Album Reviews

Valaida Snow (1904-56) was a unique performer. Virtually the only female to become a superior swing trumpeter in the 1930s (she was preceded by Dolly

In the 1950s and ’60s, Monty Sunshine (1928-2010) and Terry Lightfoot (1935-2013) were household names in the world of British trad, playing in styles inspired

Trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton, who led one of the top British 1920s-inspired trad bands of 1949-55, was given a lot of heat and criticism from his

A major jazz clarinetist and alto-saxophonist in the 1920s, Jimmy Dorsey co-led the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra with younger brother Tommy during 1934-35 until a blowup

Tom Hook is best known as a fluent and good-humored stride pianist and singer. In his career he was a founding member of the New

Roseanna Vitro Tell Me The Truth Skyline Records  An open commentary on current affairs and a return to her Southern roots, Tell me The Truth

Most of the trad players in New Orleans seem to cycle in and out of bands and projects every few years, often juggling several at

They have a Friday night gig at Three Muses, their album was recorded at The Spotted Cat and engineered by John Dixon of the Shotgun

Cuphead is a video game released in September 2017 that has already sold more than three million copies. The game has a vintage feel reminiscent

Duke Ellington and his orchestra were featured on a series of weekly radio programs during 1945-46 that became known as The Treasury Shows. While the

MICHAEL GAMBLE’S RHYTHM SERENADERS Swing lives! While the big band era ended in 1946, Swing (the noun rather than the verb) never went away. Whether

From Connecticut, the Galvanized Jazz Band has performed regularly since its formation back in 1971, and the group is still active today. Recently the ensemble

DON SUHOR Although Don Suhor (1932-2003) worked steadily in New Orleans (mostly as a clarinetist) for decades, one can be forgiven for not recognizing his

In recent years, the married couple Stephanie Trick and Paolo Alderighi has often performed as a duo on one piano. While that setting shows listeners

James Conway, who plays trumpet and cornet for the Ten Bells Rag Band, was kind enough to inform me that Limehouse is “an old dockland

Danny Bacher received rave reviews for his 2016 debut album, Swing That Music, on which he covered a variety of tracks by the three Louis’-

Live at The Studio was recorded at a popular venue for Swing events in Nashville called, you guessed it, The Studio. Lots of planning went

While the double-CD Ain’t It Grand? from the Glenn Crytzer Orchestra was covered previously in The Syncopated Times, it is worthy of further discussion. Some

The release of Ain’t it Grand, a double CD of original and classic swing material is a milestone achievement in the resurgent popularity of prewar

The Rhythm Gamblers lean on the mature and experienced side of the swing continuum. Not because they average older—gray heads are common in the hippest

Stretching to eleven members and having survived for over a decade Lithuania’s Rhythm Junkies are as much a jazz collective as a traditional band. Think

Hot jazz in Europe draws closer to ragtime and marching band presentation because from polkas to mazurka’s the brass ensemble lived longer in public life

The Swing Shouters of Tours, France, grew out of the relationship between a dance school, a studio, and an association called Swing and Shout. You

Aurora Nealand is an artist with a creative sensibility that she duly brings to her music. Her parents exposed her to the music of the

Coming off an extensive tour in June and July of Lindy events all over the Northeast, Chelsea Reed and the Fair Weather Five have settled

Miss Myra leads with guitar and vocals in this busy Twin Cities trad band. They have 16 appearances scheduled in September, three on one day.

Cat’n Around by Cait and the Critters After agreeing to bring her band to a gig, Cait Jones suddenly found herself needing a band. A few

The Gentlemen & Gangsters are a hard-swinging sextet of true professionals with a firm rooting in the hot bands on the cusp of Swing Era.

It was St. Joseph’s Night 2006, a group of volunteers set off from the New Orleans suburb of Arabi in search of Mardi Gras Indians.

This is an unusual jazz album—pedal steel guitar is a rarely-used instrument in jazz recording and this is a self-produced album by a group who

Here’s a CD which should appeal to clarinet and swing enthusiasts. As the title suggests all ten songs are familiar swing tunes. And there’s a

The L.A. Swing Barons are all dancers as well as musicians and it shows in the driving sound they capture in their first album, Kansas

Lovers of the weird will beam from the first notes of Book of Rhapsodies Vol. II, the fourth album from the critically acclaimed Ghost Train

The Dirty River Dixie Band was founded in 2014 after two music students at Texas Lutheran University were wowed by a live show of the

One of the greatest trumpeters in jazz history and an exciting musical force throughout the 1930s, Bunny Berigan led big bands during 1937-42 and starred

In 1917 the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (comprised of cornetist Nick LaRocca, trombonist Eddie Edwards, clarinetist Larry Shields, pianist Henry Ragas, and drummer Tony Sbarbaro)

Billie Holiday’s recording career can easily be divided into three main parts. Her 1935-42 recordings for Brunswick, Vocalion, and Okeh, both as a leader and

Early jazz collectors who are close to owning all of the significant American and British jazz recordings will find much of interest in the Svensk

Thomas Edison, a genius on so many levels, had the reputation of having poor taste in music. He may have invented the phonograph but his

The great New Orleans soprano-saxophonist and clarinetist Sidney Bechet was 52 when he went to Paris in 1949 to perform at a jazz festival. The

Nothing is lost in translation with the fantastic Five O’Clock Orchestra who are celebrating 45 years of spreading the gospel of hot jazz to audiences

Here we have preserved for posterity the memorable collaboration between Willie “The Lion” Smith and Don Ewell. They were first brought together for a Canadian

In 1950, Louis Armstrong acquired his first reel to reel tape recorder. During the next 20 years, he often recorded his own band’s performances which

Mike Davis is one of the bright new voices in classic jazz. The 25-year old New York-based cornetist has forged his own musical path by

I first listened to Lessons Lyrical, the new disc from husband and wife duo Petra van Nuis & Andy Brown, during the mad rush of

Flip Phillips is known for playing tenor sax with Jazz at the Philharmonic between 1946 and 1957. During the semi-retirement that followed he developed a

This is the infamous New Reformation Jazz Band “Lithuanian set” from 1986. Bandleader Dave Tatrow decided at the last minute to riff on the importation

Francesca Biagi’s love of mid-century and earlier American theater, cinema, and jazz is genuine. Well known in Italy, and on the European scene generally, she

Muggsy Spanier loved to perform New Orleans and early jazz songs. The cornetist considered King Oliver and Louis Armstrong his musical heroes but he had

Pianist Jeff Barnhart and guitarist Spats Langham, both of whom sing in their own charming way, love playing together. They enjoy coming up with obscure

No, the music on The Unheard Artie Shaw does not contain new recordings by the great clarinetist. Instead, the set released by the Hep label

Jerry Krahn’s New Orleans Parlor String Band has released a six-song promo CD that I very much enjoyed. With this disc, Jerry is reviving a

Peggy Lee (1920-2002) was at one of her highpoints of her career in 1955. Her prime singing years were during 1942-68 and in 1955 (the

In anticipation of reviewing Here We Go! I found myself excitedly in line at the Pulaski Meat Market, a landmark institution anchoring a quiet corner

Bud Freeman (1906-91) was one of the greatest tenor-saxophonists of all time. When he emerged in the late 1920s, his only competition on tenor was