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.

221

Extended Analysis

Stan Sulzmann’s Neon Quartet: A New Fluorescence

by Chris May
October 18, 2010

Neon QuartetCatch MeEdition Records2010 Among the albums released by British saxophonists in 2010, two at least are destined for the best-of-year lists. One is Nat Birchall's Guiding Spirit (Gondwana), the other is Catch Me by Stan Sulzmann's Neon Quartet. There are similarities. To varying degrees, each saxophonist takes John Coltrane's lyrical, mid-1960s recordings as a starting point, Birchall explicitly and to the exclusion of practically all else, Sulzmann through a more refracted, kaleidoscopic and ...

185

Album Review

Patrick Cornelius: Fierce

by Bruce Lindsay
October 18, 2010

Fierce is alto saxophonist Patrick Cornelius' second album as leader, following his self-produced 2006 debut, Lucid Dream. It's an album on which the young Berklee and Manhattan School of Music graduate explores his love of the chord-less jazz ensemble, with no piano, guitar or organ heard on these nine original compositions. Cornelius is joined here by the solid but swinging rhythm section of drummer Johnathan Blake and bassist Michael Janisch; Cornelius appeared on Janisch's Purpose Built (Whirlwind ...

220

Album Review

Lisa Maxwell: Return to Jazz Standards

Read "Return to Jazz Standards" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
October 18, 2010

Singing jazz standards will never go out of style; the songbook is too fertile, the audience too willing, and the erstwhile jazz vocalists (at least women) too plentiful. The result is a market clotted with a legion of releases where the signal-to-noise ratio is not favorable for the independent artists. But some worthy examples do rise to the surface, fed by deserved attention and fine musicality. Vocalist Lisa Maxwell fights back from the mouthful bilateral vocal fold paresis with surgery ...

180

Album Review

Mauricio De Souza: Here. There...

Read "Here. There..." reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins

by Woodrow Wilkins
October 18, 2010

Drummer Mauricio De Souza has roots in both Brazilian music and jazz. It follows that he would issue Here. There ..., a recording that presents both. De Souza was born in Brasilia, Brazil. Among his inspirations are Buddy Rich, Airto Moreira and Dave Weckl. His two ensembles--Bossa Brazil and Mauricio De Souza Group--are employed here, with well-known guitarist Mike Stern as a guest on two tracks. “Chovendo na Roseira" is a charming waltz, composed by Antonio ...

287

Album Review

Bobo Stenson / Anders Jormin / Paul Motian: Goodbye

Read "Goodbye" reviewed by Achille Brunazzi

by Achille Brunazzi
October 18, 2010

Avant-garde and jazz legacy: in 2005, the German ECM label released Goodbye, from Swedish pianist Bobo Stenson, bassist Anders Jormin and drummer Paul Motian. The record represents the most accomplished work in Stenson's discography, because it wonderfully and fully embraces the latest jazz musical concepts and the perfect interplay between its band members. The album recalls Bill Evans's jazz trio ensembles, in terms of chords structure and, above all, arrangements. The first tune, “ Send in The ...

742

Interview

Abstract Logix's Souvik Dutta: From Living Room to Center of the Universe

by Ian Patterson
October 18, 2010

Although tribes, cities and even nations have all at various times claimed to lie at the center of the universe, few have taken the claims seriously. Most recognize such boasts as either thinly veiled marketing ploys or thinly veiled insanity. However, on the 20th and 21st of November, devotees of good music from Australia, Japan, South Africa and Europe, as well as from the States and Canada will join in musical celebration in North Carolina, home to Abstract Logix and ...

160

Album Review

Gilad Atzmon and The Orient House Ensemble: The Tide Has Changed

Read "The Tide Has Changed" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
October 17, 2010

The genre-conflating musical behemoth that is the Orient House Ensemble, led by multi-instrumentalist, composer, essayist and political commentator Gilad Atzmon, celebrates its 10th anniversary with the release of its seventh album, The Tide Has Changed. Funny, eerie, romantic and intriguing by turns, this is a work of tremendous warmth and strength. Atzmon's spirit and soul inhabit every one of his compositions, and his playing is truly exceptional, staking a genuine claim to being one of the finest saxophonists in contemporary ...

530

Live Review

Theo Bleckmann at Le Poisson Rouge: The Music Of Kate Bush

by AAJ Staff
October 17, 2010

Theo BleckmannHello Earth! The Music of Kate BushLe Poisson RougeNew York , NYSeptember 22, 2010 Kate Bush is an iconic singer in the UK and in many other countries. As a nineteen year-old, she released her first album The Kick Inside (EMI, 1978), which contained two major hits: “Wuthering Heights," based on a television adaptation of Emily Bronte's famous novel; and “The Man With the Child In His Eyes," which contained many ...

334

Album Review

Taylor Eigsti: Daylight at Midnight

Read "Daylight at Midnight" reviewed by Dr. Judith Schlesinger

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
October 17, 2010

It's official: pianist Taylor Eigsti has finally outgrown his “prodigy" label.At 26, with two Concord CDs and numerous sideman recordings behind him, Eigsti has finally made the artistic statement he's intended since his career began at the age of 11. Raised on the American songbook, and indoctrinated early into concerns about the continued viability of jazz, Eigsti has always wanted to create new audiences by embracing the favorite material of the iPod generation. In his previous CDs he ...

279

Take Five With...

Take Five With Nat Janoff

by AAJ Staff
October 17, 2010

Meet Nat Janoff:Guitarist, composer and teacher Nat Janoff is a graduate of William Paterson University, with a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Performance. His debut recording, Looking Through, featuring the rhythm section of world renowned electric bassist, Matthew Garrison, and drummer Gene Lake, put Nat on the map as both a player and a composer. Two more albums soon followed--a live acoustic recording with fellow William Paterson alumnus Jake Schwartz, simply titled Live, and a collaborative project ...