Jazz Jottings March 2020
Lew Shaw
February 24, 2020
One of my favorite songs is “Once in a While.” Or should I say that two of my favorite songs are “Once in a While”
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One of my favorite songs is “Once in a While.” Or should I say that two of my favorite songs are “Once in a While”
It all began innocently enough in the late 1960s when Dave Oppermann, a business person by day and a sing-along piano player by night, and
The Barbary Coast Dixieland Jazz Band holds a special place in Minnesota music history—and not just because its members were inducted into the Minnesota Music
The Barbary Coast Dixieland Jazz Band holds a special place in Minnesota music history—and not just because its members were inducted into the Minnesota Music
Bucky Pizzarelli died on April 1st, 2020, he was 94. Lew Shaw interviewed him for this profile when both men were 88. Read our obituary
As is its annual tradition since 2005, the San Diego Jazz Party conveys the title of “Jazz Legend” on one of its participating musicians. At
Longtime pianist-arranger John Sheridan has assumed leadership of the Jim Cullum Jazz Band, which will continue its bi-weekly gigs at San Antonio restaurants as well
The jazz community lost a true icon with the passing of Jim Cullum in August. In light of Jim’s lifetime commitment to the performance, promotion,
A Re-ordering of Priorities . . . I have been fortunate in chronicling jazz events and personalities for this paper and its predecessors over the
When asked what attracted them to jazz, the response you get from Pete and Will Anderson is “The jazz bug hit us very early on.
When Sam Pilafian was 11, he was told that if he switched from the accordion to the tuba, he would always have friends. When he
Earl A. McKee July 12, 1931-April 11, 2019 How sadly coincidental that charter High Sierra Jazz Band member Earl McKee passed away one day before
Trombonist Russ Phillips has yet to figure out what the word “retirement” means. Even before he retired from his day job as a production and
Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) is celebrated every April in recognition of the significant contribution that jazz music has made to society. First established in 2011
As the High Sierra Jazz Band closes out its 42-year run on the festival circuit this month at their home base in Three Rivers, California,
After making a living as a musician for 48 of his 61 years and having performed in 101 countries around the world, you’d think Danny
In a One Day University lecture, University of Maryland professor of music Anna Celenza identified three musical masterpieces that changed America. Stating that “music does
Connie Jones died in his sleep on February 13, 2019. The following profile ran in the April 2015 edition of our predecessor The American Rag, it
It has taken two years and $3 million, but the 61,000 items which comprise the Research Collections of the Louis Armstrong House Museum have been
Around five o’clock on Sunday, April 14, 2019, in the Three Rivers Lions Arena in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, when Earl McKee
It is apparent that the story about bandleader Glenn Miller’s disappearance over the English Channel during World War II has no end. The latest version
Paul Daspit has retired as director of the San Diego Thanksgiving Festival, a position he has held since 2011. Taking his place is Bill Adams,
As we go to press, The Syncopated Times has learned that Kenyon Adams, a multi-media performance artist and curator, will be named director of the
For the past 20 years, Dave Robinson has been the leading advocate in promoting the concept that traditional jazz should be a vital part of
