Album Reviews

The Southside Aces have been serving up hot New Orleans jazz in Minneapolis since the early 2000’s. They were mentored by Charlie Devore and Bill

The Peanuts Gang Trio is perfectly situated to play comforting yet titillating festive music. They’ve been together in the Reno Nevada area since 2015, initially

Of all of the New Orleans pioneers who spent the Depression years home in the Crescent City, George Lewis had the greatest commercial success in

When early pre-1923 jazz recordings are discussed in history books, one encounters the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, sometimes the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, and perhaps

 This CD has one of the oddest matchups that I have heard in quite some time. The talented clarinetist Sol Yaged (1922-2019) was famous (or

When the major labels in the 1920s had special recording crews that went to the South and recorded top regional bands, some of the New

Greg Poppleton vividly remembers the day he fell in love with jazz. Aged just three, he saw a Louis Armstrong soundie on TV, replacing a

Inspired by a record store find many years ago Guillaume Nouaux has finally brought his most ambitious project to fruition. The inspirational records were two

It has often been said that Louis Armstrong introduced swinging to New York when he joined Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra in mid-1924. Until then, most of

Bassist Jen Hodge is a major part of the swing and trad jazz scene in Vancouver, British Columbia. All’s Fair In Love And Jazz features

Bix Beiderbecke’s death in 1931 at the age of 28 left a hole in jazz along with many “what if” questions. If the cornetist had

Michael McQuaid is an Australian multi instrumentalist now resident in London and a member of the Vitality Five. His hot jazz chops go back to

Two of the most beloved jazz artists of all time, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, will probably still be household names two centuries from now.

With a contemporary New Orleans sound drawing on funk, brass, and even calypso you’d never suspect the Soggy Po’ Boys hailed from Dover, New Hampshire.

Anne Phillips has had a life in music if not always on record. Her career as a jazz singer began as a high schooler in

If the name Olive Brown doesn’t ring any bells you can forgive yourself. She wasn’t a Golden Age blues singer or even a chanteuse of

Muggsy Spanier (1901-67) was always predictably exciting in his playing. After he formed his style by the late-1920s, the cornetist never changed his approach and

Clarinetist George Lewis, who would become one of the most popular of New Orleans jazzmen in the 1950s when he toured the world, was a

There’s no shortage of new Christmas Jazz, Christmas Swing, or even Christmas Death Metal.  But Halloween music has gotten the short end of the femur

In 2018, the Galvanized Jazz Band was hired to fill in for a band for two days at the Trinity-Pawling School in upstate New York.

Give or take a century, Arthur Fields was a neighbor of mine. Though he was born in Philadelphia, he spent much of his childhood and

did some of his most innovative trumpet playing and singing during the 1925-32 period while continuing to grow in power and depth throughout the 1940s

Protobilly is an in-depth exploration of the reverberations of American popular songs of the 19th Century and the Turn-of-the-Century through early country music in the

Who woulda thunk it? When a 95-year old New York City jazz legend teamed up with a 28-year old punk rocker from New Hampshire to

The Galvanized Jazz Band is in their 48th year of existence, having been formed in 1971. A no-nonsense and hard-driving band that is driven by cornetist

The story of the Riverboat Stompers begins in 1990 among an extended group of trad jazz players filling in a regular gig under the generic

Led by sousaphonist Roman Bartnicki, the R.B. Five is a quintet that also features trumpeter Dominik Mietla, trombonist Robert Szczerba, Janusz Witko on clarinet, tenor

Tom Stagg informs us in the CD booklet, “This session was recorded during the annual Ken Colyer Trust visit to New Orleans and was listed

The California Feetwarmers were recommended to me by no less than Vince Giordano of the Nighthawks and Robin Rapuzzi of Tuba Skinny. I’ve long enjoyed

During the dozen years that Jack Teagarden had left after leaving the Louis Armstrong All-Stars in 1952, the great trombonist and singer mostly played a

Eric Seddon is a New Orleans-styled clarinetist who plays in the Cleveland area. In 2017 he led a trad invasion of Cleveland’s Bop Stop, an

Evan Arntzen comes from a very musical family. His grandfather played soprano and clarinet, his father is a pianist, his mother is a singer, and

When I heard the name Tenement Jazz Band my first thought was “I bet they’re from Scotland”. I was hoping Glasgow, where twenty years ago

Cornetist Paul Strandberg from Sweden played in the late 1970s and 80s with Scanjazz, the Absalon Orchestra, and the Hot House Jazzmen. Strandberg led Paul

Formed in 2003 in Grenada, Spain, the Potato Head Jazz Band has stayed somewhat under the radar—my radar, at least—until now, and that is unfortunate

“Listening jazz that just happens to be great for dancing” is the gist of one recommendation I read about Jack’s Cats, a surprising group of

The French cornetist Jean-Pierre Morel has been playing classic jazz at least since 1966 when he made his recording debut with the Famous Melody Boys.

St. Louis has deep roots in American musical history. It was the cradle of classic ragtime and a destination city for jazz age riverboats. During

Nat King Cole’s centennial was March 17, resulting in many tribute albums being released this year. However, good as some of those homages are, none

Trombonist Chris Barber formed his first band in 1949 and retired in August 2019. The Big Chris Barber Band will carry on, and continue to

Highly skilled trios are common enough playing advanced swing or thoughtful chamber jazz and the members of Three Blind Mice are certainly capable of both.

Banjoist Eric Silk may be somewhat forgotten today but during 1955-58 he and his Southern Jazz Band recorded 32 songs for the British Esquire label;

The Revisionists’ debut album captures a classic vocal swing sound you wouldn’t think possible. Like an early 50s Anita O’Day lp that becomes a house

Clarinetist Acker Bilk (1929-2014) will always be best remembered by the general public for his 1962 hit “Stranger On The Shore” which featured his low-register

Trombonist Roger Marks has been a fixture in the British trad/swing scene since at least the late 1970s when he worked with cornetist Rod Mason’s

Back in the early 1970s, small-group swing appeared to be dying a slow death. The survivors of the swing era who had continued to make

Always very industrious, Irving Mills was not only Duke Ellington’s manager (also managing Cab Calloway, Fletcher Henderson and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band), a music

I had the wrong idea about the Ulysses Jasz Band. When I popped in their album I was expecting a hot West Coast style band.

Syncopated Times readers will remember Svetlana from her hot band The Delancy Five, who are a staple of the New York traditional jazz scene and

If you’ve heard even 30 seconds of this album you’ve probably already run off to buy it. Every moment of this record is chillingly good

(Jazz Classic of the Month) Art Tatum was amazing. Arguably the greatest musician to ever perform jazz, Tatum could play piano with blinding speed and

Carl Sonny Leyland is well known in the U.S. as a powerful blues, boogie-woogie, and stride pianist as well as being a fine blues singer.

Neville Dickie, one of the top stride and boogie-woogie pianists of the past 50 years, has led at least 28 albums since 1966, having a

The Bunk Johnson Story would make for a fascinating movie. Born around 1889 (he claimed it was 1879 so he could say that he had

British bandleader-trombonist Chris Barber was very fortunate to have two great clarinetists in his band for extended periods: Monty Sunshine (1953-60) and Ian Wheeler (1961-68).

Trumpeter Ken Colyer (1928-88) always fought for what he believed in. From the start, he loved ensemble-oriented New Orleans jazz, and he never really veered

Imagine visiting a friend who owns a huge 78 collection, and enjoying an evening discussing music and life with him while your friend pulls out

The latest Shake-em-Up Jazz Band CD, The Boy In The Boat, was released just prior to their second European tour which included Brittany, France; Herrang,

Pete Allen, who plays most of the reeds but is best known as a clarinetist, first recorded with his brother banjoist Bernie Allen’s group in

Joe Licari has been a top clarinetist for over 60 years although widespread fame seems to have eluded him. How many musicians still on the

Since he burst upon the national jazz scene in the mid-1970s, tenor-saxophonist Scott Hamilton has been remarkably consistent. A world-class player from the start, he

Larger groups of musicians appearing under a shared name in different places are nothing new to jazz. It goes back at least as far as

Tex Rubinowitz and Bob Newscaster’s Original Dixieland Rock ‘N’ Roll Band is the result of an idea nurtured over twenty years. Tex was a superstar

Patrick von Wiegandt is a whirlwind. You’ll spot him in Hollywood, then London, then Hawaii, then New York, and everywhere he lands he seems to

I complain about my commutes a lot and tonight is no exception as the combination of a downpour and early getaway Jersey Shore traffic put

In an era when many review copies come as downloads, or even streaming links, I was overjoyed to receive an exceptionally packaged LP with equally

Two complementary musicians with distinct approaches to career “rendezvous in a Manhattan apartment” and record spontaneous arrangements of American Songbook material. Grand piano and snare

With the popularity of Dixieland throughout the 1950s, there were occasional attempts to “update” the music and place the repertoire in a different setting. A