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
There aren’t many musicians still around who began their careers in the late 1940s. Far fewer have the incredible memory of bassist Bill Crow, who
Upon seeing his name, complete with umlaut, you might assume multi-instrumentalist T.J. Müller is of German heritage. You’d be mistaken. And with the first few
Some musicians aspire to awards. Many wish to walk out on the world’s biggest stages. Others hope to headline festivals one day. For recording debutante
As half of acoustic jazz and blues duo The Washboard Resonators, percussionist Jack Amblin no doubt feels most at home on the little stages of
By the time I sat down for a chat with Meschiya Lake, in mid-October, I’d been keen to meet her for a long time—since 2019
Asked how he sees his multiple roles as a maker of music, historian, writer and educator, John Clark responded, “I love all kinds of music,
If it would be possible for a virtuoso reedman to step out of a jazz 78 in a kind of “Purple Rose of Cairo” moment,
Over the last decade, many British bands, clubs, pubs, and hotels have been offering evenings of “authentic” Jazz Age entertainment. Since 2013, event organizers have
This year marks the 50th anniversary of a fateful cab ride in New York, during which a 20-year-old waitress named Laurel Massé got to chatting
It may have been the traditional jazz equivalent of a happy accident. The New Orleans jazz band Tuba Skinny couldn’t make its date for Switzerland’s
I first saw, but did not meet personally, versatile pianist Donald Ryan at the 2019 West Coast Ragtime Festival. When I learned he was appearing
