Album Reviews

Chad Smith describes his new album as “a love letter to that moment in time, when the saxophone did not belong to any single world;

Theatrical polymath Chip Deffaa has been studying and promoting the works of George M. Cohan for over six decades, beginning when Chip was just a

The Secret Six, named after abolitionist John Brown’s Secret Society of Six of the 1850s, has been playing hot jazz in New Orleans since 2020.

A very skilled British swing and trad trombonist, Roger Marks has, with the release of Bring Me Sunshine, now recorded exactly 100 albums since his

Ireland has never been considered a hotbed of jazz activity but a few impressive players came from that island. Guitarist Louis Stewart (1944-2016) is considered

While the piano-bass-drums trio has been a fixture in jazz since the 1950s, and the instrumentation was first heard on records in 1935 when pianist

JAZZ CLASSIC OF THE MONTH Joseph Lamb (1887-1960) is regularly considered one of the “big three” of classic ragtime composers along with Scott Joplin and

A reasonable guess is that Oscar Peterson made over 200 recordings under his own name—we’re talking albums here, not singles—but the number goes up to

JAZZ CLASSIC OF THE MONTH Pee Wee Erwin (1913-81) was a solid swing trumpeter who was a bit overshadowed during his long career. While he

Duke Ellington’s orchestra has always been a difficult ensemble for other musicians to emulate closely. Ellington’s band, whether in the 1920s or the ’60s, featured

The two-CD set Accentuate The Positive put out by Songbook Ink contains 21 classics from the Great American Songbook, all of which are familiar songs

Bing Crosby (1903-77) always enjoyed singing with his fellow vocalists. The most popular singer in the world during the 1930s and ’40s and a household

On her previous recording called Brass, Bria Skonberg put the focus on her trumpet playing with only one song including her singing. Her new CD,

Imagine if Jelly Roll and his Red Hot Peppers of 1926 had had the opportunity to record 13 additional selections. What if cornetist George Mitchell,

It can’t have been easy for the kid who later became known as Little Jimmy Scott. Born in Cleveland in 1925, Scott’s mother died when

Even the most committed “moldy figs” among us—devotees of traditional jazz, early swing, and ragtime—tend to gravitate toward the tried, true, and familiar. There’s comfort

In 1934, trombonist Jack Teagarden joined the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, a few months after his younger brother, trumpeter Charlie Teagarden. It seemed like a good

Warren “Baby” Dodds (1898-1959) can be considered the first influential jazz drummer. While he was preceded on records by Tony Sbarbaro with the Original Dixieland

When one thinks of Will Bradley, the first song that comes to mind is his big hit “Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar.” Recorded

Two previous Turtle Bay releases documented pianist Terry Waldo’s Gotham City Band from 2018 and 2022. Treasury Volume 3 has one selection (“Alice Blue Gown”)

Archeophone’s extensive series of “phonographic yearbooks” has now reached 1924. When one thinks of the music of 1924, Bix Beiderbecke’s recordings with the Wolverines, Louis

JAZZ CLASSIC OF THE MONTH Lester Young (1909-59) was one of the most important saxophonists in jazz history. His cool-toned sound and floating style were

A glance at the list of singers featured on this CD will reveal that almost all are well-known in jazz circles. Two that may be

Following up on the success of his previous CD Down Where The Bluebonnets Grow, Colin Hancock expands the size of the Joymakers on A Texas-Sized