Busking in NYC The “Good Old New York” that Jelly Roll Morton wrote about has served as an evident launch-pad of hot jazz and its
Yes, that’s what I once whisper-yelled to my siblings during a concert, as recorded in my vignette. Too many thrills were happening for the first
In just a little over a dozen years, 17-year-old Nathan Tokunaga has had opportunities and experiences that many adult musicians don’t have in a lifetime.
The traditional jazz world pays homage to the blues, but often in a narrow way. There are glimpses of famous streets in fabled cities, tin
Arthur Vint has capitalized on a series of life experiences that has enabled him to make a major contribution in the creation of a highly-successful
Judged by looks alone, Joe Temperley did not live up to any cliché of a jazz musician. Rather, he looked like a successful businessman, always
New Orleans jazz and brass band music in the ’70s Ellis Marsalis once stated that “In other places, culture comes down from on high. In
For many musicians, the jazz life is a constant struggle for survival. The pandemic has only made things more difficult, with venues going bust or
Like her music, Nicki Parrott has traveled far from her birthplace in Newcastle, Australia, and established an international reputation as both a renowned bassist and
Chapter 1: In Which Paris Comes to New York In 2019, I was lucky enough to be invited to attend Tatiana Eva Marie’s birthday party,
An article in the February 2021 issue of DOWNBEAT Magazine had this to say about the individual who will be the recipient of the 2024
Fifty years after The Sting, it takes a special kind of musician to breathe new life into “The Entertainer” or “Solace”—those Scott Joplin masterpieces that
Very, very occasionally I receive fan mail from a reader who has enjoyed one of my articles. Often it’s about one of my “forgotten ladies”
Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside. I grew up in a quiet coastal town, where the shore and adjacent pine forests were
Women are relatively rare in the jazz world. They still constitute only a small minority of performers, compared with men, particularly if you exclude singers:
I encountered reedwoman Natalie Scharf after she joined the front line of the Chicago Cellar Boys. If you’re not aware of this band (and you
Pianist Judy Carmichael wrote SWINGER! as an autobiographical account of the myriad experiences she has experienced throughout her creative and high-energy life. She describes herself
On a warm August evening, I had the pleasure of sitting with six (of the seven) members of the Soggy Po’ Boys, a New Orleans-style
Many aspirational jazz musicians make their way to New Orleans at some point—to soak up the culture they love, to undertake a musical apprenticeship or
When Alex Pangman sings, you hear the echoes of past singers joyously delivered as if she were a contemporary of greats like Lee Wiley and
If any modern, British musician embodies Louisiana circa 1920, it must be Ewan Bleach. Seeing him live, audiences would be forgiven for thinking he was
A jazz musician from any part of the world is to be admired for keeping the art form alive. And 22-year-old Anastasia Ivanova is always
Many readers might take it as read that US bands do old-time jazz the best. It seems like a fair assumption, on the face of
The Django a Gogo Festival is held every year in Maplewood, NJ, hosted by acclaimed French musician and composer Stephane Wrembel. The Grammy-winning guitarist has
