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.

266

Album Review

Pierre Favre / Samuel Blaser: Vol A Voile

Read "Vol A Voile" reviewed by Nic Jones

by Nic Jones
November 25, 2010

On one level, this program of trombone and drums duets possesses very little in the way of the sound of surprise, once the ear becomes accustomed to the sparseness of the lineup. Perhaps inevitably, this means that for all their obvious empathy, the musicians don't really grab the moment, nor do they ruffle the surface calm of the music they make. In view of the promise sometimes tantalizingly shown, this makes for a frustrating listen. Of the ...

175

Album Review

Morello and Barth: Fim De Semana em Eldorado

Read "Fim De Semana em Eldorado" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
November 25, 2010

After a temporary move to Ipanema, Brazil in the fall of 2001 and a full immersion into the melody-rich music of the bossa nova and samba, German guitarist Paulo Morello and Danish alto saxophone Kim Barth capture their Brazilian experience on Fim De Semana Em Eldorado (Weekend In Eldorado). Recorded in Rio de Janeiro in 2001, the album features two legendary figures of the bossa nova, vocalist Johnny Alf--considered the true father of the genre--and Alaide Costa, viewed as the ...

526

Live Review

New Universe Music Festival: Day 2, November 21, 2010

by John Kelman
November 24, 2010

Day 1 | Day 2 The New Universe Music FestivalRaleigh, North CarolinaNovember 20-21, 2010 It's no small challenge to make a new festival viable, especially when it represents something of a niche within a niche. The attendance at the first day of the New Universe Music Festival was impressive enough, but with an influx of even more dedicated fans coming from all over the United States--the Deadhead equivalent of fusion icon John McLaughlin followers, whose ...

155

Album Review

Magnus Broo: Swedish Wood

Read "Swedish Wood" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
November 24, 2010

Those partial to avant-garde musicians who swing will prefer trumpeter Magnus Broo's Swedish Wood over fans of neoconservatives that embrace freedom. Broo's melodic take on the two-bass (Torbjörn Zetterberg and Joe Williamson) and drummer (Håkon Mjåset Johansen) quartet finds him mostly playing the straight-man to his adventurist and sometime comedic band members. Fans of the Chicago/Swedish jazz connection will be familiar with Broo's trumpet sound in Adam Lane's 4 Corners (Clean Feed, 2007), with Ken Vandermark, and more ...

289

Extended Analysis

Randy Weston African Rhythms Sextet:The Storyteller

by Ian Patterson
November 24, 2010

Randy Weston African Rhythms SextetThe StorytellerMotema Records2010 It's almost fifty years since pianist/composer Randy Weston first played in Africa and he has returned many times since--three times alone this year, 2010--absorbing the endless rhythms and colors of the mother continent. Perhaps more than any of his contemporaries Weston has delved into the African roots of jazz, extolling the beauty and richness of African culture and making the connection between past and present. ...

232

Album Review

Daniel Szabo: Contribution

Read "Contribution" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
November 24, 2010

In the sublime world of Dániel Szabo, invention is the key. This is how the prodigiously talented pianist and composer helps guide his trio and guest, Chris Potter through his challenging compositions on Contribution. Although Szabo likes to retreat to a musical place that is somewhat like a humble hermitage, his is the voice that defines this album; his is the guiding spirit that draws the music from the souls of his ensemble--the astounding, virtuoso bassist, Mátyás Szandai and drummer ...

172

Extended Analysis

The Convergence Quartet: Song/Dance (Blues)

by John Sharpe
November 24, 2010

The Convergence QuartetSong/Dance (Blues)Clean Feed2010 It must have seemed like a long shot when the young British pair of pianist Alexander Hawkins and bassist Dominic Lash invited two illustrious north Americans, cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum and drummer Harris Eisenstadt, to join them for a series of dates back in the fall of 2006. But now after two subsequent tours under the banner of the Convergence Quartet, the foursome is forging its own ...

195

Album Review

Johanna Grussner: Come Rain Or Come Shine

Read "Come Rain Or Come Shine" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
November 24, 2010

Her clear-as-a-bell vocals, assured phrasing and near perfect grasp of English put Johanna Grüssner right at the top of the current crop of Scandinavian female jazz singers. Come Rain Or Come Shine is her third solo album and best yet: a gently swinging, highly enjoyable mix of straight jazz and Brazilian samba, performed with supreme professionalism. Grüssner, from the Finnish Åland islands, makes use of a broad musical palette. On previous albums she has sung both Swedish ...

153

Album Review

Soft Machine Legacy: Live Adventures

Read "Live Adventures" reviewed by Nic Jones

by Nic Jones
November 24, 2010

With Hugh Hopper's death in 2009, Soft Machine Legacy lost its last link with the classic Soft Machine lineups that recorded its most potent music. What is here, then, is a band which pledges allegiance to the relatively straightforward fusion period of the band's history. Once that's clarified, however, it's still a fact that this is no mere exercise in repertory. This quartet takes the music in directions that the fusion-era band would perhaps never have countenanced, ...

249

Album Review

Mike Barone Big Band: Flight Of The Bumblebee

Read "Flight Of The Bumblebee" reviewed by Paul J. Youngman

by Paul J. Youngman
November 24, 2010

Big band leader, composer, arranger and trombonist Mike Barone notes, on the jacket of Flight Of The Bumblebee, that “Rimsky-Korsakov is turning over in his grave as we speak, or maybe he isn't." One thing is for sure, the energy level of this band is enough to raise the dead. The band is flying high on every tune of this live big band offering.The majority of Flight Of The Bumblebee's twelve songs are Barone originals, with the exception ...