Featured Jazz Articles
Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.
Billie
Billie New Black Films 96 minutes 2020 A victim of her own self-destructive excesses is a common trope when assessing Billie Holiday. Yet James Erskine's handsome documentary Billie makes a convincing case for Holiday—arguably the greatest of all jazz singers—as more a victim of poverty, racism, manipulation and brutal misogyny. Holiday's story has been amply documented in the past and Erskine sketches the basic biographical details of her life with the aid ...
read morePeter Archer: The True Inspiration of "Soul"
Disney / PIXAR's jazz-flavored movie Soul has garnered rave reviews and buzz worldwide. That's because in addition to its spectacular animation and meticulous production values, there's an honest and accurate representation of jazz and jazz musicians. What's behind that is the fact that the film was inspired by a dedicated Queens music teacher, Dr. Peter Archer. Archer's story and his involvement with the production is in itself a fascinating tale.All About Jazz: Dr. Archer, on behalf of All ...
read moreThe Word from Johannesburg, Part II: Brenda Sisane and The Art of Sunday
Brenda Sisane has been in broadcasting in Johannesburg, South Africa for over twenty-five years while simultaneously heading up her International Relations and Creative Arts public relations firm. Ms. Sisane is also CEO of SPIN Productions and its Non-Profit sister organization, The SPIN Foundation NPC, which both serve the international and domestic arts and music and culture space and she serves as a Board Trustee on several NGOs. The host of the Johannesburg KAYA-FM radio program The Art of Sunday she ...
read moreFrank Kimbrough: From Now to Forever - A Remembrance
On December 30, 2020, pianist Frank Kimbrough passed away at the age of 64. True to form, 2020 wreaked havoc until the end. The cause of death was not Covid-19, but the shock at the untimely loss of a revered artist was not any less powerful. Frank Kimbrough had the rare gift of touching lives with much more than his remarkable music. In order to pay tribute to his legacy, we have collected remembrances, anecdotes and ...
read moreThe Winners Of The 2020 All About Jazz Top Jazz Record Labels Poll
We conducted three polls in 2020 with the goal of identifying the top jazz record labels, the top jazz cities, as well as who our readers would book at their “fantasy" jazz festival. Of the 8,500+ record labels listed in our database, the following received the most votes: 1ECM RecordsGräfelfing, Germany2Blue Note RecordsNew York, NY3MoonJune RecordsNew York, NY4Impulse! RecordsSanta Monica, CA5El Negocito RecordsGhent, Belgium6Clean Feed RecordsLisboa, Portugal7ACT MusicMunich, Germany8Nonesuch RecordsNew ...
read more2020: The Year in Jazz
The COVID-19 pandemic put the jazz world in a tailspin, just like the world at large, in 2020. And there is plenty of uncertainty going into the new year about what “new normal: might emerge from the darkness. International Jazz Day, like so many other things, became an online virtual event this time around. Pianist Keith Jarrett disclosed that he might never perform in public again because of lingering health issues. The National Endowment for the Arts welcomed four new ...
read moreIn Memoriam: Jazz Musicians Who Passed in 2020
As 2020 comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to remember the extraordinarily gifted musicians who made an indelible mark on jazz. With sadness, we bid farewell to Gary Peacock, Ennio Morricone, Keith Tippett, Henry Grimes, Bucky Pizzarelli, Wallace Roney and many others including NEA Jazz Masters Jimmy Cobb, Lee Konitz, Candido Camero, McCoy Tyner, and Jimmy Heath. Wolfgang Dauner Instrument: Piano Born: December 30, 1935 Died: January 9, 2020
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