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.

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Album Review

Anat Fort: And If

Read "And If" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
September 20, 2010

Working with legendary drummer Paul Motian on her first ECM release, A Long Story (2007), must have been a formative experience for pianist Anat Fort. On And If, her second release for the German label, she opens and closes the set with two readings of “Paul Motian." These are inward, time-standing-still tunes, showcasing Fort's spare and spacious approach to her instrument, with the abstractly nuanced accompaniment of her regular trio-mates, bassist Gary Wang and drummer Roland Schneider.By and ...

641

Album Review

Mort Weiss: Raising the Bar: The Definitive Mort Weiss

Read "Raising the Bar: The Definitive Mort Weiss" reviewed by Samuel Chell

by Samuel Chell
September 20, 2010

In late 2006, clarinetist Mort Weiss told his unusual story to R. J. Deluke in an exclusive interview for All About Jazz, appropriated titled “Mort Weiss: Sets Sail with Clarinet." His narrative is the timeless, archetypal journey of the hero's circular route to hell and back--much like that of Homer's legendary mariner, Ulysses, except that in Weiss' case, the outcome was far from known. With Raising the Bar, Weiss completes his journey, and provides impressive if less than definitive closure ...

518

Extended Analysis

Dave Douglas & Keystone: Spark of Being

by Troy Collins
September 19, 2010

Dave Douglas & KeystoneSpark of BeingGreenleaf Music2010 Trumpet player and composer Dave Douglas has risen from the ranks of tenacious Downtown improvisers to become a leading force in creative mainstream jazz in the past decade. Regularly overshadowing perennial favorite Wynton Marsalis in “Best Trumpeter" polls for the past few years, his liberal aesthetic encompasses everything from chamber-like small ensembles to international big bands, with his venerable Quintet and the electric sextet Keystone ...

3,472

Album Review

Carol Morgan Trio: Opening

Read "Opening" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
September 19, 2010

Trumpeter Carol Morgan has a smile as big as her Texas home, and chops expertly informed by Ingrid Jensen, among others, at Juilliard. She has been a fixture in the DIVA Jazz Orchestra (with Sharel Cassity). Additionally, Morgan heads the quintet, Carol Morgan's Case Study, featuring pianist Helen Sung and Guitarist Mike Moreno, and Morgana' Organic Trio, featuring Akiko Tsuruga. Opening is a trio recording, with bassist Harvie S and drummer Rich DeRosa. Piano-less trios are not ...

409

Album Review

John Fifield: It Is What It Is

Read "It Is What It Is" reviewed by Matthew Warnock

by Matthew Warnock
September 19, 2010

It is What It Is is an entertaining and exciting modern-jazz album from Florida based guitarist John Fifield. The album mixes modern harmony and feel with Latin and rock grooves in a manner that is a nod to those who have come before, while still keeping one eye firmly on the forward horizon. All of the players are sharp on this session, which only adds to the interest created by Fifield's well thought-out compositions and arrangements. As ...

750

Opinion

Miles: The Autobiography... Two Decades Later

by Victor L. Schermer
September 19, 2010

Miles: The AutobiographyBy Miles Davis with Quincy TroupeNew York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, 2005(Originally published in 1989)Miles Davis knew how to keep himself on the radar screen. He did it musically throughout his life, except for a five year period of “silence" when he isolated himself in his Manhattan townhouse, by his own admission musically inert and completely caught up in drugs, alcohol, and sexual escapades, inaccessible to even his closest friends. ...

503

Take Five With...

Take Five With Dan Wilensky

by AAJ Staff
September 19, 2010

Meet Dan Wilensky:Saxophonist, composer, and author Dan Wilensky has toured and recorded with hundreds of artists, including Ray Charles, Jack McDuff, Joan Baez, Santana, Steve Winwood, Donna Summer, R. Kelly, Melissa Manchester, Faith No More, Hall & Oates, Freddie Jackson, Linda Eder, Mark Murphy, James Brown, Deborah Harry, The Manhattan Transfer, David Bowie, and Madonna. He has played on numerous commercial jingles, film soundtracks and TV themes, including The Nanny, Hollywood Squares, Sex In The City, ESPN Sportscenter, ...

252

Album Review

Jon Irabagon Trio featuring Barry Altschul: Foxy

by Bruce Lindsay
September 19, 2010

Foxy is tenor saxophonist Jon Irabagon's fourth album as leader: a 78-minute, uninterrupted trio performance, exploring the possibilities of the 16-bar form through extended improvisation. Put another way, Foxy is a great big belly-laugh of an album; a stunning physical feat; a constantly shifting musical achievement; an adventure; and a raw and visceral performance. And it's got great cover art--a take on Sonny Rollins' Way Out West (Contemporary, 1957), featuring a louche Irabagon and a succession of undignified additions to ...

156

Album Review

Mike Mainieri: Crescent

Read "Crescent" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
September 19, 2010

Vibraphonist Mike Mainieri might have initially set out to create a tribute to one saxophone giant when he recorded this album, but Crescent actually pays respects to two reed players of note. The material on this two-CD set was written and/or performed by John Coltrane or was part of his repertoire at one time or another, and his legacy looms large here. Mainieri got together with saxophonist Charlie Mariano and bassist Dieter Ilg and, with no prior rehearsal or prearranged ...

179

Album Review

Dave Bass: Gone

by Edward Blanco
September 19, 2010

California Deputy Attorney General, Dave Bass, is a legal eagle who has, once again, immersed himself in the musical passion that was his first love, soaring mightily on the impressive Gone. An attorney by profession and a pianist by design, Bass once supported himself as a musician, early on in his life, where he worked both locally and abroad. After a twenty-year hiatus, Bass returns to music with ten original modern jazz compositions, brought to life by his very able ...