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.

243

Album Review

Hubert Nuss: The Book of Colours

Read "The Book of Colours" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
October 11, 2010

Music is a treat for the ears, for the sense of hearing. But are the borders separating the senses permeable? Can Red Garland's piano notes be said to “sparkle?" Can Paul Desmond's alto saxophone have the sound of a dry martini? Are these metaphors, perhaps, based to some extent on realities along a continuum of sensory perception?Quite possibly. Someone with the condition of synesthesia can experience flashes of color upon hearing a sound. Pianist Jessica Williams hears a ...

137

Album Review

Mikrokolektyw: Revisit

by Nic Jones
October 11, 2010

In the booklet note for Revisit, the parallel between Poland and Chicago is pertinently pointed out in terms of climate. It stretches as far as the music, too, because this Polish duo is enthralled with one of the windy city's current musical strands. They owe a debt to the Chicago Underground Trio in the way they utilize electronics alongside acoustic instruments; but, despite this, the music is often pretty thin listening. Although there's nothing inherently wrong with ...

229

Album Review

Mike Mainieri / Marnix Busstra Quartet: Trinary Motion / Live in Europe

Read "Trinary Motion / Live in Europe" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
October 11, 2010

Vibraphonist Mike Mainieri and guitarist Marnix Busstra demonstrated a kinetic relationship on their 2009 recording, Twelve Pieces (NYC Records); a compelling portrait of the musicians playing with and off each other. Its success spurred a tour and, happily, almost two hours of live recorded music. Tone and shape are sketched by the Mainieri / Busstra Quartet's sense of time and adventure, and it's not surprising that the music takes on a majestic scope. The ballads are haunting ...

224

Album Review

Brian Simpson: South Beach

Read "South Beach" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
October 11, 2010

Sometimes you have to accept something for what it is. Keyboardist Brian Simpson's debut for Shanachie , South Beach, sounds like a thesis submitted to the College of Smooth Jazz. It hits all the tropes of the genre: plenty of tinkling keyboard melodies, funky bass n' drums riffs, sweet saxophone seasonings, and vanilla background vocals. That may seem like a criticism, but it's not; it is a recognition of what may have been on Simpson's checklist, and how successfully he ...

297

Multiple Reviews

Wes Montgomery, Soulive and the Beatles: Bending Time

by Chris May
October 11, 2010

Two albums by guitar/organ trios would seem, on the face of it, to be prosaic enough propositions. And musically, guitarist Wes Montgomery's Boss Guitar, newly remastered, and Soulive's Rubber Soulive, recorded in 2010, are indeed straightforward affairs. But consider them together, and a cluster of time warps emerge, as 47 years of age difference shrink and futurism, modernism, revivalism and anachronism bleed into each other. Wes Montgomery Boss Guitar Riverside / OJC Remasters 2010 (1963) ...

1,004

Genius Guide to Jazz

How to Listen to Jazz, Part II

by Jeff Fitzgerald, Genius
October 11, 2010

Welcome back, kids. Now that we've gotten over our initial fear of jazz, and of food that can't be ordered from surly teenagers by yelling out of the window of your car, we can now seek out a more thorough overview of Our Music. Don't worry if you still think Thelonious Monk is that funny TV detective and soft bop has something to do with Hasbro's line of Nerf products; as the old saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a ...

391

Multiple Reviews

Guitarist Gabor Gado: Two Views from Budapest

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
October 10, 2010

Herewith two records released at about the same time, on the same label (Hungary's Budapest Music Center), both prominently featuring Hungarian guitarist Gábor Gadó. If, however, it's pleasing to play the discs side by side--and it really is--it's as much because of the two records' differences as their similarities.Budapest Concerts is a concert recording by a small group; Lung-gom-pa, meanwhile, is a studio date by a large and varied ensemble. But the most significant distinction is that the ...

107

Album Review

Scott Lee: Leaving

by Dan Bilawsky
October 10, 2010

One word album titles often invite a lot questions about intent and direction. What exactly is bassist Scott Lee leaving behind? The answer is: nothing, and a little bit of everything at the same time. Lee is no newcomer on the scene and, for the past decade, he and his musical cohorts have been working out ideas on how to expand improvisational possibilities. While some people find it challenging enough to improvise over a given form, this quartet makes it ...

519

Extended Analysis

Domina Catrina Lee: Songs From The Breastbone Drum

by Robert Bush
October 10, 2010

Domina Catrina LeeSongs From The Breastbone DrumSelf Produced2010 Singaporean guitarist and composer Domina Catrina Lee is not a household name. In a more just universe, she would be. Lee possesses a seemingly infinite musical imagination. Working with a computer and a “budget" acoustic guitar, Lee has crafted a collection of highly creative, often large-scale works that defy categorization. Although her use of virtual-instruments--expertly and painstakingly programmed--allow her compositions to ...

377

Album Review

Joey DeFrancesco: Never Can Say Goodbye: The Music of Michael Jackson

Read "Never Can Say Goodbye: The Music of Michael Jackson" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
October 10, 2010

Cross-pollinating jazz and pop does not always yield fruitful residuals--in many instances, it equates to an unbalanced succession of musical events. Here, however, Hammond-B3 titan Joey DeFrancesco renders a happy medium by jazzing up the songbook from the late pop icon Michael Jackson, with jazz, funk and rock stylizations, while retaining its inherent components. DeFrancesco and his band morph grooving jazz improvisation with Jackson's melodic hooks, yet neither genre dominates.DeFrancesco carves the classic soul-pop ballad, “Never Can Say ...