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.

390

Live Review

Helen Sung at Dizzy's San Diego

by Dan McClenaghan
September 27, 2010

Helen SungDizzy's San DiegoSeptember 23, 2010 Helen Sung came to jazz relatively late, during her classical music studies at University of Texas at Austin. After listening to Houston-bred and now New York-based pianist Helen Sung perform at Dizzy's in San Diego, it's hard to imagine her as a classical player, where precision and perfection of technique and adherence to the traditions sit up much more front and center than they do in jazz.

121

Album Review

Roger Cairns: Let's...

Read "Let's..." reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
September 27, 2010

On the heels of his recently released The Dream of Olwen (Self Produced, 2010), it is worth considering Roger Cairns' previous recording, Let's..., which was a nice evolution from his first American release, A Scot in LA (Self Produced, 2006). Roger Cairns is a student of The Great American Songbook. Rather than wearing out “My Funny Valentine" or “My Foolish Heart," he often chooses the lesser-known of the canon, and delves deeply into the pop realm. He ...

160

Album Review

mikrokolektyw: Revisit

Read "Revisit" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
September 27, 2010

Jazz has many dialects which can be made interesting or downright dire by the protagonists. Drummer Kuba Suchar and trumpeter Artur Majewski, who incorporate their instruments with electronics, have found a blend that stirs different styles and moods into one satisfactory whole. Majewski has strong melodic insight and opens a deep vein of emotion on the trumpet soothed by warm and captivating sonority. He certainly moves beyond the predictable, blowing angularities and breathy phrases, all of which are underlined by ...

157

Album Review

Chie Imaizumi: A Time of New Beginnings

Read "A Time of New Beginnings" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins

by Woodrow Wilkins
September 27, 2010

Two coasts and the Mile High City--therein lies the talent pool from which composer and arranger Chie Imaizumi selected her team. Soloists and leaders themselves, they form the orchestra for A Time of New Beginnings. Imaizumi scored DownBeat Magazine's Rising Star Composer honor for her 2007 debut, Unfailing Kindness (Capri Records). That same year, she achieved the Rocky Mountain Jazz Artist of the Year award. Her career started at age four, when she played electric organ in her ...

331

Album Review

Youn Sun Nah: Same Girl

Read "Same Girl" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
September 26, 2010

Same Girl is Youn Sun Nah's seventh album, and finds the young Korean singer continuing to explore an eclectic mix of original songs and left-field covers in the company of the stylish trio that joined her on Voyage (ACT, 2009). By turns funny, inventive, dramatic, melodramatic and reflective Same Girl confirms Nah's abilities as a vocalist and interpreter. Guitarist Ulf Wakenius, bassist Lars Danielsson and percussionist Xavier Desandre-Navarre all played on Voyage, and keeping the ensemble together ...

765

Profile

David S. Ware: Planetary Musician

by Lyn Horton
September 26, 2010

On Sunday, June 27th, 2010, about a half-hour after its scheduled 9:30 pm appearance on the Abrons Art Center main performance stage in New York City, the David S. Ware Trio was setting up. The audience for this night of Vision Festival XV was its usual wandering and low-hum conversational self. William Parker stood by his upright bass way over on the left and, on the right, drummer Warren Smith settled down on a seat behind a larger than normal ...

176

Album Review

Meeco: Perfume e Carícias

Read "Perfume e Carícias" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
September 26, 2010

Everything about the music of Meeco speaks of subtlety, seduction and mood, from the cover art--with vocalist-lyricist Eloisia embracing him in what can only be described as a Calvin Klein advertisement-type pose--to the title itself, which is Portuguese for “Perfume and Caresses." The music, presented in easy-to-digest short tracks, with the longest performance clocking in at around four-and-half-minutes, works off of a less-is-more approach and maintains a noir-ish sensibility. Meeco--who wrote the music and produced the album, ...

198

Album Review

Beat Kaestli: Invitation

Read "Invitation" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
September 26, 2010

First, there is the name: Beat Kaestli. How hip is that? A native of Switzerland, Kaestli moved to New York, where he was suitably educated in the craft of jazz at the Manhattan School of Music, and ultimately, the Aaron Copland School of Music. Kaestli has a voice of uncommon sweetness and delicacy that is, atthe same time, durable and trustworthy. He sings as Chet Baker would have, had he had a soul inhabiting that desiccated shell ...

184

Album Review

Dolores Scozzesi: A Special Taste

Read "A Special Taste" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
September 26, 2010

Whenever the names of legendary vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Edith Piaf are used to describe a new singer, it's clear that there's something special about that artist. Dolores Scozzesi is one such artist, and her unique Mezzosoprano voice separates her from the plethora of female jazz vocalist dotting the landscape these days. After a brief hiatus to raise a family, and years of performing in clubs from Los Angeles to Paris, Scozzesi--who revived her passion ...

260

Album Review

Chucho Valdes & the Afro-Cuban Messengers: Chucho's Steps

Read "Chucho's Steps" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
September 26, 2010

The odyssey of pianist Chucho Valdés has been well documented from his early days in Cuba playing in his father Bebo's Sabor de Cuba Orchestra to the founding of Irakere and on to new pastures as he infused fresh blood into Latin music and jazz. Valdez has never been fettered; his ideas are constantly evolving, finding avenues that give his music broad scope. He filters the narrowest of nooks and fills them with his majestic vision. He is truly a ...