Album Reviews

It’s been a good while since I listened to any big band swing: my playlist has been all duos, trios and small combos for the

As heard on this disc, the Chicago Cellar Boys is not your typical “trad” or “dixie jam” band. Having evolved from another group (The Fat

Chris Barber (1930-2021) had a very long, productive and influential career. After brief periods playing the violin, cornet and clarinet, he settled on the trombone

When fellow musicians and acquaintances of Bob Wallis speak of him and his band, a word frequently heard is “drive.” This pair of CDs both

Adolphus Anthony “Doc” Cheatham (1905-97) had a rather unusual career. Although inspired early on by King Oliver and Louis Armstrong, the technically skilled Cheatham spent

In the early 1950s, Bob Wilber (1928-2019) was having a musical identity crisis. He had been a protégé of the masterful Sidney Bechet during 1946-48

During the more than seven decades since the beginning of the Traditional Jazz Revival in the 1940s, Europe has been producing some first-rate traditional jazz

Singer-songwriter Tia Brazda burst onto the jazz scene ten years ago, with a debut EP which topped the Canadian iTunes jazz charts. Her full-length debut

Ever since he began recording as a leader in 1988, tenor-saxophonist Harry Allen has been both prolific and very consistent. His high-quality tenor playing, while

Stretched out with my eyes closed, atop a lounger in my backyard—on a day which could only be described as alarmingly barmy, for Britain in

One of the great things about jazz, as I’m sure many fans will agree, is that the tunes stand up very well however they are

Did you ever hear an album and think, “Gee, if someone made a movie of my life, I’d sure like this to be the soundtrack.”

As I have often said, the U.K. has been blessed with many traditional jazz bands since the revival of the late 1940’s, and the Red

When it comes to big bands of the 1924-34 period, Fletcher Henderson’s was difficult to beat, particularly if one does not include Duke Ellington. Henderson

A fine alto-saxophonist and arranger who was a member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra during 1937-41, Hal McIntyre (1914-59) started his own big band in

During 1938-45, Linda Keene (1911-81) sang with Glenn Miller, the Bobby Hackett Orchestra, Jack Teagarden’s big band, Red Norvo, Muggsy Spanier, Lennie Hayton, Charlie Barnet,

Jonathan Stout has long been an important figure in the swing and swing dance community. An excellent guitarist whose style ranges from Carl Kress and

La Suite Wilson is an octet of superior swing players from France that consists of trumpeter Michel Bonnet, tenor-saxophonist Nicolas Montler, Matthieu Vernhes on alto

Veteran cornetist Ed Polcer, who is now 85, has been a talented soloist since the 1960s when he joined Benny Goodman’s small group. He managed

The COVID pandemic, while robbing musicians of the opportunity to play gigs and to even practice together, did result in some new projects being born.

Erroll Garner had such a unique style on the piano that it used to be very difficult for other pianists (which included George Shearing and

Jazz Classic of the Month: In the 1950s and ‘60s, most Dixieland bands enlisted one of their instrumentalists to also sing some numbers. Many were

The Secret Six is the latest hot jazz band to establish itself in New Orleans, joining in the top tier an exciting roster of groups

The personnel of the CD under review here, Just Genuine Jazz, is almost identical to that of a previous Upbeat Records issue by this same