Album Reviews

Ella In Hollywood, a live set from 1961 when Ella Fitzgerald was 44, features her at the peak of her powers on a very jazz-oriented

Earl Hines was one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. Most biographies on Hines go something like this: In the 1920s he developed

Clarinetist Leif Juul Jorgensen took a long time before finally deciding to play jazz fulltime. He took up the clarinet nearly 70 years ago but,

Jean-Francois Bonnel is a reed player best known for his decade as one of the solo stars of the Hot Antic Jazz Band. In the

The concert hall experience is by its very nature ephemeral—once the notes drift and reverberate they are remembered only by those in attendance. Sometimes, however,

Anders Bergcrantz is a prize-winning Swedish trumpeter/composer. He has just released this recording of seven compositions, six of which are his originals and the seventh

Here’s a professionally performed CD—just vocal and piano with fifteen tunes by Gershwin, Ellington, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, and others. What makes it special is

During the first years of the swing era, freewheeling jazz of the 1920s was considered out of vogue and old fashioned despite being less than

In the fall of 1957, an all-star group filled mostly with Louis Armstrong alumni toured England. Co-led by trombonist Jack Teagarden and pianist Earl Hines,

Late last year, Gordon Au—trumpeter, arranger, composer, bandleader, writer, thinker, scientist, satirist, linguist—sent me the digital files for the second CD by the Grand Street

Kid Ory was one of the most important early jazz trombonists, leading legendary early groups in New Orleans during the 1910-20 period that had such

46 years after his death, Louis Armstrong is still the most famous, beloved and influential figure in jazz history. As an innovative trumpeter, singer and

This April 25 marks the centennial of Ella Fitzgerald’s birth. The First Lady Of Song was at one of the turning points in her career

It has been too long since Banu Gibson recorded. One of the major New Orleans jazz and swing singers of the past 30 years, Banu’s

Although Jelly Roll Morton did not invent jazz, he was certainly one of its early innovators. His distinctive piano playing developed as early as 1905-10

While 2017 is being celebrated as the centennial of jazz’s first recordings, it is also the 100th anniversary of Scott Joplin’s death. The ragtime era,

An excellent swing trumpeter with a warm sound and a melodic improvising style, Danny Tobias is best-known for his association with the Midiri Brothers although

While jazz was born in the United States, it has been an international music ever since the recordings of the ODJB were heard overseas. While

Guitarist-banjoist Glenn Crytzer had two causes in mind when he organized That New Old Sound. He wanted to release a CD whose proceeds would go

On Feb. 26, 1917, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded “Livery Stable Blues” and “Dixie Jass Band One-Step” (soon better known as “Original Dixieland One-Step”).

It is possible to be a jazz expert and still have no idea who Mel B. Kaufman was. Kaufman (1879-1932), a traveling salesman who sold