Album Reviews

Despite writing over 600 songs, many of them “hits,” as the booklet notes inform us, Walter Donaldson never seemed to become a household name. This

While vocal groups are very common in pop music, jazz vocal groups have always been rarer. Duchess is a collaboration between singers Amy Cervini, Hilary

Kenny Ball (1930-2013) was one of the top stars of the British Trad Jazz movement. A colorful trumpeter, a personable singer, and a witty personality

Trust a Japanese band to take what you and love, tune it up and hand it back better than ever, all shiny and new—in a

Even experts on jazz history may not be that acquainted with Johnny Letman (1917-92). An excellent swing trumpeter who also had a bit of New

I knew of Peter Bergin as a fine performer from his YouTube postings, so I was delighted to learn he was recording an album utilizing

Of all of the New Orleans players associated with Wynton Marsalis, clarinetist Dr. Michael White has been the most consistently involved in playing traditional New

Seeing that this group is led by trombonist Geoff Cole and also has Tony Pyke on clarinet might prompt one to think of the early

When Django Reinhardt passed away in 1953, almost no guitarists in the world sounded like him. His influence was far overshadowed by that of Charlie

The Archeophone label makes early recordings available to the public accompanied by comprehensive liner notes that are often nominated for Grammy’s. Past efforts have included

For all the gigs and festivals which have inevitably been cancelled in recent months, there sure have been a lot of great dancing records released—as

Trad jazz was so popular in England by the early 1960s that it is not surprising that its top musicians and bands appeared in quite

This double-disc set is a reissue of what were originally issued as two separate CDs, titled Jumpin’ in Irigny—JCCD 3110 vol. 1 and JCCD 3111

Of all the things being cancelled by you-know-what, the saddest to see knocked on the head would undoubtedly be Shirt Tail Stompers’ tenth birthday bash

Glenn Crytzer, facing all the musical hurdles that everyone is right now put on his bandleader hat and assembled an all-star team that could rise

Clarinetists Acker Bilk and Wally Fawkes both carved out important niches in the traditional jazz world of Great Britain. After a period working with Ken

There’s a very good reason that you’ve most likely never heard of violinist and bandleader Nat Brusiloff. Brusiloff, born Naucham Brusilovsky in Russia in 1904,

Throughout his life, Scott Joplin sought to have his ragtime music accepted as American art rather than have it considered mere entertainment. It was a

Jesper Thilo, who was a month shy of his 78th birthday when he recorded Swing Is The Thing in 2019, has been an important swing-based

There’s something particularly appealing about live recordings right now, when we can’t go out and enjoy bands in person. A 1961 record of Chris Barber

The Syncopation Society of Berlin is a collaboration of jazz and swing artists who even in normal times work to promote and support each other’s

One of the finest clarinetists of the past 30 years, Tim Laughlin long ago developed his own sound within the New Orleans jazz tradition, inspired