We Travel the Spaceways

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

Mark Corotto takes a look down the road less travelled.

WE TRAVEL THE SPACEWAYS August 27, 2020

Heavy Rotation For A Pandemic Summer

In the summer of 2020 one result of the COVID-19 isolation, and artists inability to tour and perform is that they have time to deal with projects halted by this pandemic. Musicians, producers, and engineers have mixed, mastered and released an abundance of music. Many of the titles have been, and will be covered by our staff, but within this prolific time, we want to give readers a taste of what has been recently released and what is upcoming.

WE TRAVEL THE SPACEWAYS June 8, 2017

Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp, and the Buddha walk in to a bar...

By Mark Corroto

Ivo Perelman / Matthew Shipp The Art Of Perelman-Shipp Leo Records 2017 If you are looking for reviews of the seven new discs Ivo Perelman and Matthew Shipp released on Leo Records, you won't find them here. You probably won't find a proper review of the music elsewhere either, but we'll get back to that later. The São Paulo-born, now Brooklyn-based saxophonist has, like pianist Shipp, moved into the rarefied air of the master ...

WE TRAVEL THE SPACEWAYS January 28, 2014

Pete Mills: The Anatomy Of A Jazz Release

By Mark Corroto

I'm here to tell you that everything you thought about the making of a modern jazz records is wrong. The notion that there are talent agents selling concepts to record companies—wrong. That bands work on tunes, perfecting them for months before entering the studio—wrong. That jazz musicians make money from records—again, wrong. I had the first-hand experience of observing how saxophonist Pete Mills put together his latest recording Sweet Shadow (Cellar Live, 2014) from conception to release. If ...

WE TRAVEL THE SPACEWAYS October 4, 2013

The Dude Abides

By Mark Corroto

To paraphrase Jeffrey Lebowski, aka The Dude (or El Dudarino, if you are not into the brevity thing), “I've had a rough night, and I hate the fucking Grateful Dead, man." Actually, The Dude said the “Eagles" (and I guess I'm obliged to agree with him), but for me the Dead seem to always get under my skin. Someone is always saying to me, “you dig jazz, check out this Dead concert from..." and then they name some ...

WE TRAVEL THE SPACEWAYS July 20, 2013

Taking stock, a year half over

By Mark Corroto

This month, at the halfway point in the year of music, we are taking stock, and there have been so many great discs released. Here is my list (in no particular order) of the best albums so far. I predict many of these will make final top ten 2013 lists. Sorry, I couldn't keep my list to ten.The Ex & Brass Unbound--Enormous Door (Ex Records) Federico Ughi--Federico Ughi Quartet (FMR) Rachel Musson/Mark Sanders/Steve Noble--Tatterdemalion (Babel) Matt Parker--Worlds Put ...

WE TRAVEL THE SPACEWAYS May 22, 2013

Art Strike!

By Mark Corroto

"Would you support an art strike?" That's the question I've been asking musicians for the past few months. “Will you agree to stop writing and performing music for one year?" In 1990 the London artists Stewart Home and Mark Pawson proposed that all artists cease to “make, exhibit, distribute, sell, or discuss their work" for three years. They also called upon galleries, museums, alternative spaces, clubs, and concert halls to cease operations for that period. Their goal was ...

WE TRAVEL THE SPACEWAYS April 2, 2013

Jazz: A Blessed Obsession

By Mark Corroto

Jazz listeners travel some strange and beautiful paths. It might have all begun with collectors trying to find a legendary Edison cylinder that New Orleans trumpeter Buddy Bolden--some believe to be the very first jazz musician--may (or may not) have recorded in 1904. Fast forward to modern times, a quick scan of eBay and the exorbitant prices bid for long out-of-print Free Music Production (FMP) LPs or alternative releases. $150 for Peter Brötzmann's first solo recording and $175, for the ...