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.

130

Album Review

Chase Baird: Crosscurrent

Read "Crosscurrent" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
October 7, 2010

Crosscurrent is 22 year-old tenor saxophonist/composer Chase Baird's debut as a leader. These are the basic facts, but they fail to convey anything meaningful about the music to be found here. Crosscurrent doesn't sound like a debut album: Baird's sax playing doesn't sound like it comes from a 22 year-old. This is a beautifully assured recording, full of lovely ensemble playing and creative solos from Baird--who attracted the attention and support of Michael Brecker when Baird was aged just 14--and ...

457

AAJ PRO

October 2010: New Features; New Opportunities

by Michael Ricci
October 7, 2010

Dear fellow musician: All About Jazz recently relaunched our website, making significant changes to our appearance and expanding the services we offer musicians. We've outlined some of the various opportunities that you can take advantage of below. Our immediate plans are focused on improving our calendar of jazz events and our jazz photo gallery; you can help us by simply entering your dates and uploading your photos. The planned payoff is presenting your calendar ...

379

Album Review

Supersilent: 10

by John Kelman
October 7, 2010

At a time when Supersilent has kicked into high gear with three releases in the space of a few short months--two CDs (10 and the forthcoming 12) and one vinyl-only release (11), all on the equally intrepid Rune Grammofon label--it seems incredulous that this Norwegian improvising trio can continue creating music in defiance of easy (or difficult) categorization and, despite its complete and utter spontaneity, unfailing individualism. Still sounding like nobody but Supersilent, each successive album remains clearly delineated amidst ...

126

Album Review

Steve Tibbetts: Natural Causes

Read "Natural Causes" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
October 7, 2010

Although guitarist/composer Steve Tibbetts and Marc Anderson have collaborated since the late 1970s--the percussionist has played on every one of Tibbetts ECM releases--this is their first duo recording since Northern Song (ECM, 1982). That album employed silence as a sideman, and although there is less outright pause on Natural Causes, the same soothing, meditative ambiance forms a natural bridge between the two works, separated by almost thirty years. Tibbetts layers and interweaves 12-string guitar, bouzouki and kalimba, with a bewitching ...

103

Album Review

Jazz Passengers: Reunited

Read "Reunited" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
October 7, 2010

Don't mistake the music made by The Jazz Passengers as merely camp or burlesque send-ups. Sure, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes dons the persona of the infamous “Peaches," from the duo Peaches and Herb, for the 1970's hit, “Reunited." The irony dissolves underneath Roy Nathanson and Fowlkes' spoken/sung duet with Sam Bardfeld's pizzicato violin and Marc Ribot's now-patented guitar effects Marc Ribot. As they have done since 1987, the band filters popular music through its own bohemian downtown filter.Reunited is ...

314

Album Review

Stefan Grossman: Shining Shadows

Read "Shining Shadows" reviewed by David Rickert

by David Rickert
October 7, 2010

It makes sense that Stefan Grossman and Eric Clapton hung out together in the sixties, because they both have similar approaches to the guitar: Clapton isn't the flashiest of players, but can craft lines out of a few notes that are filled with feeling and taste; Grossman is a like-minded player--not one to create finger-busting arrangements like other guitarists that he's featured on his Kicking Mule label, but nevertheless crafting tasteful songs that rely on a myriad of influences, from ...

503

Mr. P.C.'s Guide to Jazz Etiquette and Bandstand Decorum

October 2010

by Mr. P.C.
October 6, 2010

Dear Mr. P.C.:What is the proper thing for a jazz vocalist to do if a tooth pops out of her mouth at a gig? - Katy B., Oklahoma

Dear Katy:You'd be surprised how often this comes up, really. And believe me, there are plenty of advice columnists, driven by ratings, who might focus on the blood gushing from your mouth, or the suffocating stampede of fans and poachers storming the stage to get ...

262

Album Review

The Jazz Passengers: Reunited

Read "Reunited" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
October 6, 2010

Reunions have become a requisite aspect of the music business, though the end results can vary in quality. Reunited, The Jazz Passengers first recording in twelve years, is a stellar example of this phenomenon. Picking up where they left off, this vivacious studio session juxtaposes mellifluous crooning, adventurous post-bop and stylistic eclecticism with irrepressible charm and sophisticated humor. Their all-inclusive embrace of multiple genres yields a hodgepodge of uncanny originals and surprising covers, executed with palpable enthusiasm.Featuring the ...

198

Live Review

Nathan Eklund Group at Cecil's Jazz Club

by David A. Orthmann
October 6, 2010

Nathan Eklund GroupCecil's Jazz ClubWest Orange, NJSeptember 10, 2010 There wasn't a single defining moment in the Nathan Eklund Group's seventy minute performance at Cecil's Jazz Club. But the rewards of catching the band at the peak of its powers were spread out in one long wave, only briefly interrupted by Eklund's spoken introductions. The gig was billed as a release party for Coin Flip (OA2 Records, 2010), the trumpeter's fourth disc as a ...

193

Album Review

Hans Ulrik / Benjamin Koppel / Jon Balke / Palle Danielsson / Alex Riel: The Adventures of a Polar Expedition

Read "The Adventures of a Polar Expedition" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
October 6, 2010

The exploration of arctic landscapes has always fascinated mankind, and both paintings and literature testify to man's longings for the icy unknown. However, few musicians have tried to translate the adventures of the arctic explorers into sound. Danish saxophonist Benjamin Koppel's ambitious The Adventure of a Polar Expedition sets out to right that wrong. Divided into four suites that each portrays a polar explorer and his journey, suite one, “Time and Ice Suite," sets the general mood ...