Articles

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

Radio

[Long] Live (at) the Jazz Standard! - Part 1

by Ludovico Granvassu
December 31, 2020

A jazz club is not just a commercial enterprise, or an entertainment spot, it's a cultural hub, a place where ideas are exchanged, styles are tested and then defined, careers are inspired, collaborations get launched or cemented. When a venue like the Jazz Standard closes the loss should not be seen only in terms of a measurable disappearance of revenues but especially in terms of an unmeasurable loss of artistic opportunities. This week we focus on the artistic ...

Live From New York

Peter Evans, Michael Leonhart, Sean Lennon, Jambinai & Axiom

by Martin Longley
May 2, 2019

Peter Evans & Levy Lorenzo Roulette April 15, 2019 Trumpeter Peter Evans is a very familiar figure on the extreme scene, but the percussionist and electronicist Levy Lorenzo will be a new name to most folks. The pair have been jointly penning compositions, but these nevertheless have the feel of ambient improvisations. It's a continuation of the collaboration that began on 2018's Q album, released on the More Is More label. Their entwined roots ...

Radio

2018 Jazz Surprises

by Ludovico Granvassu
January 8, 2019

The end of the year is the time when we usually look back and take stock. To celebrate the continuous growth and expansion of the music we love, we've decided to look back at the music that, for a reason or another, has surprised us the most this year. It features mostly young musicians, artists we were not familiar with, unexpected reissues or new projects by players we love. Happy listening! Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo ...

Jazz Journal

Summer 2018

by Doug Collette
July 29, 2018

Jazz Journal is a regular column consisting of pithy takes on recent jazz releases of note as well as spotlights on those titles in the genre that might otherwise go unnoticed under the cultural radar. Fred Hersch Trio Heartsong Sunnyside Records 2018 The longer Fred Hersch plays, the more resplendent his piano sounds. And that is with all due respect to his accompanists, on this remastered edition of the near twenty year ...

Interview

Michael Leonhart: Surfing on an Orchestral Wave

by Ludovico Granvassu
July 16, 2018

If one were to find an answer to the age-old “nature or nurture" debate, s/he would have to look no further than The Painted Lady Suite [Sunnyside Records]. Listening to the stunning debut album by the Michael Leonhart Orchestra makes it clear that major achievements are only possible when nature and nurture are well integrated and perfectly balanced. Take Michael Leonhart, an artist blessed by nature with a superior talent that was nurtured by a musical family. His ...

Radio

Michael Leonhart, Charles Lloyd and other great new releases

by Ludovico Granvassu
July 13, 2018

Gorgeous music never stops. Case in point: the spectacularly beautiful new album by the Michael Leonhart Orchestra, The Painted Lady Suite, destined to become a reference record for large ensembles, and the latest release by Charles Lloyd and the Marvels, Vanished Gardens. This episode of Mondo Jazz spotlights those albums and other intriguing new (and not so new) releases, and features an exclusive interview with Michael Leonhart on the making of “The Painted Lady Suite." ...

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Interview

Michael Leonhart: A Fortunate Son

by Telly Davidson
May 18, 2010

For most musicians, writers and actors, making the final decision to go against the grain and pursue a paycheck-to-paycheck, month-to-month career as a performing artist is one of the harder choices in life. Yet for trumpeter Michael Leonhart, a life in jazz and art is “all in the family": his father is the noted jazz bassist, studio musician and humorist Jay Leonhart; and his sister is the sprightly, sassy, and torchy alt-rock and jazz singer Carolyn Leonhart. And after a ...