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.

120

Album Review

Sylvia Hallett / Mike Adcock: Reduced

by Nic Jones
October 9, 2010

The Spontaneous Music Ensemble lineup of drummer/cornetist John Stevens and soprano saxophonist Trevor Watts can, for countless reasons, serve as the template against which many another freely improvising duo can be gauged. That's an especially pertinent point with Reduced, as multi-instrumentalists Sylvia Hallett and Mike Adcock have fashioned a dialog every bit as rarefied as the one that Stevens and Watts created. Not even the highly residual influence of late period John Coltrane--that was, by a stretch of the imagination, ...

845

Record Label Profile

Jazz Oracle: Portal to Antiquity

by Nathan Holaway
October 8, 2010

“Life would be no better than candlelight tinsel and daylight rubbish if our spirits were not touched by what has been."--George Eliot The world will never be able to hear exactly how Beethoven or Bach played their instruments, but it can hear how artists such as clarinetist Wilbur Sweatman and clarinetist and tenor saxophonist Fud Livingston played and improvised on their horns: at least for now. A recent study on sound (mandated by the US Congress ...

239

Album Review

Mike Pride’s From Bacteria to Boys: Betweenwhile

Read "Betweenwhile" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
October 8, 2010

Certainly, any attempt to pigeonhole this drummer is a lesson in failure; priding himself in his diverse interests, whether recording a duet album of free improvisation with Jon Irabagon, on I Don”t Hear Nothin' But The Blues (Loyal Label, 2009), or playing with punk band Millions Of Dead Cops, Mike Pride he has also distinguished himself as a dynamic and responsive sideman to the likes of Andrew D'Angelo, Jason Stein, and Jack Wright. He leads--or is a contributing partner to--the ...

297

Live Review

Esperanza Spalding Chamber Music Society at Knight Theater

by Mark F. Turner
October 8, 2010

Esperanza SpaldingKnight TheaterCharlotte, North CarolinaSeptember 24, 2010Having had little exposure to Esperanza Spalding's music, some questions were answered by her visit to the Knight Theater on September 24th. Part of Charlotte's two-day Sunset Jazz Festival, it was the prodigy-turned jazz phenom's first appearance in the city. The concert dovetailed with Chamber Music Society (Heads Up International, 2010), the young singer/bassist's third release, and with more than three quarters of the 1150 seats filled, the venue ...

222

Album Review

[em]: [em] live

Read "[em] live" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
October 8, 2010

[em] live is the fourth album from [em], the German trio also known as Wollny/Kruse/Schaefer. The album was recorded at the 2010 JazzBaltica festival in Salzau--the complete concert except, as the sleeve notes declare somewhat sternly, “for listening pleasure the applause has been shortened." It's a combination of new compositions and four tunes taken from [em]'s previous albums--an inventive, often hard-edged and rock-inspired set from this extremely talented group. Bassist Eva Kruse, who founded the band in ...

457

Live Review

53rd Monterey Jazz Festival: A Distinctive New Orleans Flavor

by Larry Taylor
October 8, 2010

To summarize the high spots of the 2010 Monterey Jazz Festival would certainly take more than one lead paragraph. From Sept. 17 through 19 at the Monterey, California, Fairgrounds, there was a pervasive New Orleans spirit in the air and the music. This was emphasized by the appearances of Trombone Shorty on Saturday afternoon, and Harry Connick, Jr. on Sunday night. And then there was singer Dianne Reeves, featured as artist-in-residence, who made key appearances on each of the festival's ...

235

Album Review

Mary Halvorson Quintet: Saturn Sings

Read "Saturn Sings" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
October 8, 2010

Guitarist Mary Halvorson has graduated, summa cum laude, from the Anthony Braxton academy to become a hot ticket, popping up in ensembles as diverse as Thirteenth Assembly, Ingrid Laubrock's Anti-House, Marc Ribot's Sun Ship and Crackleknob. And now, the adventurous Firehouse 12 imprint has released the keenly awaited followup to her debut as leader, Dragon's Head (Firehouse 12, 2008). This time out, her longstanding trio--completed by bassist John Hébert and drummer Ches Smith, is supplemented by horns on six out ...

217

Album Review

Manu Katche: Third Round

Read "Third Round" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski

by Nenad Georgievski
October 8, 2010

The art of making music that engages both the head and the heart is evidently not hard to pull off, but can be potentially self-defeating. But Manu Katché's exuberant and playful albums set new standards for brainy, soulful, and funky jazz, by blending his strengths as a composer and instrumentalist. His work as a drummer/composer/bandleader, much of it for ECM, shows Katché at his creative peak, stretching his capabilities to dizzying heights. The Third Round is the ...

212

Album Review

Ken Wheeler & The John Dankworth Orchestra: Windmill Tilter

Read "Windmill Tilter" reviewed by Jack Kenny

by Jack Kenny
October 8, 2010

"Lost" has been a favored word in the last few years. Miles Davis' late sixties group was called lost because it did not record officially. Trumpeter/composer Kenny Wheeler's Windmill Tilter truly has been lost--until now. Recorded in 1968, the Windmill Tilter suite has only previously been available on increasingly rare and expensive LP. Rumor had it that the original tapes had been destroyed and, while a release was promised a few years back, it never materialized. Now, ...

557

Big Band Caravan

Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchesta / Vaughn Wiester / Chie Imaizumi

by Jack Bowers
October 7, 2010

Buselli--Wallarab Jazz OrchestraMezzanineOwl Studios2010 After veering slightly off-course recently with several albums devoted in part to backing singers, the outstanding Indianapolis-based Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra is back in a more pleasing instrumental groove on Mezzanine, profiling the compositions and arrangements of co-leader / trombonist Brent Wallarab. The first four selections, linked together as Suite Storytelling, were inspired by the writings of four masters of the genre: J.D. Salinger, Mark Twain, Anton Chekhov ...