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.

561

Live Review

24 Hours of Umbria Jazz 2010

by Sara Villa
August 3, 2010

Imagine traveling by car for hours in the summer heat of Italy's July 2010. At last it is early evening, and you reach the borders of a breathtaking medieval town. A soft breeze blows around you while you walk through the steep slopes which lead you to the centre. You follow the sounds you so eagerly waited for; they are as welcoming as you had imagined them. The elegant, sharp notes of Sonny Rollins' sax fill the atmosphere, Arena Santa ...

941

Big Band Caravan

Allen Carter Big Band / Lucerne Jazz Orchestra / Joris Teepe Big Band

by Jack Bowers
August 3, 2010

Allen Carter Big BandGiftsAC Muzik2010 If there were any integrity or enlightenment in the music business as we know it in 2010--not to mention among listeners--drummer Allen Carter's debut big-band album, Gifts, would surely go platinum or at least earn a well-deserved Grammy Award. As not much of either trait is evident on today's scene, neither of those outcomes is in any way probable. As consolation, Carter has the pleasure of hearing ...

478

Album Review

Esperanza Spalding: Chamber Music Society

Read "Chamber Music Society" reviewed by Ernest Barteldes

by Ernest Barteldes
August 3, 2010

On the opening track of her much-lauded, self-titled major label debut, Esperanza (Heads Up, 2008 ), bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding covered Milton Nascimento's timeless gem, “Ponta de Areia." Rather than covering another of the singer/composer's tunes on Chamber Music Society, Spalding recruits Nascimento to perform on her own “Apple Blossoms." It's but one example of a highly intriguing set that blends her classical training with jazz, pop and soul tendencies.This might seem to be a risky endeavor, but not ...

303

Album Review

Huntsville: Eco, Arches & Eras

Read "Eco, Arches & Eras" reviewed by Anthony Shaw

by Anthony Shaw
August 3, 2010

"Eras" actually comprises the majority of Huntsville's whole double-CD Eco, Arches & Eras, recorded live at the Kongsberg Jazz Festival in 2007. It therefore typifies the trio's live sound, although here they are augmented by guests from Wilco--percussionist Glenn Kotche and guitarist Nels Cline. The band specializes in the gradual build-up of powerful soundscapes through layering, with all three members using some sampling techniques. Percussionist Ingar Zach opens the piece with gentle throbs and minimalist percussion, though ...

310

Album Review

Rasmus Ehlers featuring George Garzone: As Played by Ear

Read "As Played by Ear" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
August 2, 2010

There are certain constellations which seem to bring out the best in an already accomplished musician. Just think of the great rhythm sections of Art Pepper, John Coltrane and Miles Davis, and it's evident that individual mastery isn't all that is required to make magic. A superior sense of group interplay is also needed to aspire to improvisation that reaches beyond the easy effects-laden fireworks of an individual's technical mastery. Boston-based tenor saxophonist George Garzone has certainly ...

564

Big Band Report

Toshiko Akiyoshi: The Music Keeps Her Young

by Jack Bowers
August 2, 2010

Pianist Billy Taylor, now in his eighty-ninth year, once recorded an album titled Music Keeps Us Young. I'm a firm believer in that and could point to several notable examples, one of whom is composer / pianist / bandleader Toshiko Akiyoshi who was in Albuquerque and Santa Fe last month with husband Lew Tabackin to headline the fifth annual New Mexico Jazz Festival. I first saw Toshiko at an open rehearsal with the Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra at The Outpost in ...

160

Album Review

Rich Corpolongo Trio: Get Happy

by Nic Jones
August 2, 2010

This is a trio that harks back to Sonny Rollins' work with piano-less groups over half a century ago, but there's nothing slavishly imitative about its music. Instead the evocation is joyous enough by itself to justify the title, and the uncalculated way in which the group goes about its work underlines it. Corpolongo's tenor sax sound is rich and sonorous and it's clear from the beginning that he's an advocate of the Coleman Hawkins school despite ...

410

Album Review

Evan Parker / Urs Leimgruber: Twine

by Mark Corroto
August 2, 2010

Twine, from saxophonists Evan Parker and Urs Leimgruber, is perhaps named for two strands twisted together to make a much stronger thread. The subtitle, however, might just be two saxophonists separated at birth.Most people familiar with the legendary Parker know his unique sound and reign as the sovereign of freely improvised tenor and soprano saxophone. He has worked in just about every combination from thrilling solo performance to his large Electro-Acoustic Ensembles.Swiss-born Leimgruber is less well-known; ...

358

Album Review

Roberto Magris: Mating Call

Read "Mating Call" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
August 2, 2010

For the contemporary jazz composer, inclusion of standards on a recording can sweeten the offering for those more traditional tastes. If the standard is treated with invention and grace, it can also inform those tastes, encouraging further listening. Italian pianist/composer Roberto Magris achieves both with Tadd Dameron's “Mating Call." Dameron's performance of his composition appeared on the same-titled album made with saxophonist John Coltrane in 1956 and released of Prestige Records. Squarely a hard bop anthem, in ...

947

Interview

Jessica Williams: Musical Truths

by Dan McClenaghan
August 2, 2010

Pianist Jessica Williams begins a free-wheeling and fascinating conversation with a fan by thanking him for the kind words he has spoken about her music. Then she adds: “But you don't always have to say kind words, you know, as long as you always say the truth." It's advice that is very much in character with the artist who has, in the past few years, been on a quest for musical truths, as well as for peace and ...