Bert Thompson

A couple of years ago when reviewing the Missing Pieces CD, I wrote this: Two years from now the New Black Eagle Jazz Band will

The West Coast of the U.S. has long been blessed with a large complement of traditional jazz bands—professional and semi-professional—societies, and festivals, it seems. Before

A number of jazz concerts aired in the U.K. on BBC Radio in the early 1960s while the “trad boom” was underway and rock and

Back in my salad days when I first was becoming interested in jazz, I ran across the wonderful name “Muggsy Spanier.” For some reason, that

For a good many years, now, I have been a fan of Kid Thomas and his various bands; so when I first heard about this

In 2012, Paul Adams of Lake Records issued a three-CD set titled British Traditional Jazz – A Potted History, which consists of 73 tracks in

Since this album is a “retrospective,” drawing from previously recorded and issued material in the thirty year period 1923-1953, Sidney Bechet devotees will undoubtedly already

One of the best known of the British traditional jazz musicians is the late Ken Colyer (1928-1988), and interest in his recorded output has not

On this recording we hear Humphrey Lyttelton (1921-2008) being just a little retrospective in that he returns to the style of jazz of his early

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen And waste its sweetness on the desert air.  ― Thomas Gray, An Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard

It’s not often a traditional jazz band of conventional size—six or seven pieces, usually—lacks a horn in its front line, but such is the case

This CD picks up where the same group’s previous one, Jazz Crusade JCCD3079, left off, the first six tracks here being from that same recording

When “Louisiana” and “music” are mentioned in the same breath, for many people the conjunction suggests “jazz.” But Louisiana is also known for bluegrass, blues,

Following the release about a year ago of the CD New Orleans Jazz: Remembering Doug Kennedy, a tribute to their late banjo/guitarist, the West London

The names of Peter Bocage and Emilé Barnes are not as well known as those of others who figured more prominently in the New Orleans

The French Preservation New Orleans Jazz Band, while not well known in the U.S.A. other than, perhaps, in New Orleans itself, enjoys wide recognition in

Bill Brunskill got involved in the jazz scene about the same time as Chris Barber and members of the Barber band along with others of

Formed on May 5, 1945, just a few days before the official end of WWII, the Dutch Swing College Band is still playing all these

When Lil Hardin Armstrong’s name is mentioned, many, if not most, people probably think immediately of Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five’s piano player or Armstrong’s second

This album is vol. 1, “Then,” of a two-volume set of the Easy Riders Jazz Band on the Jazz Crusade label, titled “Then” and “Now.”

This album is vol. 2, “Now,” of a two-volume set of the Easy Riders Jazz Band, “Then” and “Now,” on the Jazz Crusade label. (“Then”

Despite writing over 600 songs, many of them “hits,” as the booklet notes inform us, Walter Donaldson never seemed to become a household name. This

Seeing that this group is led by trombonist Geoff Cole and also has Tony Pyke on clarinet might prompt one to think of the early

This double-disc set is a reissue of what were originally issued as two separate CDs, titled Jumpin’ in Irigny—JCCD 3110 vol. 1 and JCCD 3111

The recordings on this CD date from the last days of Louis Armstrong’s membership in the King Oliver Creole Jazz Band until the time when

Turk Murphy (1915-1987) was one of the giants of jazz in the San Francisco area, beginning with his tenure in the Lu Watters Yerba Buena

The U.K. has always been fortunate, it seems, in the number of traditional jazz bands that have emerged over the years. One of them is

The story of the beginnings of Preservation Hall in New Orleans is one with a few twists and turns. While many people ascribed the founding

Ever since the advent of George Webb’s Dixielanders in the forties, the UK has been fortunate in its abundance of traditional jazz groups. Dozens have

Francis Joseph Spanier was better known as “Muggsy,’ a nickname he took for himself from John “Muggsy” McGraw, manager of the New York Giants baseball

On this, their fourth, CD, the Golden Eagle Jazz Band demonstrate that they have not strayed from their founding tenet as stated on their on-line

On my infrequent visits to the U.K., I have always tried to take in a jazz festival or two, and each time tried to hear

As the traditional jazz revival got under way in the 1950s and beyond, the impetus to record the various groups, especially those in New Orleans,

When a performance is recorded on location rather than in a studio, certain hazards with the sound quality loom, and they are not completely mitigated

Having recorded with various jazz bands and orchestras over the years, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was well-known to jazz fans. In addition to her appearances with

The usual complement of the Pete Allen band is six or seven pieces, but on this disc we have subsets of the usual number, some

The performances on this CD were taken from recordings made at several concerts during the band’s tours of Germany in the early seventies and from

All of the New Orleans jazz pioneers stressed that the music they played was for dancing, not just for listening. The group on this CD

Tom Stagg informs us in the CD booklet, “This session was recorded during the annual Ken Colyer Trust visit to New Orleans and was listed

Formed in 2003 in Grenada, Spain, the Potato Head Jazz Band has stayed somewhat under the radar—my radar, at least—until now, and that is unfortunate