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.

154

Album Review

Martial Solal: Live at the Village Vanguard: I Can't Give You Anything But Love

Read "Live at the Village Vanguard: I Can't Give You Anything But Love" reviewed by Jack Kenny

by Jack Kenny
September 23, 2010

"Tonight is a very important night because we recording the show. I have to be good and you have to be good too," Solal jokes to his Village Vanguard audience in New York, but it would not be surprising if the pianist felt some pressure. The few appearances that Solal has made in the US are startling, considering that he is one of the greatest pianists in the history of Jazz. Solal, born Algiers in 1927, has ...

289

Album Review

Lynn Baker Quartet: Azure Intentions

Read "Azure Intentions" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
September 23, 2010

From the opening bass lines of “Color Line" on Azure Intention, it is evident that saxophonist Lynn Baker's Quartet comes out swinging and grooving. But there is also a captivating sense of sophistication, thoughtfully played into the selections. Baker--who doubles deftly on both soprano and tenor saxophones--composed all of Azure Intention's eight tracks, each performed with enough time and space as to allow the musicians to contribute without seeming rushed. The quartet has been gigging around Denver ...

188

Album Review

Birdie Leigh: In A Silky Mood

Read "In A Silky Mood" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
September 22, 2010

In A Silky Mood is very much a sampler disc, showing off the considerable wares of one Birdie Leigh. The vocalist joins Retta Christie (Retta Christie with David Evans and David Frishberg: Volumes 1 and 2) and Lawrence Lebo ( Lawrence Lebo: Rhythm and Roots) in addressing American Music in a very stripped down fashion. Leigh combines Lebo's sense of humor with Christie's earnest sincerity, for a perfect brew of fun. “My Baby Just Cares for Me" ...

488

Extended Analysis

Dave Morgan: The Way of the Sly Man

by Matt Marshall
September 22, 2010

Dave MorganThe Way of the Sly Man Being There2010 The teachings of 20th century mystic G. I. Gurdjieff have appealed to their share of artists, pianist Keith Jarrett, guitarist Robert Fripp and singer Kate Bush being among the more famous musicians to fall under Gurdjieff's spell. Jarrett, in fact, went so far as to record an album of Gurdjieff's solo piano music--G.I. Gurdjieff Sacred Hymns (ECM, 1980). It's unclear how devout a ...

423

Album Review

Rudresh Mahanthappa / Bunky Green: Apex

by Mark F. Turner
September 22, 2010

Apex is an alto sax summit of huge proportions--a prodigious work of collaboration and stirring performances--boasting Rudresh Mahanthappa, one of today's rising stars, and Bunky Green, a lesser known master who has influenced innovators such as Greg Osby and Steve Coleman. Like another memorable 2010 release, Dual Identity (Clean Feed), which featured Mahanthappa and alto conceptualist Steve Lehman, the music here is another no-holds-barred outing between seminal artists. Though there's a 36 year age difference, Mahanthappa's fearless ...

230

Album Review

Arp: The Soft Wave

Read "The Soft Wave" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
September 22, 2010

In a time of home studios and digital media, the resurgence of interest in all things analogue has transcended simple nostalgia. To be sure, better analogue-to-digital conversions have improved almost exponentially over the early days of digital recording, to the point where most people can't tell the difference. Similarly, though digital sampling and synthesis has, in many ways, gone beyond the scope of early analogue synths, there are certain sounds that simply sound indefinably better from their original sources. Maybe ...

209

Album Review

Alex Diaz y Son de la Calle: Merengue Jazz King: Dedicated to Mario Rivera

Read "Merengue Jazz King: Dedicated to Mario Rivera" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
September 22, 2010

Conguero Alex Diaz marries the heady rhythms of meringue to the harmony and sway of jazz as he pays tribute to Mario Rivera, the “King of Merengue Jazz." Rivera was an exceptional musician who played 24 instruments. Born in the Dominican Republic, he moved to the United States, and soon began playing with Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Stitt, among others. He also led his own bands, including The Mario Rivera Sextet and the Salsa Refugees. Rivera succumbed to ...

840

Interview

Kane Mathis: Kora Meets Jazz

by AAJ Staff
September 22, 2010

Seattle's Kane Mathis is one of the world's leading performers on the kora, the distinctive (usually) 21-stringed West African harp instrument that is the major instrument of the Mandinka people of Mali; the Malian equivalent of the Western keyboard. Mathis has studied the instrument since the age of twenty, making several trips to The Gambia to learn from the hereditary musicians of the area. Now, he is the kora instrumentalist in Seattle's The Kora Band, a five piece jazz group ...

407

Album Review

Nik Bartsch's Ronin: Llyria

by Chris May
September 21, 2010

Pianist Nik Bärtsch's Ronin has traveled a long way since its formation in 2001, through its early albums on Ronin Rhythm Records, its signing with ECM, and the three discs that label has so far released. Mid-decade, the Swiss band was forging its reputation with a relentlessly beat-centric style which Bärtsch dubbed “Zen funk" and “ritual groove music"--a blend of minimalism and James Brown which gave P-funkster George Clinton's maxim “free your ass and your mind will follow" a new ...

812

Film Review

Cachao: Uno Mas

by Eugene Holley, Jr.
September 21, 2010

Israel “Cachao" LopezCachao: Una MasDOC Film Institute2008 It's a cliché to say that any one man is largely responsible for a large part of modern music. But in the case of Israel Cachao" Lopez--the Cuban-born, Miami-based bassist, composer and bandleader, who died in 2007 at around the age of 90--that claim is true. Without the pioneering musicianship of this tanned, slightly hunched over, bowlegged musician, Latin music would not exist as it ...