Album Reviews

I’ve been waiting a long time to review Swing in Place. Or maybe it just felt like a long time, in this Groundhog Day mush

The Ventura based Barrelhouse Wailers have been delighting dancers and lovers of high times around Southern California since 2013. It’s a wonder they haven’t become

British violinist Andy Aitchison grew up loving the playing of Stephane Grappelli, yet the music on his LeJazzetal release You Ain’t Never is not a

Duke Ellington recorded an enormous amount of music during 1924-74, and nearly everything that he documented is well worth hearing. The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition:

I would hope our readers know by now to seek out any new album from Paolo Alderighi and Stephanie Trick. They’ve been on our cover

Is bear meat sweet? I’ll never know for sure—I’m vegetarian. Johnny Hodges seemed to think so, when titling the 1954 track which lends its name

The Jazz Band Ball Orchestra has been playing in Poland, and across Europe, since they formed as a music school group in 1962. By 1972

Cornetist Muggsy Spanier (1901-67) was one of the most consistent of all jazz musicians. His approach did not change at all after the late 1920s

Back in the 1990s a group of guys played in a Django devoted string group with an unusual instrumentation. Where an unpright bass might be

Jimmie Noone (1895-1944) was one of the most influential jazz clarinetists of the 1920s, and is considered by many to be one of the big

I’m used to receiving albums from well intentioned and often self financed older musicians who are, to put it nicely, over proud of their accomplishments

Minnesota has a remarkable traditionally jazz history full of larger than life figures. The Hall Brothers Band and their Emporium of Jazz makes up a

Some bands, sadly most bands, will peak in their first few albums, but certain groups just keep getting better. We are blessed that New Orleans

In 2007 singer-saxophonist-accordionist Matt Tolentino formed the Singapore Slingers. A type-of community band based in Dallas, in addition to its leader, the Slingers consist of

The Gramophoniacs present themselves in suit clothes, but not in an overtly vintage style, noddingly so only in the choice of cut. They are one

Some recordings grab listeners from the first note. Lucky Day does just that and never lets go. The Brahmin Bellhops, a group of top classic

We’ve covered the Syncopation Society before. They’re a Berlin based collective of traditional jazz and similar artists working to promote each other. They leverage the

George Barnes (1921-77) was a pioneer of the electric guitar. In fact, he claimed to be utilizing a pickup and an amplifier on his guitar

I love a three-piece jazz combo. More so than a big band, if I’m honest, although saying so feels blasphemous: as a swing dancer, surely

Imagine having Rossano Sportiello drop by your house and spontaneously decide to play your recently-tuned piano in your living room for an hour or so.

Since this album is a “retrospective,” drawing from previously recorded and issued material in the thirty year period 1923-1953, Sidney Bechet devotees will undoubtedly already

Clarence Williams was one of the most prolific bandleaders on record during the 1920s and early ’30s. Not counting sessions recorded using pseudonyms, during 1923-31

Long time readers will know that we’ve been following Colin Hancock for almost all of our five years. Back in 2016 we discovered him as