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.

507

Unsung Heroes

Vic Damon, 30th Street Studio, Village Vanguard

by Sean Dietrich
August 2, 2010

The oft forgotten recording studio. It's humble presence remains under-acclaimed. Electric lights suspended high above a giant mess of cables. Omniscient microphones standing tall, appraising the heart of arrogant musicians who approach. Scribbled papers rest on music stands, while heated brawls are incubated among hot headed horn players. This is where music is born. And yet many iconic studios, that have produced landmark recordings, are virtually absent from jazz-lore.Vic Damon Transcription Laboratory In the early 1930s Vic Damon ...

243

Album Review

Jim Rotondi: 1000 Rainbows

Read "1000 Rainbows" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 1, 2010

Trumpeter Jim Rotondi's steady stream of solo albums and work with the collective supergroup One For All--along with his role as a jazz educator and Selmer clinician--have put him at the epicenter of the jazz world. For this, his third album on Posi-Tone Records, Rotondi rounded up some fellow Big Apple-based heavy hitters to join him, including vibraphonist Joe Locke and drummer Bill Stewart. Rotondi tackles everything from The Beatles to Buddy Montgomery on 1000 Rainbows and, ...

192

Album Review

Frode Gjerstad / Paal Nilssen-Love: Gromka

by Mark Corroto
August 1, 2010

It is hard to choose which duo partner of drummer Paal Nilssen-Love to favor over another, as there are simply so many to pick from. There are his collaborations with Ken Vandermark, heard on their Chicago Volume and Milwaukee Volume (Smalltown Superjazz, 2009); the fine Peter Brotzmann session, Woodcuts ((Smalltown Superjazz, 2010); Mats Gustafsson's Splatter (Smalltown Superjazz, 2007); or, a personal favorite, Joe McPhee's Tomorrow Came Today (Smalltown Superjazz, 2008). Nilssen-Love can also be heard with Magnus Broo, ...

299

Album Review

Vijay Iyer: Solo

by Lyn Horton
August 1, 2010

On the heels of being named Musician of the Year in June, 2010, by the Jazz Journalists Association, Vijay Iyer has released his first solo piano recording. Solo comes after the critical success of his trio's Historicity (ACT Music, 2009) and quartet's Tragicomic (Sunnyside, 2008). Iyer is a kind of Renaissance man, with a jaw-dropping biography on his website; it is a wonder how he can accomplish so much. But the much-ness in his life seems to ...

512

Profile

The Emergence of Jimmy Lyons

by Robert Levin
August 1, 2010

[Editor's Note: From Jazz & Pop Magazine, 1970] Since 1960, when he began working with Cecil Taylor, alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons has been developing from a somewhat diffident musician into one of the more potent voices in the New Music. In recent recordings and appearances with Taylor, Jimmy has been playing with a glowing assertiveness and an often stunning beauty. This past spring, Jimmy's first record under his leadership, Other Afternoons on the French BYG ...

644

Take Five With...

Take Five With Dave Wilson

by AAJ Staff
August 1, 2010

Meet Dave Wilson: Dave Wilson was born and raised in Bronxville, NY. As the leader of his own jazz groups, the Dave Wilson Quartet/Crazeology, Wilson and his band mates are known for their groundbreaking improvisations along with creative individualistic compositions and unique arrangements of standards. Wilson was also co-leader for many years, with the great trumpet stylist, Ben Mauger, of the well known Traditional/New Orleans ensemble, the Canal Street Hot 6, (CD; Back In the Day). The Canal Street Hot ...

263

Album Review

Dr. John and the Lower 911: Tribal

Read "Tribal" reviewed by Mike Perciaccante

by Mike Perciaccante
August 1, 2010

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dr. John made his bones (at least with the national audience) with a spooky, swampy blues / psychedelia / R&B / funk / pop / rock / jazz-influenced musical gumbo that included the originals “Right Place, Wrong Time," “Mardi Gras Day," “I Walk on Guilded Splinters," “Such A Night" as well as covers of “Iko Iko," “Big Chief" and “Tipitina." Though Dr. John has never changed his approach or his sound, Tribal (to ...

290

Album Review

Vijay Iyer: Solo

by Chris May
July 31, 2010

Pianist Vijay Iyer's Historicity (ACT Music, 2009) was among the spellbinders of its year, a 10 track trio album, one half originals, one half covers. Solo makes a return visit to the same playground, its 11 tracks comprising five originals and six covers of tunes written by Duke Ellington ("Black & Tan Fantasy," “La Fleurette Africaine"), Thelonious Monk ("Epistrophy"), Jimmy Van Heusen ("Darn That Dream"), Steve Coleman ("Games") and Steve Porcaro/John Bettis ("Human Nature," for the singer Michael Jackson).

632

Film Review

The Rolling Stones: Stones in Exile

by Doug Collette
July 31, 2010

The Rolling StonesStones in ExileEagle2010The enduring magic surrounding The Rolling Stones' greatest album, Exile on Main Street (Rolling Stones, 1972) is so seductive even the band itself can't resist trying to explain it. Why else generate multiple packages of audio, video and print two years before the 40th anniversary of the double album's original release?But lest anyone think Stones in Exile constitutes a documentary of the circumstances surrounding the recording ...

216

Album Review

Dave Wilson Quartet: Spiral

Read "Spiral" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
July 31, 2010

Saxophonist Dave Wilson was previously a member of two Dave Stahl groups, also playing with the likes of Wynton Marsalis, Tom Harrell, Lew Soloff and Conrad Herwig and studying with the great Joe Lovano. The New York native has released two previous collections as a leader, and is actively immersed in music as both an educator and a business person. Wilson's compositions and covers reflect an eclectic approach, featuring ballads, Latin influences, free improvisation and mainstream jazz. Wilson's and his ...