Jazz Articles about Luther Allison

About Luther Allison

Album Review

At a time when the jazz music community is blessed with no shortage of upstart young vocalists, Ekep Nkwelle has risen above the fray by embracing the diversity of styles within the jazz idiom, moving from time-honored standards to progressive modernity with ease, and working with masters ranging from Kenny Barron to David Murray. The daughter of Cameroonian immigrants, Nkwelle grew up in the rich jazz culture of Washington, DC and trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts as well as ...

Album Review

Bria Skonberg: Brass

by Jack Bowers
April 28, 2026

Canadian-born and New York-based trumpeter, vocalist and composer Bria Skonberg focuses almost exclusively on the horn on her seventh recording, the aptly named Brass. Even though Skonberg may be a splendid singer, she plays trumpet so extremely well it's a pretty sure bet that no one but the most diehard lovers of vocal jazz may miss her voice, heard here only on the album's last number, Cole Porter's “You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To." Skonberg's solos ...

Album Review

Zach Adleman: We Make: Stories For A New Day

Read "We Make: Stories For A New Day" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
February 28, 2025

For someone not that long out of college, New York City-based drummer Zach Adleman has kept a full dance card, leading to the release of his impressive debut recording, We Make: Stories for a New Day, on which Adleman leads a nimble sextet through its paces on 11 charming and upbeat songs, nine of which he composed and arranged. In 2019, the New Jersey native won the Detroit Jazz Festival's annual J.C. Heard National Drum Competition. Two ...

Album Review

Zach Adleman: We Make: Stories For A New Day

Read "We Make: Stories For A New Day" reviewed by David A. Orthmann

by David A. Orthmann
December 20, 2024

From beginning to end, Zach Adleman's debut as a leader, We Make: Stories For A New Day, fires on all cylinders. The twenty-something drummer inhabits the roles of player, composer, arranger, and bandleader with the aplomb of a seasoned veteran. A hungry, assertive band includes two generations of compatible hands who produce a fresh and vital sound that mirrors the straight-ahead, acoustic jazz tradition Adleman penned nine compositions that are sturdy, substantive, and melodically rich. We have ...

Album Review

Luther Allison: I Owe It All To You

Read "I Owe It All To You" reviewed by David A. Orthmann

by David A. Orthmann
August 11, 2024

Radiating an exhilarating, last-set-of-the-night ambiance, I Owe It All To You, Luther Allison's debut recording as a leader, places a premium on momentum, spontaneity and high spirits. An assertive, hard-swinging player residing in the modern, straight-ahead jazz piano tradition, Allison utilizes a bassist and drummer capable of holding down the fort and enriching anything he throws at them. Boris Kozlov and Zach Adleman deftly respond to Allison's changes in emphasis, dynamics and texture. To their credit, they never get in ...

Album Review

Luther Allison: I Owe It All To You

Read "I Owe It All To You" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 29, 2024

If you're hip to Luther Allison from his previous and continuing work--ivory tickling for breakout vocal star/Grammy winner Samara Joy, sideman recordings on the 88s and drums for notables like trombonist Michael Dease, clinics and teaching engagements aplenty, performances at upper tier venues in New York and across the country and abroad--then you already know the man is adept at delivering real musical messages. Exuding joy in every effort, and presenting with depth and myriad dimensions, Allison is a rare ...

Album Review

Ulysses Owens, Jr. and Generation Y: A New Beat

Read "A New Beat" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
March 19, 2024

The rhythms presented on award-winning drummer Ulysses Owens Jr.'s latest album are not exactly A New Beat, as they have been heard in various configurations for at least eighty years or more, but they do provide a plausible indication of the path that Art Blakey's legendary Jazz Messengers would presumably have followed had Blakey lived into the twenty-first century. Owens, who teaches at the Juilliard School in New York City, has a knack for spotting and encouraging ...