Articles

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

INTERVIEW August 10, 2020

Max Richter: Creativity and Culture are Part of How Society Talks to Itself

An accomplished composer working across chamber and orchestral music, ballet, theater, installations, film and TV music, Max Richter has built his career on defying expectations, diversity, and taking chances. Over the course of 20 years, he has continually produced captivatingly idiosyncratic music that seamlessly and imaginatively blends a minimalist aesthetic with gentle ambient music. As such, it sits somewhere between the beautifully tragic, tranquil, life-affirming, and many things in-between. With Richter, music's social and political function is not lost and ...

ALBUM REVIEW August 10, 2020

Chris Montague: Warmer Than Blood

By Friedrich Kunzmann

Nuanced shades of blue, red, purple and yellow flung onto canvas mingle to clashing effect on the cover of British guitarist Chris Montague's drumless trio outing Warmer Than Blood. The title of the guitarist's debut as a leader is taken from a poem by the British writer Fiona Sampson. Its disturbing imagery is matched by the music's underlying restlessness and sporadic agitation, whilst the cover reveals itself to be the reflection of the different timbres, tones and textures which arise ...

LIVE REVIEW August 10, 2020

Marta Lotta Kukk At Parnu Jazz Klubi

By Martin McFie

Marta Lotta Kukk Endla Teater Jazziklubi Parnu, Estonia August 7, 2020 Estonia is bounded by sea on two sides, and by one of the largest lakes in Europe on a third side, separating it from Russia. On the fourth side, is the land border with Latvia, a fellow member of the European Union. After declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Estonia moved to create a fully digitized bureaucracy, nearly all interactions ...

ALBUM REVIEW August 10, 2020

Collage Project: Off Brand

By Troy Dostert

Listeners who crave a bit of classical rigor with their jazz--or, conversely, those who enjoy improvisational freedom within a classical chamber setting--should investigate the work of the Collage Project. Built around the trio of guitarists Dan Bruce and Daniel Lippel and bassist Aidan Plank, and complemented by drummer Nathan Douds, saxophonist Noa Even and trombonist Chris Anderson, the group thrives in the space between formalism and freedom, and with whip-smart compositions perfect for harnessing their respective talents, Off Brand is ...

ALBUM REVIEW August 10, 2020

Connie Han: Iron Starlet

By C. Andrew Hovan

At the 2019 Detroit Jazz Festival, pianist Connie Han dazzled the crowd with a superb and well-paced set which was one of the best performances of the weekend. Although her Mack Avenue debut, Crime Zone, had hit the streets in 2018, Han's musical acumen was still hovering below the radar of most jazz listeners. The key to Han's refreshing approach is that she operates in a zone that respects the lexicon while also finding new territory of its ...

RADIO August 10, 2020

Another Time Another Place - Happy Birthday Pamela Baskin-Watson

By Mary Foster Conklin

The show begins with birthday greetings to pianist and composer Pamela Baskin-Watson and vocalist Kevin Mahogany, with new releases from drummer Jeff Hamilton, pianist Christian Sands, vocalists Paulette McWilliams, Brenda Nicole Moorer, Susie Meissner and flutist Ragan Whiteside, plus more birthday shoutouts to pianists Hank Jones, Josh Nelson, Shamie Royston and Diane Moser. Thanks for listening and please continue to support all of these fine musicians, buy their recordings in this time of lockdown. Playlist Bobby Watson “The ...

ALBUM REVIEW August 10, 2020

Whit Dickey Trio: Expanding Light

By Glenn Astarita

Highly respected, longtime New York City-based drummer Whit Dickey, frequent collaborator, and laudable alto saxophonist Rob Brown and young bassist Brandon Lopez consummate this trio's debut recording. As most would surmise, the musicians explore and refresh the peripheries of free jazz improvisation. Dickey and Brown's involvement with the always fertile NY improv scene is well-documented. Here, the band takes a democratic approach with close-knit interactions and formidable upfront asymmetrical grooves using space to impart breathing room and gradual ...