The Necks: Vertigo

m: The Necks don't swing. Since they are sometimes described as an "experimental jazz trio," it seems best to just put that on the table at the outset. I hesitate to call their music "free improvisation," as well, because of the abrasive, dissonant qualities so often found in that music... [ read more ]

Barry Harris: Iconic Jazz Pianist and Keeper of the Flame

At the ripe age of 85, pianist Barry Harris has been on the jazz scene for seventy years, and throughout that time, he has remained loyal to and consistent with his bebop roots. Even though his playing has evolved in complexity and depth, it remains profoundly connected to his origins. He is a true...

Matt Mitchell: Vista Accumulation

You never really know what's up pianist Matt Mitchell's sleeve. As a sideman he's constantly adapting and growing, creating different palettes and situations that expand the color and content in the music of the Dave Douglas Quintet, m: Tim Berne's Snakeoil, m: John Hollenbeck... [ read more ]

Echoes Of Swing: Dancing

Across a couple of decades and seven albums Echoes Of Swing, a quartet based in Germany, has been inspired by swing music. Dancing is once again centered on swing, with the band taking its inspiration from the music and adding a contemporary twist. The band draws its material from a wide range of so... [ read more ]

Orrin Evans: The Evolution Of Oneself

Simply put, if there was no Philadelphia sound, there would be no m: Orrin Evans. The pianist, hailing from The City of Brotherly Love, finds plenty of Philly passion on this busy trio recording, his 25th as a leader or co-leader. Here he teams up with Detroit drummer and former roommate... [ read more ]

Erik Friedlander: Oscalypso

As a veteran of the fertile 1990s Downtown NYC scene, cellist Erik Friedlander has been involved in myriad creative endeavors, including innovative sideman work with m: Dave Douglas and m: John Zorn, while leading his own unique ensembles, such as Chimera and Topaz. More recen... [ read more ]

Jakob Buchanan: Requiem

One of the defining characteristics of mankind is the awareness of death as a part of the human condition. We all know that we are going to die. This awareness has been an inspiration to many artists and it could be said that art itself is a way of coming to terms with death. This is especially true... [ read more ]

Guapo: Obscure Knowledge

This British band sports a colossal sound as they merge discrete flavors and variations of progressive rock into a singular or rather idiosyncratic group focus on its tenth release and third production for Cuneiform Records. With mesmeric minimalism, doomsday crescendos and certain movements built o... [ read more ]

Brian Eisenberg Jazz Orchestra: Sense of Gratitude

Offering a palette of eight new originals and one cover tune, Sense of Gratitude is the very impressive debut album from the Brian Eisenberg Jazz Orchestra performing a session of modern jazz music that's challenging and engaging from beginning to end. Los Angeles-based composer/arranger and band le... [ read more ]

Konstantin Ionenko Quintet: Deep Immersion

The dark-toned, subtle, inviting and yet vaguely dangerous Deep Immersion represents electric bassist Konstantin Ionenko's project as a leader (and sole composer), the other being Flow from the Deep Tone Project, which he co-leads with guitarist Alexandr Pavlov. Ionenko does not hide this music's an... [ read more ]

Howard Riley: 10.11.12

English pianist m: Howard Riley has found a late career champion in the Lithuanian No Business imprint. 10:11:12 constitutes his fourth release in as many years. In the liner to his previous album Live With Repertoire (2013), the pianist explained that he likes to characterize his gigs i... [ read more ]

Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap: The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern

m: Tony Bennett and pianist m: Bill Charlap explore the songbook of Jerome Kern on this new release from RPM/Columbia Records. A return to intimate small group jazz, the album marks a welcome reprieve for Bennett, whose work in recent years has been dominated by over-produced d... [ read more ]

Various Artists: Piano In The House

Pianist Benjamin Taubkin is a tireless promoter of the arts in Brazil. When he isn't out concertizing by himself, with the Latin collective AmA(C)rica ContemporA nea, the choro ensemble Moderna TradiA A o, the Orquestra Popular de CA mara, or any number of other groups he works with, he can be found b... [ read more ]

Lionel Loueke: GAA A

Guitarist m: Lionel Loueke brings a presence to jazz unlike any other due in part to his West African upbringing heard in the uniqueness of his playing, vocals and phrasing which have enriched recordings from trumpeter m: Terence Blanchard to singers {{m: AngA(C)lique Kidjo = 83... [ read more ]

Benoit Delbecq 3: Ink

French pianist m: Benoit Delbecq came late to the piano trio, having spent 20 years on a variety of other projects. His previous foray into the terrain, The Sixth Jump (Songlines, 2010), featured bassist m: Jean Jacques Avenel (who sadly died in 2014) alongside Congolese drumm... [ read more ]

Cristina Morrison: Baronesa

After visiting the Galapagos Island to film a docudrama based on the life of Baroness Eloise Von Wagner de Bosquet, Ecuadorian-American mezzo soprano vocalist Cristina Morrison loved the place so much she moved to Ecuador and spent ten years there. Falling in love with the story of the Baroness, her... [ read more ]

Tom Csatari Band: Outro Waltz

Deliberately low-fi and available as a download only (though you will be sent a repurposed album cover with a download code Scotch-taped to it if you request one), Outro Waltz by the m: Tom Csatari Band is, depending on your mood or musical orientation, completely charming or somewhat an... [ read more ]

Alan Baylock Jazz Orchestra: Prime Time

Composer / arranger m: Alan Baylock seems to have a penchant for time. Prime Time is the Baylock Jazz Orchestra's third album, following Two Seconds to Midnight (2003) and Eastern Standard Time (2008). This time (no pun intended), Baylock, who doubles as chief arranger for the U.S. Air F... [ read more ]

King Crimson: King Crimson: THRAK BOX - Live and Studio Recordings 1994-1997

After three years spent extensively focusing on its 1972-'74 lineup--documented over a massive 67 CDs, DVDs and Blu Rays (plus some additional downloads) on Larks' Tongues in Aspic (40th Anniversary Series Box) (Panegyric, 2012); The Road to Red (Panegyric, 2013); and Starless (Panegyric, 2014)--Kin... [ read more ]

Doug Webb: Back East

Back East, tenor saxophonist m: Doug Webb's second 2015 release for the Posi-Tone Records label, is not unlike a thirteen course meal in which every course is sublime, yet the portions are rather small and each dish is cleared quickly, leaving one with an intense desire for more of a par... [ read more ]

Take Five with Tamara Usatova

About Tamara Usatova: Tamara Usatova is a Russian Soul/Pop singer and songwriter based in New York. Tamara was always inspired by classic American soul, pop and jazz and the blend of these styles lies at the core of her original music. Tamara's Russian background still shines -not through the accent...

Michael Janisch: Paradigm Shift

This impressive double album recorded live over two nights in 2011 at Pizza Express Jazz Club, London is Michael Janisch's follow-up to his 2010 debut album Purpose Built. The release has been some four years in gestation for the U.S. born, Berklee educated and now UK-based bassist and composer. Add... [ read more ]

Lafayette Harris, Jr.: Bend To The Light

While art often takes cues from life, and life certainly offers up its fair share of trials, tribulations, and dark spells, pianist Lafayette Harris, Jr. prefers to emphasize the positive while pouring existential thought into his music. On Bend To The Light--the seventh offering from Harris over th... [ read more ]

Mason Razavi/Bennett Roth-Newell: After You

While guitarist Mason Razavi and pianist m: Bennett Roth-Newell have had plenty of opportunities to connect musically in Razavi's Quartet, his expanded Quartet Plus, and elsewhere, this marks the first time that this pair has pared things down to record as a duo. Over the course of eight... [ read more ]

Solveig Slettahjell-Knut Reiersrud with In The Country: Trail Of Souls

Vocalist Solveig Slettahjell and blues guitarist/harmonica player Knut Reiersrud record together for the first time on Trail Of Souls. They're joined by another three Norwegian musicians--pianist Morten Qvenlid, bassist Roger Arntzen and drummer PA l Hausken, known collectively as In The Country--on... [ read more ]

Mostly Other People Do the Killing: Mauch Chunk

m: Mostly Other People Do the Killing, the bad boys of jazz, don't quite turn in a straight ahead hard bop album with Mauch Chunk, but it's as close as they are likely to get. The new quartet has pianist m: Ron Stabinsky in place of longtime trumpeter {{m: Peter Evans = 15877... [ read more ]

Ike Sturm + Evergreen: Shelter of Trees

Bassist/composer Ike Sturm has served as Director of Music for the Jazz Ministry at Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan since 2004 and presents a love offering of jazz and sacred music in Shelter of Trees. The set is elevating yet soothing, centered yet diverse as Sturm's band: Evergreen, stretches th... [ read more ]

Alicia Hall Moran: Heavy Blue

After years of orbiting, with projects ranging from a celebrated turn as Porgy's Bess on Broadway to her own Motown revue, m: Alicia Hall Moran has at last landed on Earth long enough to burrow nearly to its core in search of vocal identity on the debut recording, Heavy Blue. Here is a p... [ read more ]

Mia Zabelka: Monday Sessions

Live in concert, Austrian violinist m: Mia Zabelka is an electrifying performer, whether appearing solo or with others. In any context, she has the uncanny knack of commanding the stage and always being the centre of an audience's attention, achieved by the intensity and focus of her per... [ read more ]

Jen Shyu and Jade Tongue: Sounds and Cries of the World

Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu's Sounds and Cries of the World is both raw and sophisticated, fiercely compelling yet intimately fragile and, above all, terrifyingly beautiful. Her sixth album as a leader, it is a collection of seven original compositions and three folk melodies all ins... [ read more ]

Sigudur RA gnvaldsson: Kisima

If this Icelandic guitarist's music was once described as frenetic and insistent (see http://www.allaboutjazz.com/exploding-head-equally-stupid-eclipse-music-review-by-anthony-shaw.php?width=1024) this latest recording does nothing to undermine that classification. If anything the new line-up, known... [ read more ]

Lou Volpe: Remembering Ol' Blue Eyes

Ol' Blue Eyes, of course, is the late m: Frank Sinatra, arguably the greatest interpreter of popular American music who ever lived. Guitarist m: Lou Volpe (who doesn't sing) remembers Sinatra on this entertaining assortment of thirteen tunes associated with the Chairman of the... [ read more ]

Josh Berman Trio: A Dance And A Hop

There is a permanent exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago of 68 miniature rooms. These dollhouses for adults recreate American, French, and English rooms from last century and three centuries ago at a scale of 1 inch to a foot. Visitors lean in to marvel at the amazing detail. Drapery, carpets, a... [ read more ]

Vlad West: Say Hello To Russia

Pianist/saxophonist/composer m: Vlad West could possibly be the best known unknown musician in jazz, at least in the U.S. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan as Vladimir Sermakashev, his first instrument was piano, and as a child prodigy, outgrew his teachers by the age of nine. He then switched to... [ read more ]

Tommy Castro and The Painkillers: Method to My Madness

Few have epitomized the workingman nature of the blues as much as m: Tommy Castro. A popular staple of blues festivals and cruises, and steadily in demand since he issued his debut in 1994, Castro nevertheless has always somewhat resided in the second tier of blues artists: Popular, well... [ read more ]

Jeremy Danneman: Lady Boom Boom

The CD Lady Boom Boom slides across the desk, with its provocative woman on the cover--a tight black dress with a shoulder strap slipping down--and the first thought that comes to mind is a Lady Gaga knock off. Thankfully, it's not. Lady Boom Boom is the work of m: Jeremy Danneman, a New... [ read more ]

Matthew Shipp Trio: The Conduct of Jazz

One of today's foremost pianists, Matthew Shipp has demonstrated the breadth of his artistry in numerous settings over his three decade career, including genre-defying electro-acoustic experiments. Recent years have found him narrowing his focus to concentrate on intimate acoustic efforts however, e... [ read more ]

Miles Davis -- Miles Comes To The Big Screen; Nephew Vincent Wilburn Approves

Sometimes a comment made without serious intent can start the wheels of fate. Many m: Miles Davis fans know there has been a Miles Davis movie in the works for some time. Different proposals emerged over the years, none of them coming to light for varying reasons. Now, however, all Miles...

Michael Sarian and The Chabones: The Escape Suite

When he was all of one year of age, trumpeter Michael Sarian relocated from his birthplace in Canada to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Learning from some of that country's top musicians, Sarian began touring in Europe while still a teenager. Having worked in rock, disco and big bands, he eventually moved... [ read more ]

Shawn Colvin: Uncovered

There are two trends occurring in popular music that are both equally welcome to "those of a certain age." These are classic rock titans or their later devotees, performing their landmark albums, from beginning to end, in concert. The Rolling Stones performing Sticky Fingers (Rolling Stones, 1971) i... [ read more ]

Brad Mehldau: Brad Mehldau: 10 Years Solo Live

It is interesting how solo piano performance holds a special, privileged place in jazz music. What is even more interesting is how artists have gone to renew this format over and over again as time went on. Along the way they have expanded the language of improvised music by exploring novel paths of... [ read more ]

Wes Montgomery: Wes Montgomery: In The Beginning-Early Recordings from 1949-1958

Guitarist Wes Montgomery, despite his tragically short life, was very prolific and immensely impactful. Equally adept at sophisticated instrumental virtuosity and lighter, more commercially appealing sounds, Montgomery influenced majority of guitar players who appeared on the jazz scene during the 1... [ read more ]

Wynton Marsalis: Driving the Jazz at Lincoln Center Engine

Jazz became America's popular music during the big band era, where people with ears for music and feet for dancing heard national bands, regional bands, and local bands. Musicians that became jazz stars attained that status through their individual solo statements in small windows in songs, especial...

Scott Colley: Staying In The Moment

Bassist m: Scott Colley was involved in three of the most well attended performances at the 2015 e: Detroit Jazz Festival: the m: Pat Metheny Trio with guest m: Kenny Garrett on opening night; the Pat Metheny/m: Gary Burton Quartet Reunion on...

David Patrick Octet: The Rite Of Spring

Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite Of Spring," written for the Ballets Russe, premiered in Paris on 29 May 1913. Puccini called it "the creation of a madman": it seems to have held a fascination for jazz musicians ever since it appeared. Scottish pianist David Patrick is the latest jazz musician to create... [ read more ]

Karrin Allyson: Many a New Day: Karrin Allyson sings Rodgers and Hammerstein

Karrin Allyson projects always have all five points of the creative star pinned down: theme, repertoire, arrangement, sequencing, and support. Her recordings Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane (Concord, 2001), In Blue (Concord, 2002), Footprints (Concord, 2006), and 'Round Midnight (Concord, 2011) a... [ read more ]

Steve Olson: The Ruthless Shapes of Paradise

From the opening bell, which sounds for all the world like that which signals the beginning of a Zen meditation session, The Ruthless Shapes of Paradise creates a wondrous, ethereal and all-encompassing time/space continuum all of its own. Drummer/percussionist m: Steve Olson, whose prev... [ read more ]

Howard Riley: Discussions

The reissue on CD of m: Howard Riley's Discussions is to be welcomed, since it only ever saw a highly limited pressing of 99 copies when first released on the Opportunity label in 1967. It is also an important historical artefact because it provides a tangible clue as to how Riley progre... [ read more ]

Krzysztof Komeda -- Maciej Lewenstein: Quantum Mechanics of Polish Jazz

Maciej Lewenstein was born in 1955 in Warsaw. He is a theoretical physicist and currently an ICREA professor at Institut de CiA ncies FotA^2niques (ICFO) in Castelldefels near jny: Barcelona, Spain. He has written more than 500 scientific papers and is the recipient of many international and nati...

Humphrey Lyttelton: In Canada

The most prolific of the British trad jazz revivalists, trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton had a long and varied career both as a musician and a broadcaster. In 1983 Lyttelton lead a Toronto based group on a session for Sackville interpreting eight songs penned by him. In Canada now reissued on Delmark sh... [ read more ]