One depressing trend emerging from some of my recent artist interviews—specifically those profiling younger women—is a fear that they will become unemployably elderly before reaching
It’s rare, when I go out record shopping, that I’m looking out for big band stuff—by and large, I’m more interested in small combo music.
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
As regular readers will be well aware, I love swing dance. Whether Lindy hop, Balboa or St. Louis shag is my current thing, I just
You can bet an album review is going to be positive when, by the time you read it, I’ve already learned to play parts of
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:
At just 26 years old, Hannah Gill could hardly be better established as a performer. She’s toured the world twice with Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox
Danny Jonokuchi features on both of the records I’ve reviewed this month—yes, it’s a Doyle’s Discs double-Danny discourse. He isn’t someone I was too familiar
It’s easy to prejudge an album, based on a band’s blurb and the first track or two. The latest release by Southside Aces promises “original
We Brits like to think of ourselves as European—or 55 percent of us do, judging by a 2023 YouGov survey on Brexit “Bregret” (well, quelle
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 I wrote about last year’s Cheltenham Jazz Festival, I noted the dearth of old-timey acts compared with its soul, pop, and fusion-oriented headliners. Well
Do you like scat singing? My Mum absolutely hates it—the wordless vocal improvisation featured on so many of Ella Fitzgerald’s sides (which she loves, by
How many albums is “a lot of albums”? Not to own, I mean—I’ve got around a hundred LPs, a number which most collectors would consider
I stuck this record on without first looking at the track list. As the first number opened, I felt a thrill of excitement—it sounded like
I did a double take when I read this album’s cover. From the title and band name I half expected—with a mixture of excitement 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
Our man Joe Bebco has reviewed several previous works by New Orleans outfit Smoking Time Jazz Club, a longstanding live fixture in the city and
It’s sure nice to have a new live album to review. We haven’t had too many of those come through in the last three years,
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
About ten years ago, when I’d not been Lindy hopping long, I took part in a swing dance exhibition at a shopping center in Leeds.
It was late on a Friday when I first checked out the Cigar Box Serenaders’ new record, and I’d had a tough old week. Not
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
If I was to describe the Pacific Six’s latest record as a no frills, economy size, value pack of swing and blues, you might well
