartet, who will release their second CD on October 24, 2009 on Broken Time Records. No More, No Less features some of Seattle's finest young jazz musicians. Stream and download now at Jason Parker's website.Instrument(s):Trumpet.Teachers and/or influences?Ev Stern, Tony Grasso, Ingrid Jensen, Brian Lynch, Terell Stafford, Laurie Frink, Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Freddie Hubbard and all the musicians in Seattle.

385

Year in Review

Dan McClenaghan's Best Releases of 2010

by Dan McClenaghan
December 18, 2010

These are the CDs that never roamed away from the current listening shelf. Jessica Williams Touch Origin Records Masterpiece isn't a word to be tossed around lightly. Jessica Williams, with the eighty-eight piano keys and a lifetime of musical immersion, has created one with this recording. Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden Jasmine ECM Records A sublime duo outing with jazz veterans, pianist Keith Jarrett ...

335

Album Review

Lew Soloff and the Harmonie Ensemble New York: Sketches Of Spain

Read "Sketches Of Spain" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
December 18, 2010

Trumpeter Lew Soloff, and the Harmonie Ensemble New York, conducted by Steve Richman, release their version of Sketches Of Spain 50 years after Miles Davis' original Columbia recording. The 1960 version is accorded classic status by many, but Soloff and Richman have produced a worthy successor. So what's different? Well, one answer is “Not much." Soloff offers no radical reappraisal of the classic work. The album stays faithful to the Davis original: five tunes, each timed to ...

498

Live Review

dOeK Festival #9: Amsterdam, The Netherlands, December 4, 2010

by John Kelman
December 18, 2010

dOeK Festival #9BimhuisAmsterdam, The NetherlandsDecember 4, 2010 While the majority of the 200 international delegates who attended Dutch Jazz & World Meeting 2010, in Amsterdam, struggled with flight delays due to an early and tremendously severe arrival of winter and, for some, the impact of an air traffic controller strike in Spain, a small subset--including journalists from abroad, and representatives from festivals including Molde Jazz, the TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival, Sunfest and Jazz em ...

166

Album Review

Brad Goode: Tight Like This

Read "Tight Like This" reviewed by Nic Jones

by Nic Jones
December 18, 2010

Tight Like This is trumpeter Brad Goode's fourth Delmark release and it's clear, perhaps more so than with any of his previous three, that his musical path is littered with subtle delights the like of which take their time to appreciate. Sure, he's capable of virtuosic flight as much as any highly accomplished trumpet player, but he knows that in these early years of the twenty-first century it takes something more than that to catch the ear. ...

194

Album Review

Kristijan Krajncan Ensemble: Siberian Bear

Read "Siberian Bear" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
December 18, 2010

Kranj, Slovenia-born drummer Kristijan Krajnčan first studied the violincello before going on to jazz drumming. The move turned out to be astute for he had now found his niche. On his way to graduating in jazz drumming, and even later, he won several European prizes, and was active on the jazz scene playing in groups that ranged from trio to big band, besides leading his own KK Contemporary Jazz Ensemble. In the midst of all this he found time to ...

437

Year in Review

John Kelman's Best Live Shows of 2010

by John Kelman
December 17, 2010

Another year, another treasure trove of live performances to dovetail with all the great recorded music released in 2010. Attending more festivals abroad than ever before--Norway's Natt Jazz, Kongsberg, Molde and Punkt; Germany's Enjoy Jazz; Finland's Tampere Jazz Happening; Raleigh, North Carolina's New Universe Music Festival; and The Netherlands' Dutch Jazz & World Meeting and dOeK Festival--along with the perennial TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival, it was hard to choose 25 shows out of the more than 110 live performances, ...

244

Album Review

Dreamtime: Double Trouble

Read "Double Trouble" reviewed by Nic Jones

by Nic Jones
December 17, 2010

Reel Recordings has excelled in the business of audio restoration, as this 2CD/DVD set goes to show. On one level, Dreamtime is no more than a footnote in British jazz, but not only did the band feature some potent soloists, it was one of the few to bridge the divide between composed and free music with aplomb and depth of understanding.Of the CDs' two live sets, the 1984 Bracknell Jazz Festival recording from July, 1984, on the first ...