Jazz Articles
Our daily articles are carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. You can find more articles by searching our website, see what's trending on our popular articles page or read articles ahead of their published dates on our future articles page. Read our daily album reviews.
Sign in to customize your My Articles page —or— Filter Article Results
Ahmad Jamal: Marseille
by Ian Patterson
Four years between studio albums is a long gap by Ahmad Jamal's standards. Not that the 87-year-old pianist has been idle since the widely acclaimed Saturday Morning (Jazz Village, 2013). He's released two live albums in that time--Live at The Olympia (Jazz Village, 2014) featuring Yusef Lateef and Live in Marciac 2014 (Jazz Village, 2015)--and remains a major draw on the world's most prestigious jazz stages. Though Marseille bears many of Jamal's hallmarks--old songs reworked, standards, a ballad--the pianist still ...
read moreKyle Eastwood: In Transit
by Kris Perdew
Now that he is into his late 40's and has released nine albums in his 19 years as leader, no lingering doubt can remain that bassist and composer Kyle Eastwood has stepped out of the formidable shadow of his father. The latest evidence is presented here in the form of Eastwood's latest release, In Transit. Although he gained valuable experience working on the soundtracks of films such as The Rookie and Mystic River, the greatest legacy Kyle received ...
read moreAndrew McCormack: Graviton
by Roger Farbey
Graviton's nearest comparison might well be Chick Corea's early albums Return To Forever and Light As A Feather with Flora Purim. But this is much more effusive and busier with stop/start melodies as heard on Breathe" and the title track. Wordless vocals swoop over insistent piano runs and saxophone incursions courtesy of London-born singer Eska (Eska Mtungwazi). But it's not all wordless vocals as The Waiting Game" reveals Eska's lustrous and mellow singing style, whereas Kalamata" utilises her ...
read moreAhmad Jamal: Marseille
by Roger Farbey
There are few true jazz legends left alive now let alone still recording albums of the calibre of Marseille. Ahmad Jamal is one such venerable figure and the octogenarian (born July 2, 1930) has recorded an album of consistent brilliance. Jamal prefers to refer to his playing as American classical music rather than jazz and he's been regarded as a mainstream" pianist but to stylistically stereotype him in this fashion is to do him an injustice. The title ...
read moreDavid Linx / Brussels Jazz Orchestra: Brel
by Jack Bowers
While David Linx's name may not be writ large here in the States, the fifty-one year-old singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist is a mega-star in his native Belgium, and in 2005 was named Best Jazz Musician in Europe, which covers a whole lot of territory. On Brel, Linx sings music composed by his Belgian forerunner, the late and legendary Jacques Brel, accompanied by the world-class Brussels Jazz Orchestra (whose personnel are not listed on the bare-bones promotional copy save for saxophonist ...
read moreGilad Hekselman: Homes
by Mark F. Turner
The heir apparent" concept does not exist in jazz. Younger artists seeking status and respect must earn it through the rigors of performing and creating music through their own voice and merit. While the talented Israeli-born New York-based guitarist Gilad Hekselman's skill has been likened to Pat Metheny and Kurt Rosenwinkel, he's doing just that with impressive work--tours, dates and a number of fine recordings such as 2013's This Just In (Jazz Village). His release as leader, ...
read moreSylvain Rifflet & Jon Irabagon: Perpetual Motion
by Hrayr Attarian
The composer, poet and instrument inventor Louis Thomas Hardin, alias Moondog remains one of the most celebrated and eccentric figures in the annals of modern music. The Kansas born Hardin, who lost his sight in a farming accident at 16, went from a unique street performer in New York to a published and recorded influential musician in Münster Germany. Who better to celebrate his singular legacy than two of today's most idiosyncratic and creative saxophonists, the Frenchman Sylvain ...
read moreSylvain Rifflet & Jon Irabagon: Perpetual Motion (A Celebration of Moondog)
by Karl Ackermann
In 1932, when he was sixteen years old, living in the heartland of depression era America, a farm accident left Louis Thomas Hardin blind. For roughly twenty-five years spanning the 1940s to the mid-1970s, he was often found on some street corner in the vicinity of 52nd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan, sometimes talking philosophically to no one in particular, often standing stock-still and silent and in full Viking regalia. At times, he slept in doorways though he had ...
read moreAhmad Jamal & Yusef Lateef: Live At The Olympia
by Ian Patterson
Ahmad Jamal's live performances have been well represented in his discography over the past sixty years. Yet despite touring the globe, all Jamal's live recordings--with the exception of the DVD concert from Lebanon, Live at Baalbeck (Birdology, 2003)--document North American and European gigs. France has always accorded the Pittsburgh pianist a royal welcome, naming him an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2007;the regard is mutual, as Live at the Olympia is Jamal's fourth live recording in ...
read moreLucky Peterson: The Son Of A Bluesman
by Dan Bilawsky
When the multi-talented Lucky Peterson sings of blues in his blood, it's not merely figurative boasting; Peterson's pedigree reads like a partial history of the music. Peterson was born into the blues, growing up in a home where his father--James Peterson--played guitar, sang, and passed on his gifts to his offspring. More importantly, the elder Peterson owned the Governor's Inn--a blues venue in Buffalo where Lucky Peterson soaked up the sounds of the legends who passed through ...
read more