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.

193

Album Review

David Bixler and Arturo O'Farrill: The Auction Project

Read "The Auction Project" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
September 17, 2010

Altoist and composer David Bixler leads The Auction Project, with Grammy-winning pianist Arturo O'Farrill, who has described this album as being “very much about colliding cultures." This may slightly overstate things but the album does represent what is, for jazz, a rather unusual meeting of cultures. Half of The Auction Project is devoted to Bixler's compositions, while the other half features tunes from the folk canon of the British Isles--the island of Ireland in particular. The key ...

308

Take Five With...

Take Five With Ben Syversen

by AAJ Staff
September 17, 2010

Meet Ben Syversen:During the nearly three years he has lived in Brooklyn, Ben has immersed himself fully in all that the city has to offer. In addition to performing with well established improvising musicians such as bassist Reuben Radding, he has been an active participant in the Balkan music scene, performing regularly with Raya Brass Band, Ansambl Mastika, and more. He has toured throughout the US and Japan, and has performed at the Newport Jazz Festival and the ...

139

Album Review

Jared Gold: Out Of Line

Read "Out Of Line" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
September 17, 2010

If a single word is needed to describe Out Of Line, organist Jared Gold's third album as leader, then that word is cool. If two words are required, they're laid back, for this is a late-night groove sort of a record, where the band seldom tries to break sweat--with the notable exception of Hank Mobley's “An Aperitif"--but creates, instead, a smooth, relaxed feel that relies on delicate interplay. Drummer Mark Ferber keeps firm control of the music's ...

136

Album Review

Jon Irabagon: Foxy

by Mark Corroto
September 17, 2010

Fashioned as a late night session, the continuous 78 minutes of saxophonist Jon Irabagon's Foxy is an unrelenting sixteen-bar jam that feels as if the infamous Dean Benedetti had recorded the get-together and now, some nine months (not years) later, it is being released. Irabagon, the winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition, has never rested on the laurels of that distinguished title. He has divided his time between more traditional jazz, recording The Observer (Concord, ...

328

Album Review

David Bixler and Arturo O'Farrill: The Auction Project

Read "The Auction Project" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
September 17, 2010

Stylistically, The Auction Project is slightly out-of-focus. It is ostensibly the meeting of Arturo O'Farrill's Irish-Latin roots at the corner of David Bixler and Heather Martin Bixler. However, there is much to endorse the music made here, not the least of which is the presence of the two Chico O'Farrill big band alumni. Bixler's “Heptagonesque" is the successful culmination of this Hispano-Celtic experiment, with its curious Middle Eastern flavor. Is it the curry? No, it's the violin. ...

800

Extended Analysis

Decoy and Joe McPhee: Oto

by Clifford Allen
September 16, 2010

Decoy and Joe McPheeOtoBo'Weavil2010 The existence of a free-improvising organ trio, though uncommon even in 2010, shouldn't be all that surprising and, indeed, you might be prompted to ask what took so long. Certainly, figures like Larry Young and John Patton stretched the boundaries of organ-jazz in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and composer / pianist / polymath Sun Ra employed the Hammond organ in some of his ensembles (though perhaps ...

229

Album Review

Jared Gold: Out Of Line

Read "Out Of Line" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
September 16, 2010

Despite the implications that live within a title like Out Of Line, organist Jared Gold's third Posi-Tone release is rather in tune with the history and vibe of organ groups and all that goes with them. Gold is joined by some top notch east coast talent, in the form of guitarist Dave Stryker, drummer Mark Ferber and saxophonist Chris Cheek, and all four musicians seem to gel well from the very start. Gold might have eclectic tastes, with covers ranging ...

725

Extended Analysis

Charles Lloyd Quartet: Mirror

by Warren Allen
September 16, 2010

Charles Lloyd QuartetMirrorECM Records2010 The perception of Charles Lloyd has changed since he first rose to popularity as a 1960s-saxman, sporting flower power colors and a momentous afro, and was somehow tied to mainstream jazz, the avant-garde and the popular psychedelic movement. A brief recess from recording, during which he taught transcendental meditation, ended with his return to recording and performance in the 1980s, and subsequent transformation into one of today's ...

259

Album Review

Geof Bradfield: African Flowers

Read "African Flowers" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
September 16, 2010

Saxophonist Geof Bradfield's experiences traveling and performing in Rwanda, Congo, Uganda, and Zimbabwe in 2008 were the inspiration for African Flowers. Bradfield was a member of pianist Ryan Cohan's quartet, and the band took part in a US State Department/Jazz at Lincoln Center tour. This extended work for sextet features excellent writing and strong musicianship from Cohan, guitarist Jeff Parker, trumpeter Victor Garcia, bassist Clark Sommers and drummer George Fludas.African Flowers follows the quartet release Urban Nomad (Origin, ...

243

Album Review

Ken Fowser & Behn Gillece: Little Echo

Read "Little Echo" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
September 16, 2010

If Marc Free, Nick O'Toole and the team at Posi-Tone Records continue producing albums in the same manner as they have been since the inception of the label in 1994, they will surely be further along the path to emulating the legacy of the Blue Note label, which has produced some of the finest music of our time. Little Echo, by saxophonist, Ken Fowser and vibraphonist, Behn Gillece, is a further testament to the label's determination to keep contemporary music ...