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

Soft Machine: Land of Cockayne

Read "Land of Cockayne" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
August 22, 2010

Three years after Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris (Harvest, 1978), Britain's Soft Machine suddenly resurfaced momentarily with Land of Cockayne. Given the experimental nature of its glory days and a latter-day fusion masterpiece in Bundles (Esoteric, 1975), it's understandable why Cockayne has historically been considered Soft Machine's dullest moment. But time heals all wounds, and Esoteric's remaster reveals an album stronger than it seemed at a time when it was impossible not to draw comparisons with the Soft Machine ...

223

Album Review

Laurie Antonioli: American Dreams

Read "American Dreams" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
August 22, 2010

In order to have specifically American Dreams, exile may be necessary. An extended stay in a foreign country lends a certain detached perspective on the homeland. For returning San Francisco-based jazz vocalist Laurie Antonioli, that foreign stay was in Graz, Austria, at KUG University, where she taught vocal jazz from 2002 until 2006.A fortuitous aspect of Antonioli's European stay was her musical hook-up with pianist Fritz Pauer, longtime accompanist to Art Farmer. Pauer also taught at KUG, and ...

172

Album Review

Chicago Underground Trio: Chronicle

Read "Chronicle" reviewed by Seamus Seoighe

by Seamus Seoighe
August 22, 2010

The Chicago Underground Trio is more of an idea than a group per se. With albums being put out by an ever-changing group of musicians over the last decade-and-a-half, carrying the torch as the Chicago Underground implies a commitment to pushing boundaries; be it sonic boundaries, or the boundaries that could inhibit a trio creating live music, the Chicago Underground is constantly presenting music that is innovative, new and, without a doubt, boundary-breaking. Chronicle, the trio's first ...

223

Album Review

Livia Devereux: Night Winds Whisper

Read "Night Winds Whisper" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 21, 2010

Night Winds Whisper--clocking in at a mere twenty-five minutes--seems like more of a teaser than a full blown album, but vocalist Livia Devereux still manages to put her own stamp on some classics during this record's brief life span. One of the most intriguing aspects of Devereux's delivery is the way that she manages to infuse energy into material that is often placed in a different light. A case in point is her exuberant take on “Walkin' After Midnight" that ...

197

Live Review

Juanita Rynum + Kiera 'Kiki' Sheard + The Clark Sisters at Central Park Summerstage, August 7, 2010

by Ernest Barteldes
August 21, 2010

Juanita Rynum + Kiera 'Kiki' Sheard + The Clark SistersCentral Park SummerstageNew York, NYAugust 7, 2010 Devotional music was the centerpiece for a warm afternoon in Central Park, and kicking off the ng the proceedings was singer/preacher Juanita Rynum, who came on with an acapella spiritual (she had no backing band), which led to a long sermon about how God has touched the lives of those near her. Rynum also mentioned that she considered herself ...

203

Album Review

Laurie Antonioli: American Dreams

Read "American Dreams" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
August 21, 2010

The remarkable ingenuity of Laurie Antonioli's voice is owed, not just to the impossible range--some three octaves--but to vocalist's breathtaking ability to find the hidden quarter tones that sound between the so-called right ones. In suggesting that these notes she sings are “wrong," the idea of a Thelonious Monk-like reality emerges in Antonioli's singing. The elemental difference is one of rhythm: while Monk's was chopped and jagged, sly and askance, Antonioli's is smooth, with burgeoning glissandos that are forthright, yet ...

834

Interview

Robert Levin: The War is Over - A Conversation About Jazz

by AAJ Staff
August 21, 2010

[Editor's Note: Interview conducted by Eleanor Brietel, New York Editor of The Drill Press. Most of this interview, originally published on the Buzzle website, was conducted via email.] Eleanor Brietel: You've published fiction and you also write essays on a variety of subjects. I want, however, to confine this discussion to your thoughts about jazz, a special interest of yours that has resulted in a couple of books, a lot of liner notes and numerous articles ...

281

Album Review

Bob Mintzer: Canyon Cove

Read "Canyon Cove" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
August 21, 2010

Between a bevy of sideman dates, longstanding gigs with Yellowjackets and his own big band, and periodic small ensemble recordings like the unassuming and heartfelt In the Moment (Art of Life, 2007), Bob Mintzer has remained one of the busiest woodwind multi-instrumentalists in jazz for nearly four decades, since first cutting his teeth as youngster with drum legend/mentor Buddy Rich. Largely focusing on the rich bebop tradition and its various offshoots, Mintzer has always managed to remain relevant by placing ...

581

Extended Analysis

Grateful Dead: Road Trips Vol. 3 No. 3 - Fillmore East 1970

by Doug Collette
August 21, 2010

Grateful DeadRoad Trips Vol. 3 No. 3: Fillmore East 1970Rhino2010 This edition of Grateful Dead's Road Trips albums, Volume 3 No.3, may be the pinnacle of the archive series as in summer 2010 it approaches its third anniversary. The three main discs capture the iconic San Francisco band at the Fillmore East in New York in May of 1970 (a fourth, bonus disc includes more from that run plus content from ...

451

Album Review

TGB: Evil Things

Read "Evil Things" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
August 21, 2010

This electrifying Portuguese progressive-jazz trio pulls a lot of tricks out of its magic bag, but alleviates the flow a tad with its solicitous rendition of Black Sabbath's “Planet Caravan." Here, tubaist Sergio Carolino and guitarist Mario Delgado venture towards a metal-lite jazz aura, fused with a resonating jazz-blues-rock mix, culminating in a fuzzed-toned finale, as the soloists' generate stepladder-like crescendos and melodic interpretations of the primary theme. Delgado and Carolino toss a few nicely devised curve ...