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 Jeremy Noller

by AAJ Staff
October 16, 2010

Meet Jeremy Noller: As a jazz drummer and world percussionist, Jeremy Noller represents both sides of a rare musical coin. Since his arrival in New York City in 2003, Jeremy has taken full advantage of the city's diverse music scene, performing with many of the finest jazz musicians, contemporary percussionists, and West African drummers. For his debut album, Music Notes, Jeremy has brought together artists from these different musical realms to perform his original compositions and arrangements, which combine contemporary ...

351

Album Review

Robert Mitchell's Panacea: The Cusp

Read "The Cusp" reviewed by Alex J Watson

by Alex J Watson
October 16, 2010

Robert Mitchell's Panacea presents The Cusp, its third album, and debut release for Edition Records. This collection of ten highly arranged original compositions by Mitchell, combines complex rhythmic writing with contemporary vocal jazz. The recording is delivered with a squeaky-clean production sound that can only be a reflection of the leader's attention to detail, and a personal involvement at every level. Mitchell was certainly wearing his heart on his sleeve when writing this record--from his ensemble writing ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Jon C. McGahan

by AAJ Staff
October 16, 2010

Meet Jon McGahan:After Studies at Illinois Wesleyan University and Roosevelt University. Mr. McGahan found himself the chief arranger for both the Deja Vu Big Band and the Ron Smolen Orchestra. Since 1986, Jon has been actively composing, arranging and playing Trumpet, Trombone and Euphonium for these groups, as well as the Revolutionary Swing Orchestra and the Sicilian Band of Chicago and other Jazz and Concert bands in the Chicago area, including his own big band, The Stardust Big ...

418

Album Review

Ted Rosenthal Trio: Impromptu

Read "Impromptu" reviewed by Dr. Judith Schlesinger

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
October 16, 2010

As legend has it, the term “third stream" was invented by Gunther Schuller in 1957, to prevent jazz and classical fans from resenting incursions onto their turf by the other side. This new musical entity would be neither classical nor jazz, and not just a simple merging of the two: it would be more than jazz with strings, or classical pieces played by jazz artists. The challenge was to take compositions that are centuries old and infuse them with a ...

201

Album Review

Dave Weld & the Imperial Flames: Burnin’ Love

Read "Burnin’ Love" reviewed by Nic Jones

by Nic Jones
October 16, 2010

Dave Weld has the blues, which means he stands out from a lot of the today's practitioners, who regard it as an excuse for guitar overkill. In the past, he's played gigs with J.B. Hutto, which puts the seal on it, because Weld's blues are as heartfelt and pure as that slide maestro's. Consequently, he's not capable of turning out anything contrived. The jangling rhythm guitar on “She's Mine" is life-affirming and, while Weld perhaps lacks some ...

190

Album Review

Duo Fusion: Duo Fusion

Read "Duo Fusion" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
October 16, 2010

The best music sometimes comes in the smallest packages. Take, for instance, Duo Fusion, the team of flautist Sarah Swersey and guitarist Joe Belmont. Swersey is classically trained, and has sat as principle flautist for several orchestras. Belmont has played guitar in a variety of genre over several different projects, and possesses considerable jazz chops. The two come together in an ambitious quest to conquer all music types on their duet recording, Duo Fusion. The duo addresses tango (Astor Piazzolla's ...

312

Live Review

Branford Marsalis / Terence Blanchard Quintet: Jazz at Lincoln Center, October 1, 2010

by Keith Henry Brown
October 15, 2010

Branford Marsalis QuartetTerence Blanchard QuintetJazz at Lincoln CenterOctober 1, 2010 Early in their set, after striding on stage in stylish suits, The Branford Marsalis Quartet--pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Revis, and drummer Justin Faulkner--began peeling off their shirt jackets. The stage lights must have been especially too much for Faulkner, who, within only a few moments of the first tune, was drenched in sweat. Marsalis smiled and seemed to playfully admonish him for removing ...

265

Album Review

Dan Adler: Back To The Bridge

Read "Back To The Bridge" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
October 15, 2010

Guitarist Dan Adler's debut , All Things Familiar (Emdan Music, 2009), demonstrated his formidable skills, and brought together a noteworthy roster of artists, such as saxophonist Grant Stewart, to fill out a quintet lineup. For his followup, the Israeli-born, New York-based six stringer pares things down and goes with an organ trio format, enlisting the most renowned and recognizable organist of the modern era, Joey DeFrancesco, and longtime drummer, Byron Landham. The music, as might be expected, ...

219

Extended Analysis

Rhubarb Jones: Rhubarb Jones

by Florence Wetzel
October 15, 2010

Rhubarb JonesRhubarb JonesSelf Produced2010 The marriage between jazz and rock is long and continuing, and there's a new band on the scene that takes the best from both worlds. Fresh from the rock 'n' roll suburbs of Millburn, New Jersey, come the powerful sounds of Rhubarb Jones. The band, which formed in 2009, comprises four young men under the age of 20: Alexander “Sug" Sugarman on vocals and sax, Brian Seltzer ...

433

Album Review

The Trio of Oz: The Trio of Oz

Read "The Trio of Oz" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
October 15, 2010

The dilemma for modern jazz artists is how to grab the ears of younger audiences, while remaining respectful of the legacy of Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and Louis Armstrong without recycling yet another variation of “So What?" The eclectic and restless musical tastes of drummer Omar Hakim and pianist Rachel Nicolazzo (aka Rachel Z) offer some mighty impressive bait to reel them in, The Trio of Oz's repertoire reading like an hour's worth of college radio station programming. But how ...