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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Take Five With...

Take Five With Jacob Wise

by AAJ Staff
November 26, 2010

Meet Jacob Wise:A native of Austin, Texas, guitarist Jacob Wise began playing in blues and jazz bands while a student at the University of Texas. His warm, contemporary guitar sound has been featured with a wide variety of Texan jazz artists. He is currently working on a master's degree in jazz performance at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. As a member of UNT's renowned One O'Clock Lab Band, he has performed with Lyle Mays, Pat ...

420

Album Review

Cassandra Wilson: Silver Pony

Read "Silver Pony" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
November 26, 2010

Brilliant in spite of its ragged texture, Cassandra Wilson's Silver Pony justly illuminates the important influence Wilson has had on all jazz vocals, since her artistic breakthrough with 1993's Blue Light 'Til Dawn (Blue Note). A sharp solution of live and studio performances, Silver Pony reveals the depth and breadth of both Wilson's enigmatic singing and instrumentation, that rich Delta organic approach disseminating throughout all of jazz vocals of the past 20 years. Always close to the blues, Wilson puts ...

244

Album Review

Helen Sung: Going Express

Read "Going Express" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
November 26, 2010

Whether an artist is performing in a play or playing music, doing so live onstage is one of the most challenging acts. Every nuance is captured by an eager audience and, in the case of Going Express, a sensitive sound engineer. There is no room for error; every slip can be fatal. Pianist Helen Sung makes short work of these concerns, however, navigating the music in spritely fashion and with the delicate touch of slender fingers like feathers on the ...

187

Album Review

Jermaine Landsberger and Paulo Morello: Hammond Eggs

Read "Hammond Eggs" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
November 26, 2010

Hammond B3 specialist Jermaine Landsberger and fellow German, guitarist Paulo Morello, have played together for over a decade, since their first gig in 1990 in the village of Maxhutte, Bavaria, where they both lived. Morello is one of Germany's finest jazz guitarist and Landsberger--who comes from a German Gypsies Sinti musical family lineage--is a modern jazz keyboardist originally influenced by the music of Django Reinhardt. It's been written that these two talented European jazz artists go so well together just ...

396

Live Review

Hamid Drake and Bindu: Reggaeology at the London Jazz Festival

by John Sharpe
November 25, 2010

Hamid Drake and Bindu Baltic Restaurant/London Jazz Festival London November 14, 2010 It's been a long time since the avant-garde has conjured thoughts of dance. You would have to go all the way back to the early days of the Swing era. But that's what came to mind on the third night of the London Jazz Festival. This was the second incarnation of legendary drummer Hamid Drake's band Bindu to tour, coming ...

273

Album Review

Jim Hall & Joey Baron: Conversations

Read "Conversations" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
November 25, 2010

The art of the duo is nothing new to guitar legend Jim Hall. His one-on-one encounters with bassist Ron Carter have been wowing jazz fans for decades. More recent mano a mano musical encounters with equally sublime artists, like pianist Geoffrey Keezer, and guitarist Bill Frisell, have produced works that challenge but, ultimately, remain largely listenable. Conversations--Hall's studio encounter with drummer Joey Baron--ultimately, falls into the same general category. The fifteen tracks here are an odd, yet endearing, mishmash of ...

717

Live Review

Danilo Perez Trio Meets Thelonious Monk: Live at the Kimmel Center

by Victor L. Schermer
November 25, 2010

Danilo Perez TrioKimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Perelman Theater Philadelphia, PANovember 13, 2010Thelonious Monk was a remarkable figure, and his music continues well beyond his lifetime to influence musicians on many levels. Truly “An American Original," as the subtitle of Robin D.G. Kelley's definitive biography calls him, he took stride piano, bebop, gospel, and other influences and wove them into a mix that was all his own, repeatedly inventing new forms and phrases that ...

275

Album Review

Jason Robinson / Anthony Davis: Cerulean Landscape

Read "Cerulean Landscape" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
November 25, 2010

"If Ellington were to collaborate with science fiction author Samuel R. Delany, one might encounter a cerulean landscape." This evocative quote from the liner notes to Cerulean Landscape, multi-reedist Jason Robinson's long-awaited duo album with legendary pianist Anthony Davis, paints a vivid picture of their mutual admiration for the work of Duke Ellington and his colorful interpretations of the blues--in all its forms.Robinson has been performing live with Davis (his former professor) since 1998, subsequently recording their first ...

170

Live Review

Rufus Reid Trio: Half Moon Bay, CA, November 7, 2010

by Bill Leikam
November 25, 2010

Rufus Reid TrioDouglas Beach HouseHalf Moon Bay, CA November 7, 2010 The anticipation of having multi-award winner Rufus Reid working the strings of his bass, and his band members--pianist Steve Allee and drummer Duduka Da Fonseca--ran high, as the audience at the Douglas Beach House began to gather. The trio was on a west coast tour beginning in Edmonton, Canada and Seattle, and moving down the west coast to San Diego. On the way, ...

157

Album Review

Sebastian Liedke: To Walk In The Past

Read "To Walk In The Past" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
November 25, 2010

One of the enduring allures of the piano trio is the intimacy it creates, something that German bassist/composer Sebastian Liedke does superbly on his debut, To Walk in the Past. The record consists of 10 modal sonatas with rich texture, painted in dark sounds and lush tones. Eight are composed by Liedke, and two by pianist Dirk Flatau, and all share a similar theme that helps maintain the unity of the entire work. This, in no way, ...