Album Reviews

Trombonist and record producer Delfeayo Marsalis has produced his first live album. The group here group includes father Ellis Marsalis on piano, Reginald Veal, bass,

Wouldn’t It Be Loverly is a new and noteworthy CD by chanteuse Lisa Lindsley. She performs on two continents, usually around the San Francisco Bay

Clarinetist Dave Bennett performs on his new CD, Blood Moon, with a small combo. He has a mix of original compositions co-written with record producer

Always very industrious, Irving Mills was not only Duke Ellington’s manager (also managing Cab Calloway, Fletcher Henderson and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band), a music

The World’s Greatest Jazz Band (an obviously outlandish name for a group but one that got immediate attention) was an all-star Dixieland ensemble that was

The trad jazz movement in the United Kingdom was a bit of a phenomenon. From the mid-1950s until the rise of the Beatles in 1964,

The ragtime era is generally thought of as being roughly 1899-1915, and certainly ending with the death of Scott Joplin in 1917. Other than “Maple

Trumpeter Joe Smith formed the Spicy Pickles in Denver, Colorado in 2013 as a sextet that played swing and New Orleans jazz for dancers. The

2003 was the centennial of cornetist Bix Beiderbecke’s birth. Celebrating Bix! is a very well-conceived tribute to Beiderbecke that Arbors released that year. Organized by

A hard-charging trumpeter whose screams, roars, and growls on uptempo pieces and whose sentimentality during ballads made him instantly recognizable, Wild Bill Davison was such

Chris Barber has been a major part of the British trad scene for over 70 years. While he recorded studio sides as a leader as early

Arguably the top jazz vocal group before the rise of Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross in the late 1950s (with the 1930s Mills Brothers being the

I direct your attention to Champian Fulton’s album with Scott Hamilton titled The Things We Did Last Summer, released on Blau Records. Reedman Scott Hamilton

The Jazz Oracle label can always be depended upon to reissue and repackage excellent hot jazz from the 1920s. Quite a few New Orleans jazz

While ragtime is often thought of as a music performed by solo pianists, there is something very special about a ragtime orchestra. Even the most

It all began back in 2010 when the Jazz Legacy Dixieland Band was organized at Brigham Young University. Trumpeter Austie Robinson, trombonist Brian Woodbury, and

In his short life, Charlie Christian (1916-42) revolutionized the jazz guitar. While he was not the very first electric guitarist (being preceded on records by

Trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton (1921-2008) and his band never tried to sound like anyone else. Lyttelton, who had a long and episodic career, teamed up with

Since its formation in 1984 as a subsidiary of Fellside Recordings, Lake Records has compiled and released a large assortment of high-quality traditional jazz with

Drummer Hal Smith has been one of the most valuable players in a countless number of settings through the years, from 1920s music and New

Will Perkins, 23 at the time of recording Snowy Morning Blues, is a talented ragtime and stride pianist from California. He has a relaxed style

Owing to the transmission over the internet of my radio program, RADIOLA!, I’ve found friends and listeners far outside my own bailiwick of upstate New

Fred Hersch, prolific composer, and pianist releases his newest solo CD and LP to coincide with his memoir Good Things Happen Slowly. The release date

This independently produced CD features tenor saxophonist Woody Witt collaborating with pianist Larry Ham’s trio. Rounding out the group are bassist Lee Hudson and drummer

Australian jazz musician Adrian Cunningham fronts a prestigious quartet which includes pianist Ted Rosenthal, bassist John Clayton, and drummer Jeff Hamilton. Cunningham is now based

In 1929 Jabbo Smith, who turned 21 that Christmas Eve, was arguably the second best trumpeter in jazz behind Louis Armstrong. While one could hold

Although it is not obvious while listening to Nat King Cole’s live set from Zurich, Switzerland (performed on Oct. 19, 1950 and only previously available

Ma Rainey (1886-1939) has been accurately called the “Mother Of The Blues.” Born before almost all of the other classic blues singers of the 1920s

Bix is a unique two-CD tribute to Bix Beiderbecke. The first CD is fourteen tracks of music associated with Bix Beiderbecke. It is performed by

When Banu Gibson formed her New Orleans Hot Jazz group on April 1, 1981 and began gigging with the sextet in the Crescent City, she

While few think of him that way, Johnny Guarnieri (1917-85) was one of the top stride pianists for decades. He had his highest visibility in

The British JSP label’s four-CD set  –Head Rag Hop Piano Blues 1925-1960 is overflowing with classic performances. Compiled by Neil Slaven who also wrote the liner

Louis Armstrong amassed a large collection of tapes in his lifetime which are now stored at the Louis Armstrong House Museum. While some of the

Clarinetist George Lewis, who would become one of the most popular of New Orleans jazzmen in the 1950s when he toured the world, was a

Those familiar with my previous reviews of pianist Rossano Sportiello’s CDs already know that I’m among the converted. He’s a classically trained Italian pianist who

Bill Cunliffe is a prolific pianist, composer, and conductor. I am already among the converted, so was excited to see/hear Cunliffe’s newest effort. On most

What fun! Imagine a four-day leisurely jam session with great musicians and no repeat takes! Senior vibraphonist Terry Gibbs had “retired” some months previously. Neal

The back-story about the production of this CD is as fascinating as the music. Most people reading this, I hope, will recognize the name of

Few today probably know about Teddy Grace’s excellent recordings of the 1930s even though she was one of the finest jazz and blues singers of

This year, 2017, is the centennial year for the first jazz recording, Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s Original Dixieland Jazz One Step and Livery Stable Blues,

What do Knocky Parker, Richard Zimmerman, Dick Hyman, John Arpin, Richard Dowling and William Appling have in common? Somewhere in their careers, all six pianists

Bunny Berigan (1908-42) was one of the greatest trumpeters of all time. Whether hitting high notes or exploring the lower register of his horn, he

Trombonist Ralph Grugel was a major force in keeping Dixieland alive and well in the Cleveland area for many years. He led a band that

There’s a relaxed, mellow feeling throughout this disc that is evident right from the start.  Many ragtime fans will remember Will Perkins as part of

This Arbors CD is vocalist/string bassist Nicki Parrott’s interpretation of songs associated with late vocalist/pianist Blossom Dearie. It’s interesting to compare and contrast these two

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

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

Greg Murphy is a seasoned pianist and composer who has assembled a great team for this, his fourth CD as leader. It’s a mix of

I’ve heard sports fans discussing football “Dream Teams,” a hypothetical assembling of great historical players and coaches, putting together theoretical plays, and games, styles, and

Here’s another Harry Allen gem from Arbors Records. Harry has assembled an all-star team with fellow tenor saxophonists Grant Stewart and Eric Alexander and baritone

Because they followed the Original Dixieland Jazz Band by a few years and directly preceded the first recordings of King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, the

This is an “outside the box” recording in that it is not the standard jazz CD. It features poetry by Langston Hughes set to music

This CD features pianist/vocalist Daniela Schachter with a small group performing eleven of composer Jimmy Van Heusen’s famous tunes. She is visiting professor of voice

This is the third CD by the PsychoAcoustic Orchestra under the direction of pianist/composer Pat Kelly. It is the first full recording in two decades.

When I assert that this is the best time to be alive if you are a jazz enthusiast, I’m not just whistling Dixieland. I am

Monika Herzig is a performing pianist, educator and author. She has assembled a group of talented women musicians to perform on this recording. She brings

Very few jazz musicians have made it to their 100th birthday but last Fen. 28 the great Danish violinist Svend Asmussen began his second century.

The Red Hot Mama (Gloria candens) was presumed to be extinct in 1966 with the passing of Sophie Tucker, who proclaimed herself the last of

Rich Conaty has hosted his weekly radio show The Big Broadcast since 1973, featuring jazz, dance music and singers from the 1920s and ‘30s. Since

Jeff Barnhart makes everything look so effortless. Like his idol Fats Waller, Barnhart not only finds it easy to take a vocal while playing heated

James P. Johnson may not have been the very first stride pianist in history but he was the most influential and the pacesetter of the

If pure, passionate and powerful horn-playing is your cup of tea, you owe yourself a big gulp of Live & Unplugged featuring Orlando-based trumpeter Charlie

Molly Ryan’s musical travelogue Let’s Fly Away is a jewel. The individual selections on the CD, all quite excellent, describe a dramatic trajectory within the

Peripatetic drummer Danny Coots, who travels the world from his home in Nashville, and stride pianist Brian Holland of Dallas have collaborated on four recordings,

In this, their third CD, the Heliotrope Ragtime Orchestra pushes their boundaries into the 1920s to pick up some great tunes from the third decade