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.

449

Extended Analysis

Riviere Composers' Pool: Summer Works 2009

by Raul d'Gama Rose
November 17, 2010

Rivière Composers' PoolSummer Works 2009Emanem2010 Summer Works 2009 is, very possibly, one of the finest testaments to spontaneously composed contemporary music since saxophonist Steve Lacy fired his first broadsides in Europe almost four decades ago. The music flies in the face of logic--how can two,three or four disparate individuals be of one mind? Moreover, how can the musicians know where each idea emerges from, not know where it is going and ...

329

Album Review

Manu Codjia: Covers

Read "Covers" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
November 17, 2010

Is Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (Prestige, 1956) a “covers" album? Not a single Davis-penned original on the record. But, of course, performing other composers' material is the jazz musician's stock in trade. No, the notion of “covers" is more recent, and its use in jazz today evokes the ironic rock-weaned hipster, exemplified by The Bad Plus's borrowings from the songbooks of Black Sabbath or Nirvana.Now, guitarist Manu Codjia enters the fray with his own covers album. ...

232

Live Review

Maruja Muci & Pamela Rodriguez at Tutuma Social Club, November 09, 2010

by Ernest Barteldes
November 17, 2010

Maruja Muci & Pamela RodriguezTutuma Social ClubNovember 09, 2010New York, NYSouth American singer-songwriters Maruja Muci (Venezuela) and Pamela Rodriguez (Peru) joined forces at the midtown Manhattan Latin club for an evening that included selection of original songs and revamped renditions of American and Latin standards. Backed by a highly skilled trio formed by Edward Perez (bass), Yuri Juarez (guitar) and Roberto “Chino" Bolanos (cajon), Rodriguez took the stage first with “Amorcito," a soft ...

177

Album Review

Paul Bley / Franz Koglmann / Gary Peacock: Annette

Read "Annette" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
November 17, 2010

Those familiar with the music of Paul Bley, as well as Annette Peacock--after whom this album is named, and whose compositions are featured--will recall the nervy sense of creativity that flowed through their veins and music. In fact, the manner in which Peacock's work is described also fits Bley; both play music that is austere, exacting, somewhat laconic, minimalist and always wildly individual, which is what makes it so sensual, singular and utterly memorable. And while Bley's music has always ...

294

Album Review

Lutalo Olutosin: Tribute to Greatness

Read "Tribute to Greatness" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
November 17, 2010

Vocalese is the pinnacle of jazz singing; a jazz singing style based on lyrics composed to melodies that were originally part of non-vocal compositions or improvisations. There are only a handful of truly proficient vocalese lyricists, a short list including Eddie Jefferson, Babs Gonzales, King Pleasure (Clarence Beeks), Jon Hendricks, and Mark Murphy. East Chicago native Lutalo Olutosin honors all this and more on his Tribute to Greatness. Far from mere imitation, Olutosin sings these composition in his own relaxed ...

357

Album Review

Jay Phelps: Jay Walkin'

Read "Jay Walkin'" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
November 16, 2010

Canadian-born trumpeter Jay Phelps moved to the UK at the age of 17. Since his arrival Phelps has gathered much valuable experience with acts such as Dennis Rollins (who guests on Jay Walkin''s “10 Years"), Tomorrow's Warriors and the award-winning Empirical, before embarking on this debut recording as leader at the age of 28. It's paid off, for Jay Walkin' is confident, stylish and charming. Phelps has a great love of the jazz tradition and an enthusiasm ...

581

Live From New York

Guitars In NYC: Fred Frith, Frank Zappa, Jonathan Richman, Robert Cray, Lenny Kaye, Bob Mould, Frank Marino, Jim Hall & Roky Erickson

by Martin Longley
November 16, 2010

Fred Frith The Stone October 30, 2010 In the old days, when English guitarist Fred Frith lived in New York, locals could bask in his constant presence on the scene. Following this 14 year period, from 1979, Frith moved to Stuttgart in Germany, and has now been teaching at Mills College in Oakland, California since 1997. On his way to a performance at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in England, he stopped off ...

326

Album Review

Mikko Innanen & Innkvisitio: Clustrophy

Read "Clustrophy" reviewed by Anthony Shaw

by Anthony Shaw
November 16, 2010

There can be something as obtuse about the artist in person as there is about his music. From the opening blast of his second luxuriously produced album for TUM, it's obvious that woodwind and reed multi-instrumentalist Mikko Innanen is playing mind games with his audience, which may please or tease you. The tunes represent quite a cavalcade of moods and arrangements, let alone instrumentation. This is partly the result of Innanen's own interest in pushing the sonic ...

243

Album Review

Doug Ferony: It Had To Be You: The Lovers CD

Read "It Had To Be You: The Lovers CD" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
November 16, 2010

Vocalist Doug Ferony belongs in the same company as Roger Cairns and Tom Culver. These are durable male vocalists, conservative in their performance and interpretation approach, with distinctive voices in their own right. They are modern keepers-of-the-flame out of the Frank Sinatra/Tony Bennett tradition. Jazz singers? Maybe. Song Stylists? Absolutely. Ferony has made a career singing standards. He has released eight recordings previous to It Had To Be You: The Lovers CD, all replete with the safety of The Great ...

902

Profile

[iks]: The Iksperience, Alive and Well

by Pascal-Denis Lussier
November 16, 2010

Those of you who've had the opportunity to hear the Montreal-based contemporary jazz band [iks] have, I'm certain, immediately felt one of two things: nonplussed or absolute love; it's one of those bands. Those who've felt the former and awarded this band the necessary attention along with those who've instantly felt the latter are probably reading this and thinking, “Oh yeah. It's a real shame that the band disappeared." Officially, despite the few years of ...