Articles

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

RADIO September 15, 2020

Great Young Singers - Cécile McLorin Salvant, Charenee Wade, Jazzmeia Horn, Veronica Swift

In 1987, the first Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition was held. Among the winners were Marcus Roberts and Joey DeFrancesco. On a roughly annual basis, the competition is held, now focussing on a different instrument each year and renamed in 2019 the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Competition. The competitions in 2010 and 2015 celebrated vocalists and the juries which included Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kurt Elling, Al Jarreau, Dianne Reeves and Luciana Souza recognized Cécile McLorin ...

RADIO June 18, 2020

Some Girls' (Voices) Are Bigger Than Others

By Patrick Burnette

Female vocalists take the stage this episode, with voices ranging from small and whispery to bold 'n' brassy and approaches ranging from the hardest of hardcore jazz to relatively pop-oriented (if not populist or low-brow). Most of these are brand new releases, so grab them up and support musicians stuck, with the rest of us, in lock-down mode. Pop matters trots out some obscure artists including Faun Fables, Paolo Nutini and Lorna Hunt. Playlist Discussion of Leslie ...

RADIO March 27, 2020

Jazzmeia, Newk, Bird, Dave & More

By Marc Cohn

Showtime, don't ya know? Jazzmeia Horn was scheduled to perform in Baton Rouge recently, but the gig got 'coronaed.' So, we do a mini-concert here, and hope she can reschedule when this plague dissipates. Shoot, they even cancelled the St. Patrick's Day parade here; so you know this is serious business. We also continue centennial celebrations for Dave Brubeck (Time Further Out) and Charlie Parker (recreating a Savoy 45rpm release). More Sonny Rollins, too: this time with Monk from the ...

RADIO December 20, 2019

Listeners' Favorites

By Marc Cohn

It's that time, times two. A show with a number 5 at the end. So here's a slug of recent listener favorites from Gifts and Messages shows 391 to 400. As always, we had too much music to deal with and that's a good thing. So, my selections from your favorites try to achieve some variety and balance. We've got some 21st century sounds, as well as blasts from the past. Enjoy the show. Next week the Christmas Gifts and ...

ALBUM REVIEW September 13, 2019

Jazzmeia Horn: Love & Liberation

By Ian Patterson

It's a big step for any singer, the move from interpreter of jazz standards to songwriter. And when you've been Grammy-nominated for a debut album of covers, as Jazzmeia Horn was with A Social Call (Prestige, 2017), the temptation must be to carry on in the same vein. Horn, however, clearly has greater ambition, as the eight originals on her follow-up attest. Not that she's thrown the baby out with the bathwater, for swing, blues, bebop, gospel and thrilling vocal ...

LIVE REVIEW September 3, 2018

Newport Jazz Festival 2018: Part 2-2

By Timothy J. O'Keefe

Part 1 | Part 2 Newport Jazz Festival Fort Adams State Park Newport, RI August 5, 2018 From the first spongy thwack that bounced off the conga drum, a sticky humidity clung about Narragansett peninsula while the sounds of Herlin Riley's New York Havana Connection oozed from the stage. The set featured numerous pieces from New Directions (Mack Avenue Records, 2016), and saw varying tempo changes and multi-rhythmic cycles spark the synergy ...

RADIO August 10, 2018

Jazzmeia Horn Live at BIMHUIS Amsterdam

By BIMHUIS

There is great anticipation surrounding Jazzmeia Horn. She has already been compared to Betty Carter and Sarah Vaughan, and she received compliments from Jon Hendricks and Al Jarreau. Her singing and vocalese skills are of the highest level, and on top of that she does not shy away from addressing current social issues. On her recent album A Social Call she displays a wide array of influences, from role models such as Mary J. Blige and Sister Rosetta ...