Album Reviews

Back in college one of my pastimes, hep cat that I was, was chasing the library closing time copying their LPs to cassette tapes. My

Johnny Guarnieri and Harry Warren had one main thing in common. When one thinks of the great jazz pianists, Guarnieri is often overlooked while lists

In the current jazz scene, there are a countless number of talented female jazz-oriented singers, as opposed to just a handful of male jazz singers.

JAZZ CLASSIC OF THE MONTH In Duke Ellington’s remarkably productive career, 1953-55 is considered by some to be his “off period” despite musical evidence to

So much musical wealth bursts from the grooves of Mosaic’s 11-CD set of jazz V-Discs that you’ll be forgiven for forgetting that the 263 sides

This year has seen pianist and composer Matthew de Lacey Davidson prodigiously successful in album production: his 2024 releases include two CD sets totalling five

Don’t buy these albums. I’ve never said that in a review before, I have far more albums I like in my queue to bother reviewing

Lucien Barbarin (1956-2020), the grandnephew of Paul Barbarin, was a very expressive New Orleans trombonist. In his career he mostly played locally (including with Dr.

Colin Perry was raised in Kentucky with music on both sides of his family. His father’s side of the family exposed him to Appalachian fiddlers

I watched Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom the other night. I thought it was going to be a movie about music—it was not. Rather, it’s a

Champian Fulton’s series of rewarding recordings are known to many of the readers of The Syncopated Times. She is equally skilled as a 1940s-type singer

JAZZ CLASSIC OF THE MONTH It was one of the great swing bands but it made no recordings that were available to the American public.

Because a full drum set could overwhelm the other instruments in the early days of jazz recording, drummers of the time were restricted to utilizing

The Hot Club Of San Francisco has been active since the early 1990s. There have been many personnel changes along the way other than its

The Hot Club Of Tenerife (named after an island in Spain) is led by Italian guitarist Filippo Dall’Asta. He began playing guitar when he was

This compilation of early female jazz singers and musicians contains those who will be familiar and those, perhaps, who will be less so. The recordings

The French Preservation New Orleans Jazz Band* was founded some twenty-five years ago by reed man J[ean]P[ierre] Alessi. During that time the group has issued

Ever since she made her recording debut during 1981-83 and particularly since the early 1990s, Rebecca Kilgore has been one of jazz’s top swing singers.

Given saxophonist Charlie Parker’s renown, you might think his career was extremely well documented, In fact, although he was already a known quantity by about

I live in South West England, amidst the glorious rolling green hills of the Cotswolds—or, more accurately, the scruffier end of a medium-sized town in

It’s only been a few months since I reviewed The Hot Toddies’ self-titled debut album, which was released last year. I’d like to think that

I’ve mentioned Swedish songstress and multi-instrumentalist marvel Gunhild Carling here more than once before, generally citing her as an example of either a uniquely superb