Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

RECORD LABEL PROFILE October 21, 2020

Analog Africa: digging deeper into forgotten corners of global groove

For collectors of eclectic sounds and global grooves, Analog Africa might be the Holy Grail. Since being founded in Germany by Samy Ben Redjeb in 2006, the Tunisian crate digger's deeply personal and highly idiosyncratic imprint has birthed a steady stream of 40 peerless releases and counting—carefully curated collections of rare and obscure analogue-era recordings which invariably act as thrilling sonic transporters, touristic time capsules and irresistible dance-floor fillers. The story begins in 2000 when part-time DJ Redjeb ...

ALBUM REVIEW October 21, 2020

Alex Moxon Quartet: Alex Moxon Quartet

By Jack Bowers

After gigging and teaching in his native Canada for almost two decades, guitarist Alex Moxon has recorded the first album solely under his name, and it is a well-played, mostly middle-of-the-road studio session in which his quartet may not turn any heads but should not turn anyone off either. It is simply pleasant, non-unnerving music—much of it written by Moxon—into which the ensemble pours its collective talents to produce a bright and agreeable outcome. Happily for prospective ...

ALBUM REVIEW October 21, 2020

Josh Nelson: D+N+A: David/Nelson/Agreement

By C. Michael Bailey

Vocalist Mon David and pianist Josh Nelson's D+N+A: David/Nelson/Agreement has two recorded antecedents in John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (Impulse!, 1963) and Emilia Vancini's And If You Fall, You Fall (Espira, 2020). This new release favors the former in that David is a baritone voice as was Hartman and his repertoire on D+N+A is one of jazz standards, some more standard than others. The project resembles Vancini's later efforts in its uncompromising artistry and fearless iconoclasm. Mon David ...

RADIO October 21, 2020

Ivo Perelman, Lucas Goicoechea, Charles Mingus, Roberto Ottaviano and More

By Maurice Hogue

There's a wide swath of styles in this episode, further demonstrating the incredible depth of improvised music. From an historic live performance in Germany by Charles Mingus, to the powerful saxophone of Ivo Perelman joined by an improvising string trio, to contemporary guitar by England's Ray Russell, to rising stars from Argentina (saxophonist Lucas Goicoechea), to jazz, hip-hop and rap in the persons of Albany NY's Bright Dog Red , there should be something in this edition of One Man's ...

RADIO October 21, 2020

Rocco Prestia, Mark Egan, John McLaughlin & More

By Len Davis

This week we open paying tribute to the late Rocco Prestia, bassist with Tower of Power. We then focus on the latest release by another reference bassist, Mark Egan. Enjoy the music! Playlist John McLaughlin “Dear Dalai Lama" Industrial Zen (Verve Records) 0:00:28 Chick Corea “Flight from Karoof pt 1" The ultimate adventure (Stretch) 0:25:29 Mike Stern “Roll with it" Who Let the Cats out (Heads Up) 0:34:03 Tower of Power “Undercurrent" Souled Out (Sony Music) ...

ALBUM REVIEW October 21, 2020

Rachel Musson: I Went This Way

By Mike Jurkovic

Let's agree that, by a consensus of one, Debbie Sanders recital of saxophonist Rachel Musson's thought-through and through-read play-by- metaphoric-play/lecture on improvisation gets annoying as all hell so quickly that one may find oneself searching madly for a bonus instrumental version. But the music on saxophonist Musson's I Went This Way is an ambitious, teasingly ambiguous album, all shift, riddle, and hijinks. And that's a really good thing because it takes a lot for anyone to be so sure of ...

INTERVIEW October 20, 2020

Hal Galper: Adventures in The Zone

By Paul Rauch

The career of Hal Galper has earned the pianist acclaim as both a performer and educator. Perhaps most importantly, it has drawn attention to his contributions to the music as a true innovator. While other pianists of his era gained more recognition, Galper sought out a career path where acclaim would be genuine among his peers and his audience, and not measured by the value of his name and the balance of his bank account. Now at the ...