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Five Killer Comping Strategies
by Phillip A. Haynes
A fabulous 'ole collegiate chum, with whom I've produced & drummed with for 40+ years now, recently urged me to share some approaches of accompaniment creativity I'd recently suggested to him. Indeed, these following conceptions can expand most any serious musician's resources significantly: Accompany in the way(s) you always do, yet now insert much more intentional ...
Jam Session: How Armenian Jazz Improvised Its Way Onto The World Stage
by Michael Sarian
Note: Originally published in the December 2021 issue of AGBU Magazine. At the turn of the 20th century, world events began to mark a major shift in the cultural and socio-political landscape that would reverberate across the globe for the next hundred years. During this period, as the drum beat of existential ...
From Chart to Reality: The Editorial Role of the Pianist in a Big Band
by Kurt Ellenberger
Note: This article was first published in the Jazz Education Journal in 2005, and was revised for All About Jazz. Preamble This article was written to address an issue that needed clarification, and indeed still needs clarification almost 20 years later, regarding the vagaries inherent in many of the published big band piano charts ...
Introducing Jazz History And Literature, Reconceived
by Phillip A. Haynes
When I was invited to offer jazz coursework in 2007, as Bucknell University's first Kushell Jazz Artist-in-Residence, my Chair asked what single subject I thought was most important to teach. I responded, “an integrated jazz history & literature sequence, including a semester of classic jazz and one of modern jazz." To which he replied, “Fine, just ...
Artificial Intelligence and All About Jazz? DIG 9000 jams with ChatGPT
by Kurt Ellenberger
As the internet's oldest jazz resource, All About Jazz (AAJ) has always been on the cutting edge of using new technologies in the promotion of jazz and jazz musicians. This commitment continues to this day with the new technology that has emerged in recent months, namely, the so-called “Artificial Intelligence" (AI) known as “ChatGPT" that has ...
Music and Evolution: Hearing Math, Seeing Sound, and other Unanswered Questions
by Kurt Ellenberger
Music and Evolution: A Brief Overview The evidence presented in the research on music and evolution, beginning with Darwin himself,1 focusses largely on music's purported ability to support “mate selection, parental care, coalition signaling, and group cohesion,"2 language development,3 and other things. The prevailing evolutionary theories about music follow Darwin's lead--they are predominately sociological, cultural, and ...
A Tale of Two Genres: The Surprising Similarities in the Development of Jazz and Classical Music
by Kurt Ellenberger
Jazz and classical music are two of the most monumental achievements in human history. Together, they encompass a range of expressive capability that is simply astounding, giving voice to the human experience from centuries past to the present and in doing so, enriching our lives immeasurably. This is more remarkable when one considers that they have ...
Musical And Lyrical Sophistication In Jazz And Other Genres
by Kurt Ellenberger
This scatter graph (directly below) shows the results of an All About Jazz Readers' Poll that was conducted during portions of 2021. There were almost 400 participants who rated these genres on their “musical and lyrical sophistication" on a 10 point scale. No instructions were given on the definition of “sophistication"—the participants were free to use ...
Michael Wollny: Treasures from the Wunderkammer
by Kurt Ellenberger
German pianist Michael Wollny is one of the most exciting and important jazz artists of our time. His work is marked by exquisite pianism and a restless creativity and search for expression that knows no stylistic boundaries. Wollny's output has been remarkable both in quality and quantity--he is in his early 40s, and has released almost ...
Emiliano Sampaio: Rising Transatlantic Star
by Kurt Ellenberger
In 2013, I was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to teach and to work on a research project at the Kunstuniversität Graz ("University of the Arts in Graz"). I taught a first-year course in jazz theory that was really a delight. These students were already extremely accomplished performers and composers. About half of the class was comprised ...
