Videos
Hermon Mehari Reimagines Kind of Blue
Few jazz albums carry the weight of Kind of Blue. Revered, endlessly analyzed and almost impossible to escape, it can seem untouchable. Yet precisely because it has become such a monument, it also raises an intriguing question: how can a contemporary musician engage with it without simply paying tribute? Trumpeter Hermon Mehari and a quintet featuring Francesco Bigoni (saxophone), Tony Tixier (piano), Billy Mohler (bass) and Jonathan Pinson (drums) approached the challenge by looking beyond the mythology and ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Allan Holdsworth: Frankfurt '86
While it’s impossible to substitute for a top notch musical spirit, there are times where technology can serve as a soulmate. Such is the case with British guitar maestro Allan Holdsworth. He developed an electronics-driven sound that incorporated long-sustain / constant volume lines and a fat tone that was equal parts distorted guitar, violin and '80s synth pad. To top it off, his improvisational lines contained turns and leaps that forged a new vocabulary for guitarists. His performance at the ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Bob Holz Fusion Collaborative In Concert
Bob Holz Fusion Collaborative in concert at Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood, CA. ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Live at Transition Festival
Emma Rawicz (pronounced Rah’-veech) is an high-flying tenor and soprano saxophonist based in London. To give a sense of her accelerating maturity and popularity, she won the prestigious UK Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best Newcomer in 2022 and for Best Instrumentalist just two years later. Her playing combines impressive technical command with natural musicality, and compositions that shift between lyrical passages, probing grooves and modern harmonic twists. Rawicz tours prodigiously and is at home in a live setting (read the ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Bosphorus Suite | A Musical Journey Through Istanbul
Some albums are planned for years. Bosphorus Suite wasn’t. Saxophonist Liam Traywick talks with Tom Burden about the spontaneous trip that led him to Turkey, the record that came out of it, and how the same instincts that drive a great jazz solo ended up guiding his musical journey through Istanbul. ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
People Will Say We're in Love
The AAJ community is great at uncovering emerging performers. Here, credit goes to R.J. DeLuke for interviewing Lucy Yeghiazaryan: Serious And Seriously Talented and capturing her story of learning jazz as a child in Armenia and carving out her mark based in the New York City metro area. Ultimately, listening is all the proof one needs of her joyful, swinging talents. Here, she covers a “classic’s classic” -- “People Will Say They’re in Love,” from the Broadway smash musical, Oklahoma! ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Laura
David Najera Gonzalez is a New York City-based drummer and composer who leads Viento, a dynamic jazz-rock trio known for its engaging performances and distinctive sound. The trio features Alex Jay Frondelli on guitar and Jasper Grigsby Schulte on bass. Viento has received recognition from publications such as Jazz Weekly, Paris Move, and Jazz Views, while their performances have also been featured by international media outlets including La Jornada and Milenio. ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Radar
You may not have heard of drummer Jonathan Barber, but he’s already arrived as a powerhouse. Word-of-mouth led him to transformative roles with tenor saxophonist JD Allen in 2013 and trumpeter Jeremy Pelt starting in 2017. After being named “#1 Up-and-Coming Drummer” in 2018 by Modern Drummer, he caught the ear of Pat Metheny, who brought him early into his Side-Eye project. Barber brings explosive intensity through muscular tom fills, rat-a-tat jabs on snare and sophisticated syncopation on cymbal. He ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Jan Garbarek in Concert 2006
There are few modern jazz styles as distinctive as the atmospheric “Nordic Jazz,” and few artists who have contributed to that sound as much as tenor/soprano saxophonist Jan Garbarek. His use of space and reverb, combined with bent notes, created a plaintive sound that borders on sacred, especially on ballads. Taken at greater tempo, his bends sound more like squawks, his melodies are folk-like and his drum kit and percussion players favor world music rhythms. The result is a sense ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Everything in its Right Place
Radiohead’s track “Everything in its Right Place” was seminal. It announced the transition of the band from indie guitar rock to ambient pulse music. The song, from 2000, has since been covered by several stars, including Robert Glasper and Brad Mehldau, but for the best version when it comes to a polished video, here’s a vote for the version from Open Studio. Open Studio is an online jazz teaching platform covering beginner to master class levels. Among its well-known teachers ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Defying Gravity
Powerhouse collective, Third Reprise, breathes electric, new life into theater standards by reimagining them through a sophisticated jazz-funk lens. Fronted on this tune by the soulful, soaring vocals of Amanda Barise and anchored by arranger Daniel Rudin's sharp instrumentation, this live studio performance transforms a Broadway classic, “Defying Gravity,” from the musical and movie Wicked, into an absolute groove monster. Listen for the exceptionally tight horn-driven syncopation, the slick synth textures, and a blistering bassline that underpins Barise's vocal acrobatics ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Take the 'A' Train - Gypsy Jazz Style
Every day is a good day to “Take the 'A' Train.” That’s especially true when one encounters a highly-talented, yet lesser-known gypsy jazz band driving the train’s wheels at 134 beats per minute. Guitarists Clement Reboul and Aurélien Robert, upright bassist Ghali Hadefi and guest clarinetist Hugo Proy nail the tempo and hot jazz feel, and the guitarists perfectly complement each others’ strumming and riffs. The coordination is a sign of the years of experience that the collective Clément Reboul’s ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Stolen Moments
Can any song put you in a melancholy mood better than “Stolen Moments,” composed by Oliver Nelson with its major release in 1961? Well, there’s a case to be made for another version of the song to be considered the smokiest and most swinging -- it’s the all-star group featuring Lee Ritenour (guitar), Ernie Watts (tenor sax), Alan Broadbent (piano), plus Harvey Mason (drums) and Brian Bromberg (bass). This 1990 live version is a master class on how to play ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Cassandra Wilson at North Sea Jazz
Cassandra Wilson was a singular voice in the world of jazz. A smoky contralto, she poured a well of emotion into everything she sang — her blues ached, her ballads floated, her percussion-driven grooves felt visceral. She skillfully reinvented arrangements from the canon of jazz standards, pop, blues, folk and African music. What never changed was the space she left around the phrases, room enough for every listener in the room to pour in their own meaning. Wilson’s accomplishments led ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Curves Ahead
Starting in the 1980s, smooth jazz greatly expanded the audience for jazz-adjacent music. The best performers of this sub-genre could solo ably enough to please casual listeners. However, the Achilles Heel of the smooth movement was that the typical song’s melody and changes weren’t unique and catchy enough to warrant a passionate devotion. Without that, the tunes could border on elevator “muzak.” The Rippingtons, led by guitarist Russ Freeman, met and surpassed that melodic hurdle with contemporary jazz hits such ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Solo Concert at La Roque d'Antheron
Tigran Hamasyan is a virtuosic pianist who intermingles sounds from his home country of Armenia with jazz and rock. He won the Montreux Jazz Festival’s Piano Competition at age 16 and the Thelonius Monk International Jazz Piano Competition at 18. Hamasyan’s performance at La Roque D’Antheron (a village in southern France with a 12th century abbey, set in the steep limestone foothills) displays his solo talents in abundance. If you must, set the video on background listening until the waves ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Big City
Eve has assembled a dynamic group steeped in tradition. A stunning work of art presenting songs from her repertoire, starting with “BIG CITY, a reminiscence of Cannonball Adderley's stellar arrangement. It draws from a wide musical landscape of standards, Eve's original, “UP HERE IN THE CITY," [conjuring up Eve's memories of living and loving her daily life in NYC], Dinah Washington's “LONG JOHN BLUES, and concludes with a smoky rendition of “SO MANY STARS" by Sergio Mendes. ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Roundabouts
SML is a minimalist, poly-rhythmic improvisational quintet that has fashioned a unique groove sound. You may already resonate with this type of intense, evolving groove-scape or find that it grows on you given patience. The group sounds roughly like what you would get by putting King Crimson, Snarky Puppy, Fela Kuti, Angine de Poitrine and Blue Man Group through a milkshake blender. One suggestion is to “put the needle down” briefly on the video clip every 60 seconds to experience ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
What U Won't Do 4 Love
"What U Won't Do 4 Love" by Tony Adamo is a refreshing, soulful masterclass in modern jazz-funk fusion. Released in mid-2026 on Saint Jaz Records, the track serves as a groovy, geography-spanning love letter that bridges classic urban soundscapes with Adamo's signature hipster flair. Instead of leaning purely into his iconic, rapid-fire spoken-word “sing- speak," Adamo opts for a deeply melodic, soulful vocal delivery that mirrors the warmth of 1970s R&B. The lyrics depart from Adamo's usual ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz
Antonio Sanchez master class demonstration
For drummers, there’s rhythmic and limb independence… and then there’s Antonio Sánchez. Sánchez is acclaimed for his longtime collaboration with Pat Metheny and for his Birdman film soundtrack (which solely contains drum kit improvisations and classical clips). As a high-energy instrumentalist, he displays a technical fluidity and polyrhythmic mastery that has few peers on drum kit. Beginning this demonstration solo with a deceptive, understated groove, Sanchez’ musicality shines as he explores the complete sonic palette of his instrument, extracting subtle ......
SOURCE: All About Jazz