There's a fullness in ten years. A lot of work, if rather relentlessly done, can really make a discernible impact. Ten years ago, folks were making all the talk as rather cyclically that jazz was dead. It was such an exhausting conversation. Folks were around making this music, obviously. It couldn't be that dead. The problem was in the awareness and the tweaking of the … [Read more...]
Anthony Dean-Harris’ Favorite Jazz Albums of 2019
Yesterday we unveiled Nextbop's Best Jazz Albums of 2019, which was compiled by our staff as a whole. Today, we continue our Season of Lists with Editor-in-Chief Anthony Dean-Harris' Favorite Jazz Albums of 2019.There's something kind of lovely about the lack of one major cohesive idea present in the genre of jazz at the moment. The idea of what the music can be is larger … [Read more...]
Jeff Ballard – ‘Fairgrounds’ (Album Review)
It's hard not to love Jeff Ballard's solo work. He's a percussionist who isn't afraid to get weird. He's probably best known for his branching out work with the Brad Mehldau Trio, but that's an acoustic group. They're a trio, one Ballard has been a part of for the last fourteen years. But the last time Ballard released an album as a leader was in 2014. Time's Tales was a … [Read more...]
Daniel Freedman – ‘Imagine That’
Daniel Freedman's new album Imagine That is a feel-good album full of slow building tunes and fun jams. The quintet here certainly has the chops and the ability to play fast runs, hyper-syncopated beats, or complex rhythms, but Imagine That is very much a group affair. Even when one musician is soloing, it rarely feels like someone is taking a solo, as the whole band is … [Read more...]
Nextbop’s Favorite Jazz Albums of 2015
I'm not quite sure what more I could say here about jazz in 2015. There may not have been some overarching narrative that guided how art was made and released. Some folks who have worked together for years finally released an album that said so. Some folks released large ensemble albums that made huge splashes, as sprawling debuts, par for the course, or as the muscular … [Read more...]