Jazz Articles about Janel Leppin

About Janel Leppin

Album Review

Janel Leppin: Ensemble Volcanic Ash: Pluto In Aquarius

Read "Ensemble Volcanic Ash: Pluto In Aquarius" reviewed by Don Ball

by Don Ball
June 24, 2026

Janel Leppin's title choice for her 2026 Ensemble Volcanic Ash (EVA) recording gives a hint of what kind of music to expect. Pluto being in Aquarius is a momentous sign, one of change and tension, and lasts 20 years (we are currently in one such phase). The last time Pluto was in Aquarius was 1777 to 1798--during the American and French Revolutions. Whether you believe in the astronomy or not, the Pluto in Aquarius is certainly bursting with tension and ...

Album Review

Janel Leppin: Slowly Melting

Read "Slowly Melting" reviewed by Kevin Poindexter

by Kevin Poindexter
June 11, 2026

Haunting, thrilling, gorgeous, these are all words that one could use to describe Slowly Melting, an album of both grace and power by Janel Leppin. Not power in the sense that the album will blow your hair back, but power in the sense that it can shape and change the way you listen, evoking a complex set of emotions spread across Leppin's nine compositions for cello on the album. Slowly Melting is a true solo album, and although Leppin uses ...

Interview

Janel Leppin: Her Own Space

by Don Ball
July 30, 2025

The first thing you learn about musician/composer Janel Leppin is that labels don't fit her music very easily. From structured compositions to free-wheeling improvisations, Leppin does it all. She has made chamber jazz recordings, worked with punk groups, and created lush solo vocal works, all in an effort to tell her own stories and create her own space in music. All About Jazz talked with Leppin in June 2025 about her new group, Skullcap, and their new album, ...

Album Review

Janel Leppin's Ensemble Volcanic Ash: To March Is to Love

Read "To March Is to Love" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
August 30, 2024

Uscito nel mese di giugno insieme a New Moon in the Evil Age del duo Janel & Anthony, questo To March Is to Love presenta una formazione dal nome intrigante di Ensemble Volcanic Ash nella quale al duo sopra menzionato si aggiungono un basso, una batteria e ben due sassofoni. Registrato live in un solo giorno con la supervisione di Curtis Fye e con il mixaggio di Mike Reina--vero e proprio valore aggiunto dell'incisione--To March is to Love cattura tutta ...

Album Review

Janel & Anthony: New Moon in the Evil Age

Read "New Moon in the Evil Age" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
August 29, 2024

Due dischi differenti riportati su un unico CD, separati da una pausa di dieci secondi, strumentale il primo, con voce e importante uso dell'elettronica il secondo. Stiamo parlando di New Moon in the Evil Age, recente opera di Janel Leppin e Anthony Pirog, coppia nella vita e in musica da oltre vent'anni. Lei violoncellista, vocalist, multistrumentista, compositrice, arrangiatrice che attraversa i generi e ne tesse intrecci virtuosi, lui chitarrista visionario e inclassificabile, tra jazz d'avanguardia, rock sperimentale, ...

Album Review

Anthony Pirog: The Hunger Artist

Read "The Hunger Artist" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
August 26, 2024

Anthony Pirog's The Hunger Artist is a sprawling, bold opus that defies easy categorization. This sonic collision of jazz, rock, and experimental music is a semi-chaotic beauty that rewards the adventurous listener with its sheer unpredictability. Pirog, a guitar alchemist known for his boundary-pushing artistry, delivers a mesmerizing work that is less a collection of songs and more a journey through the looking glass of sound. The guitarist has previously conjured aural magic with cellist Janel Leppin and ...

Radio & Podcasts

Janel Leppin, Marion Brown, and R.I.P. John Mayall

by Jerome Wilson
August 14, 2024

This program features new releases from Janel Leppin, Andy Milne, and John Surman, plus a tribute to the late British blues giant, John Mayall. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Matt Wilson “Be That As It May" from Good Trouble (Palmetto) 00:54 Jeanne Lee/Ran Blake “Laura" from The Newest Sound Around (Solar) 4:38 Bob Dorough “The Dreamkeeper" from Jazz ...