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.

159

Album Review

Dafnis Prieto Si o Si Quartet: Live at Jazz Standard NYC

Read "Live at Jazz Standard NYC" reviewed by Tom Greenland

by Tom Greenland
October 5, 2009

Live at Jazz Standard NYC, by the Si o Si Quartet, is drummer/bandleader/composer Dafnis Prieto's fourth album of all-original material, cementing his reputation as a formidable technician and visionary. Returning from his previous release are Peter Apfelbaum (tenor and soprano saxophones, melodica) and Manuel Valera (keyboards), while acoustic and electric bassist Charles Flores is his partner-in-rhythm from the Michel Camilo Trio. A vibrant set, Live at Jazz Standard NYC shows off Prieto's polyrhythmic prowess: orchestrated across the ...

266

Live Review

Sonny Rollins Returns to the Kimmel Center

by Victor L. Schermer
October 5, 2009

Sonny Rollins Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Philadelphia, PA September 25, 2009Sonny Rollins has a large and enthusiastic fan base in Philadelphia so that, even in a time of economic recession, a packed house cheered on Rollins and his group as they provided a solid evening of straight ahead jazz with no intermission, and with a bebop and post-bop flavor that represented a shift from Rollins' previous engagement at the Kimmel Center in 2006, ...

298

Album Review

Mike DiRubbo: Repercussion

Read "Repercussion" reviewed by David A. Orthmann

by David A. Orthmann
October 4, 2009

Over the past several years Mike DiRubbo has made engaging discs for the Criss Cross and Cellar Live labels. On Keep Steppin' (2001), Human Spirit (2003), and New York Accent (2006), the young alto and soprano saxophonist distinguished himself in bands comprised of some of the cream of New York City's straight-ahead players--Jim Rotondi, Joe Farnsworth, Mike LeDonne, and Peter Washington. One of DiRubbo's strengths during two of these sides is navigating the strong, expressive accompaniment of pianists David Hazeltine ...

264

Live Review

Acoustic Ladyland at Norwich Arts Centre

by Bruce Lindsay
October 4, 2009

Acoustic LadylandNorwich Arts CentreNorwich, U.K.September 24, 2009 Acoustic Ladyland took to the darkened Arts Centre stage, and the crowd began to cheer and whistle. Pete Wareham, tenor saxophonist, bandleader and composer, peered through his sunglasses and beckoned the audience towards the stage. The crowd, mostly younger than the musicians, dutifully moved forward as the band kicked into “Glasto." For the next 75 minutes Acoustic Ladyland played a frenetic, involving, funky and powerful set of ...

223

Album Review

Eugene Lee: equilibrium

Read "equilibrium" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
October 4, 2009

On this solo disc, his third, Portland, Oregon-based saxophonist Eugene Lee marks a further step in the disciplined path that led through his last release, Meditations (Pure Potentiality, 2008).equilibrium (all the titles are in lower-case, e.e. cummings-like) shares some elements of Meditations, notably the presence of Lee alone and the liberal use of electronics to generate a wealth of sonic variety: echo, loops, distortion. While the earlier record depicted the various states of the mind during meditation, this ...

212

Album Review

David Ashkenazy: Out With It

Read "Out With It" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins

by Woodrow Wilkins
October 4, 2009

Some music defies description. In the case of drummer David Ashkenazy's Out With It, words can hardly do justice to the varied moods and sounds of this eight-song set. Ashkenazy studied piano and guitar at age nine and later learned to play the drums. His varied musical tastes include reggae, blues, rock, bluegrass, and jazz. A California native now residing in New York, Ashkenazy performs in a wide range of musical environments, associating with many other musicians, including ...

246

Multiple Reviews

Evan Parker Solo 1975 & 1989

by Martin Longley
October 4, 2009

Evan ParkerSaxophone Solos Chronoscope-psi2009 Evan ParkerConic Sections ah um-psi2008 This pair of solo soprano saxophone releases reveals the evolution of Evan Parker's approach to the act of a lonesome recital. The first three Saxophone Solos were recorded at his 1975 solo debut in London's Unity Theatre. The remainder were laid down ...

246

Album Review

New Jazz Composers Octet: The Turning Gate

Read "The Turning Gate" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
October 4, 2009

Intricate compositions often provide the best substrate for complex and satisfying improvisation. This holds true for the New Jazz Composer's Octet's The Turning Gate, which includes five short compositions and one long suite made up of six movements. Each piece serves as a vehicle for group interplay and interpretation, and as a platform for one or two of the musicians to exhibit their improvisational skills during individual solos. The six-movement “Faith Suite" (the last two movements appear ...

370

Multiple Reviews

Fred Frith: To Sail, To Sail, Pas de Deux & The Big Picture/Still Urban

by Marc Medwin
October 4, 2009

Fred FrithTo Sail, To SailTzadik2008 Fred Frith, Danielle Palardy RogerPas de deuxActuelle2008 Fred Frith and Arte QuartettThe Big PictureIntakt2009 Fred Frith and Arte QuartettStill UrbanIntakt2009 There are very few musicians as versatile yet as instantly recognizable as Fred ...

346

Album Review

Harris Eisenstadt: Canada Day

Read "Canada Day" reviewed by Clifford Allen

by Clifford Allen
October 4, 2009

Drummer and composer Harris Eisenstadt has, at age 33, a rather lengthy discography and one that's incredibly diverse for a drummer who could have stuck to cutting teeth as an able sideman in contemporary improvisation. As a leader, his story is even more expansive, running the gamut from Senegalese Mbalax to free-bop. Canada Day is a “love letter" to his home country and to the mid '60s music of Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams. Across a breadth of ...