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.

288

Album Review

Miles Davis: Bitches Brew: 40th Anniversary Edition

Read "Bitches Brew: 40th Anniversary Edition" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
August 24, 2010

The 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking fusion album Bitches Brew offers an opportunity to expand upon the context of its original unveiling. The impact of this recognition can't even be mitigated by a collision of commerce and creativity that echoes some of the furor over the original 1970 release. The larger of the two packages follows what has become a template for such releases, the selling points of which include vinyl LPs and a book (including an engrossing ...

496

Multiple Reviews

In Praise of John Russell

by John Eyles
August 24, 2010

English guitarist John Russell is from the wave of free improvisers who came after the so-called first generation typified by such “founding fathers" as guitarist Derek Bailey, saxophonist Evan Parker, trombonist Paul Rutherford and drummer John Stevens. In his teens, Russell played at the Little Theatre Club, the cradle of free improv in London, and took lessons from Bailey. His first recording, Teatime, was issued on Incus in 1975. Since 1977, Russell has exclusively played acoustic guitar, developing ...

222

Album Review

Kneebody: You Can Have Your Moment

Read "You Can Have Your Moment" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
August 24, 2010

West Coast eclectic Kneebody elbowed its way to the front of the crowd on Theo Bleckmann's Grammy-nominated Twelve Songs by Charles Ives (Winter & Winter, 2009). As is customary with Bleckmann, he always employs musicians empathetic with his creative and playful vision. On You Can have Your Moment, Kneebody is all business, pushing the musical envelope to the edge of sonic awareness. The band closes You Can have Your Moment with “High Noon," composed by trumpeter Shane ...

279

Album Review

Alphonso Sanders and Bill "Howl'n Madd" Perry: Twice as Nice Down in Mississippi

Read "Twice as Nice Down in Mississippi" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins

by Woodrow Wilkins
August 24, 2010

Down-home Delta blues is what can be expected from the duet of Alphonso Sanders and Bill “Howl-N-Madd" Perry. A popular act at clubs and festivals, the pair has released its first recording, Twice as Nice Down in Mississippi. Sanders has been involved in music education for more than 25 years, and is currently chair of Fine Arts at Mississippi Valley State University, where he is also director of the B.B. King Recording Studio. A versatile musician who plays ...

385

Album Review

Eric Bolvin: No Boundaries

Read "No Boundaries" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
August 24, 2010

One might wonder what might have drawn the great Miles Davis to record melodically verbatim covers of Michael Jackson's “Human Nature" and Cyndi Lauper's “Time After Time," in a smooth jazz format. Commercial interest? A musical category boundary to break? Because he could? With No Boundaries, trumpeter Eric Bolvin continues to validate his very distinguished place as a fine proponent of smooth jazz trumpet. While there are no breakthroughs or Davis-like covers present, the disc perfectly fits ...

239

Album Review

Soft Machine: Softs

by John Kelman
August 23, 2010

The last several years have seen the bulk of legendary British group Soft Machine's original recordings reissued: some available after years out-of-print; all receiving sonic upgrades as definitive as they'll likely ever get. Still, Esoteric Recordings' Mark Powell gave all the love he could to Sony's reissue of the group's classic Third (1970), but its marginal improvement only proves the limitations of even the best ears and the most advanced studio technology, when substandard sound is committed to tape, even ...

1,103

Old, New, Borrowed and Blue

On The Sunny Side Of Jazz

by Dan Bilawsky
August 23, 2010

Summer is a time of joy for many people. Children are treated to a well-deserved vacation, allowing them to recharge for the following school year, and barbecues are held in backyards, en masse, throughout every corner of America and beyond. Those fond of the surf and sand flock to the beach, and it's all-too-common to see people jogging, biking or just partaking in a simple stroll through a park. While summer brings all of these perks and many more, it ...

101

Album Review

George Cotsirilos: Past Present

Read "Past Present" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
August 23, 2010

George Cotsirilos' meticulous and tasteful guitar work is marked by remarkably subtle shifts in accents, and minute changes in expression and dynamics. On Past Present, he also displays an impeccable sense of timin,g especially in revealing the hidden rhythms of complex melodies. His approach to harmony is whimsical, but patently beautiful at all times. He is fleet-fingered across the fret board and equally expressive as he plucks the strings of his guitar, or simply rolls over them with fingertips, like ...

367

Album Review

Kissima Diabate: Beug Fallou

Read "Beug Fallou" reviewed by Henry Smith

by Henry Smith
August 23, 2010

A Senegalese-born drummer, Kissima Diabate has been playing nearly all his life. Born into a griot family, the percussionist's impressive résumé found him becoming a djembe soloist in the Ballet D'Afrique Noir at age twelve and, only four years later, a solo drummer and dancer for the Ballet National Du Senegal. Yet Diabate's renown in his own country stands in stark contrast to his fame elsewhere in the world. Despite recently teaching and organizing concerts in Europe and the United ...

536

Live Review

Vision Festival 2010: Day 7, June 29, 2010

by John Sharpe
August 23, 2010

Prologue | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7Charles Gayle, William Parker, Muhammad Ali, Lafayette Gilchrist, Gerald Cleaver, Vladimir TarasovVision FestivalAbrons Arts CenterNew York City29 June 2010 For the last evening of the Fifteenth Vision Festival at the Abrons Arts Center, the theme was of celebration for the late Rashied Ali. Ali, who died in August 2009, will ...