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.

173

Album Review

Joe McPhee / Ingebrigt Haker Flaten: Blue Chicago Blues

Read "Blue Chicago Blues" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
November 27, 2010

Multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee has long favored intimate performing situations that highlight the subtle nuances of timbre, volume and dynamics, confirmed by an extensive discography comprising solo, duo and trio recordings. His duet with Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten (Atomic, Scorch Trio, The Thing) on Blue Chicago Blues is a prime example of the sort of spare setting McPhee has championed since the mid-1970s. A veteran of numerous tours with The Thing, McPhee has developed an empathetic rapport with Haker Flaten, ...

151

Take Five With...

Take Five With Marc Hoffman

by AAJ Staff
November 27, 2010

Meet Marc Hoffman: After establishing himself as a composer and performer of film, theatre, concert and gospel music, Marc Hoffman began pursuing his passion for jazz in the early 1990s. As a pianist and vocalist, Marc performs over 75 dates a year with a repertoire of original jazz and his own arrangements of standards, ballads, and pop. He most often performs with his trio, but works as a soloist and with other ensembles as well, ...

186

Album Review

Pierre Favre / Philipp Schaufelberger: Albatros

by Nic Jones
November 27, 2010

A sense of “music-minus-one" is pretty pervasive on Albatros. Regardless of what instrument is played, the presence of an additional musician might have elevated the music and the discourse from which it springs, to a more ear-catching level than that attained by this configuration of musicians. As it is, this duo of guitar and drums is marked by perfunctory air. The waddling progress of “Pino Caro" seems faintly contrived, while “Seeing"--all three-and-a-half minutes of it--is heavy with ...

139

Album Review

Brian Drye: Bizingas

Read "Bizingas" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
November 27, 2010

Trombonist/composer Brian Drye is a modern musician for whom jazz is but one ingredient in his music. To him, the term is merely a pigeonhole, meant to typecast and eventually marginalize his work. He is not alone in this prescience, on Bizingas, Drye is accompanied by three visionary and quixotic players: cornetist Kirk Knuffke; guitarist Jonathan Goldberger; and drummer Ches Smith.Like his other work in the Balkan music outfit Slavic Soul Party, the chamber ensemble The Four Bags, ...

285

Album Review

Tim Motzer / Markus Reuter: Descending

by Sid Smith
November 27, 2010

Sometimes, with albums built from file-shared overdubs, the sum of the parts can be greater than the whole. Happily the reverse is very much the case with this engaging collaboration between guitarists Tim Motzer and Markus Reuter. The core of this elegantly dreamy music was recorded at a concert given by the duo in 2008, with guest contributions added over the following couple of years. As a result, the original improvisations have been weathered and abraded with ...

230

Album Review

Toph-E & The Pussycats: No Ordinary Day

Read "No Ordinary Day" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins

by Woodrow Wilkins
November 27, 2010

Toph-E & The Pussycats is a contemporary band with old-school ideas. Its repertoire combines jazz, funk and R&B properties. For No Ordinary Day, those elements are augmented by hints of Brazilian and Latin rhythms. Part of the group's name comes from a variation of drummer Christopher Parker's nickname, “Toph." Collectively, the group's members bring a wealth of experience, including television credits and musical associations with a number of rock, pop, and jazz artists. Will Lee and ...

457

JazzLife UK

Autumn Falls

by Bruce Lindsay
November 26, 2010

It's autumn (Fall, if pushed). British jazz gets sensible again, and moves back indoors. As keen readers will be aware, JazzLife UK is essentially an indoor photography project--outdoors is the space that must be crossed to get from one indoors to another--and the thought of another nine months of gigs without the need to pack sunscreen and a waterproof coat, both essentials for the British summer, gladdens my heart. Other things about the UK scene have gladdened my heart as ...

243

Album Review

Ray Charles: Genius: The Ultimate Collection

Read "Genius: The Ultimate Collection" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
November 26, 2010

If you want a Ray Charles best-of album you've got plenty to pick from, and the run-up to the holiday season often adds another one. But this year's contender, the 21-track, 71-minute Genius: The Ultimate Collection, stands out from the crowd. For three reasons... First, the choice of tracks has a tight, coherent focus. Aside from a 1964 live version of “Hallelujah I Love Her So" and a 1972 studio recording of “America The Beautiful," all the selections ...

519

Book Review

Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong

by Chris May
November 26, 2010

Pops: A Life Of Louis ArmstrongTerry TeachoutPaper; 475 pagesISBN: 978-0-547-38637-9Mariner Books2010 The most unputdownable biography of trumpeter/vocalist Louis Armstrong to be written, by a country mile, Pops is also one of the best jazz biographies on the shelves. Modestly subtitled A Life Of Louis Armstrong rather than The Life Of..., this is the only book about Armstrong anyone but the hungriest devotee will ever need. First published ...

289

Album Review

Andreas Varady / David Lyttle: Questions

Read "Questions" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
November 26, 2010

Guitarist Andreas Varady co-leads Questions, his lively and hugely enjoyable debut, with 26 year-old, Northern Irish drummer David Lyttle. Lyttle has plenty of experience for his age: he's one of Ireland's most active and most respected jazz musicians and bandleaders, while Varady is much less experienced--but, then, he is only 13 years old. Varady, born in Slovakia but now based in Limerick in the Republic of Ireland, is definitely the star of this album. He plays with ...