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.
Sign in to customize your My Articles page —or— Filter Article Results
Stan Kenton and His Orchestra: Roots
by Jack Bowers
Roots is a most appropriate title for this series of concerts by the Stan Kenton Orchestra recorded in 1944-45 on behalf of the Armed Forces Radio Service. While the sessions do include a handful of staples from the Kenton book ("Eager Beaver," “Reed Rapture," “Tampico," the well-known “Artistry in Rhythm" theme), it's clear that Kenton and the orchestra hadn't yet developed the singular persona that enabled it to safeguard its place among the front ranks of contemporary big bands until ...
Continue ReadingSummer Camargo: To Whom I Love
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Trumpet artist Summer Camargo startled the music and entertainment worlds when, as a brilliant 22-year-old Juilliard grad, she landed the highly-desired trumpet chair in the Saturday Night Live band. Camargo now adds to her lengthy list of achievements with her debut album, To Whom I Love. She and a cadre of New York all-stars deliver nine varied tracks (seven Camargo originals and two jazz workhorses) on which she and her colleagues shine. “JP Shuffle," upbeat and catchy, ...
Continue ReadingWanted: For Being Hip—Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe and the Birth of Salsa
by Richard J Salvucci
It may require some effort to imagine that there were once no Latin Grammy awards. The albums reviewed here truly appeared in a different world. Until 1970, there was, with one brief exception, no systematic attempt to compute the size of the Latino population of the United States. The first effort did not go well. The Bureau of the Census ultimately invented the term “Hispanic," to aggregate people of different nationalities and ethnicities, although calling, for example, someone from Ecuador ...
Continue ReadingTucker Brothers: Live at Chatterbox
by Jack Bowers
Chatterbox is a nightspot in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Tucker brothers (Joel, guitar; Nick, bass) homegrown siblings whose weekly gig at Chatterbox serves essentially as their home base. The brothers lead a quartet on this concert date, with tenor saxophonist Sean Imboden and drummer Carrington Clinton rounding out the group. Joel Tucker is the latest in a long line of splendid Indy-based guitarists that started more than seventy-five years ago with the legendary Wes Montgomery. Coincidentally, Wes Montgomery ...
Continue ReadingMeet Bobby Watson
by Craig Jolley
This article was first published at All About Jazz in October 1999. Background and early career... I started playing clarinet and piano in my grandfather's church. I played saxophone in junior high school: originally tenor and switched to alto when I got to high school. From there I got hip to jazz and tried to do as much as I could. I went to the University of Miami and got a degree in theory and composition. In 1976 ...
Continue ReadingJohn Lurie: Painting With John
by Mark Corroto
Once a week, since 2021 the HBO series Painting With John gave viewers a glimpse into the world of John Lurie. If you just happened upon the television show without any prior knowledge of the man, you begin to realize the program was not at all like the kitschy PBS series The Joy Of Painting with Bob Ross. Although you might imagine Lurie entertaining the idea of adding some happy little trees, Painting With John, just like his 1990's TV ...
Continue ReadingMeet Brian Lynch
by C. Andrew Hovan
This article was first published at All About Jazz in March 2000.Though many of his peers have received far more attention from the public and press, the fact is that Brian Lynch is one of the most experienced and talented jazz trumpeters of his generation. Growing up in the Milwaukee area, Lynch took advantage of a healthy jazz scene there that found him playing professionally at the age of 16 and gaining valuable knowledge and seasoning through his ...
Continue ReadingBafus - Raskin - Shiurba: Fair Shanks Suburbia
by Glenn Astarita
Fair Shanks Suburbia emerges as a noteworthy exploration into the avant-garde, where Jon Bafus (Unsilent Majority), Jon Raskin (ROVA), and John Shiurba (Anthony Braxton) orchestrate a sonic journey that transcends conventional musical boundaries. It is a cohesive narrative that delves into the complexities of suburban life through an experimental lens. From the outset, the trio sets a bold tone with their opener “Rubber Band Rattle Can," a piece that fuses chaotic rhythms with moments of startling clarity. Bafus' ...
Continue ReadingDiscovered Early Jazz Fusion From Pat Smythe Plus Other New Releases
by Bob Osborne
On this show we focus on a previously unreleased album from Pat Smythe recorded in France in 1973. In addition we have recent and forthcoming releases from Ernesto Cervini, The Messthetics And James Brandon Lewis, Pat Bianchi, Yosef Gutman Levitt, Smelloship, Albare, George Cartwright, Echoes of Zoo, Chad Fowler, Muriel Grossman, Roby Glod Christian Ramond & Klaus Kugel, and an excerpt from a recent live recording from David Torn Tom Rainey Tim Berne and Trevor Dunn. Playlist Show ...
Continue ReadingSean Ono Lennon, Simon Spiess, Debby Wang, Ben Lumsdaine & More
by Ludovico Granvassu
The gorgeous new album by Sean Ono Lennon, Asterisms (Tzadik), opens a set of electro-acoustic otherworldly beauty.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Sean Ono Lennon “Acisalia" Asterisms (Tzadik) 0:16 Host talks 7:17 Simon Spiess Quiet Tree “Grieving Was Yesterday" Euphorbia (Intakt) 8:44 Host talks 12:50 Ben Lumsdaine “Here's Your Next Clue" Murmuration Without End (International Anthem) 14:50 Debby Wang “Fairness" Aftertaste (Self-produced) 20:42 YES! Trio feat. Ali Jackson, ...
Continue Reading
