Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 800 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag and Jazz Inside.
Australian trombonist Chris Ludowyk has loved and played New Orleans style jazz since at least his debut recording (with Lachie Thompson’s New Whispering Gold Orchestra)
Luckey Roberts (1887-1968) was one of the greatest of all stride pianists but he barely made it onto records. Other than backing singer Eddie Hunter
Tongue In Cheek is a fine trad band that is based in Baltimore and Washington D.C. The core of the group is banjoist-leader Zach Serleth,
Jelly Roll Morton was a towering figure in early jazz, and one with a very large number of accomplishments. As a pianist who had his
The British trad movement (which roughly covered 1949-63) found freewheeling British bands inspired by New Orleans jazz not only gaining unexpected popularity in the United
Sidney Bechet was not only the first significant soprano-saxophonist in jazz but the most significant one during his lifetime. Arguably one of the two top
A major performer from Australia, George Washingmachine is an actor, a comedian, and has played guitar and string bass. However it is as a swing
Bria Skonberg, who made her recording debut back in 2002 and has led her Mighty Aphrodite Jazz Band (a fine classic jazz band) since at
Composer Frederick Loewe (1901-88) and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner (1918-86), who met in 1942, wrote the music for such Broadway hits as Brigadoon, Paint Your
What would the music have sounded like if Sidney Bechet and Django Reinhardt (who were both in France in the early 1950s) had recorded together,
The Dime Notes is a young group based in Great Britain although its leader-pianist Andrew Oliver is originally from Oregon. Comprised of Oliver, clarinetist David
Ken Colyer was an important force in British jazz for decades. Inspired by George Lewis and Bunk Johnson, his trumpet playing and his band were
All eras of jazz are being played somewhere. Swing is very much alive in certain pockets of the world. Austin, Texas, is the home for
The Dutch Swing College Band, which was founded by Peter Schilperoort in 1945, is still in existence, having recorded as recently as 2015. The versatile
Sometimes record labels do not realize what they have. The outside of this two-CD set says “Edmond Hall with the Ralph Sutton Quartet ‘Live’ At
The British trad movement of the 1950s and ’60s found dozens of jazz bands popping up throughout England. The music they focused on fell into
The British trad movement of the 1950s and ’60s found dozens of jazz bands popping up throughout England. The music they focused on fell into
Bing Crosby loved New Orleans jazz and Louis Armstrong throughout his long life. He began his career as a jazz-oriented singer and, while modest about
Is Ragtime in its second golden age? After its quick fade-away during 1915-17 (with Scott Joplin’s death being the final straw), ragtime was difficult to
No, the music on The Unheard Artie Shaw does not contain new recordings by the great clarinetist. Instead, the set released by the Hep label
Of all of the New Orleans pioneers who spent the Depression years home in the Crescent City, George Lewis had the greatest commercial success in
When early pre-1923 jazz recordings are discussed in history books, one encounters the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, sometimes the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, and perhaps
The Nat King Cole story is a tale of two major talents, both owned by the same person. Equally skilled as a jazz pianist and
This CD has one of the oddest matchups that I have heard in quite some time. The talented clarinetist Sol Yaged (1922-2019) was famous (or
When the major labels in the 1920s had special recording crews that went to the South and recorded top regional bands, some of the New
It has often been said that Louis Armstrong introduced swinging to New York when he joined Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra in mid-1924. Until then, most of
Bassist Jen Hodge is a major part of the swing and trad jazz scene in Vancouver, British Columbia. All’s Fair In Love And Jazz features
Bix Beiderbecke’s death in 1931 at the age of 28 left a hole in jazz along with many “what if” questions. If the cornetist had
Two of the most beloved jazz artists of all time, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, will probably still be household names two centuries from now.
Muggsy Spanier (1901-67) was always predictably exciting in his playing. After he formed his style by the late-1920s, the cornetist never changed his approach and
Clarinetist George Lewis, who would become one of the most popular of New Orleans jazzmen in the 1950s when he toured the world, was a
During the 1921-25 period, it seemed as if every African-American female singer who could carry a tune was being rushed into a recording studio to
In 2018, the Galvanized Jazz Band was hired to fill in for a band for two days at the Trinity-Pawling School in upstate New York.
did some of his most innovative trumpet playing and singing during the 1925-32 period while continuing to grow in power and depth throughout the 1940s
The Galvanized Jazz Band is in their 48th year of existence, having been formed in 1971. A no-nonsense and hard-driving band that is driven by cornetist
Led by sousaphonist Roman Bartnicki, the R.B. Five is a quintet that also features trumpeter Dominik Mietla, trombonist Robert Szczerba, Janusz Witko on clarinet, tenor
During the dozen years that Jack Teagarden had left after leaving the Louis Armstrong All-Stars in 1952, the great trombonist and singer mostly played a
Eric Seddon is a New Orleans-styled clarinetist who plays in the Cleveland area. In 2017 he led a trad invasion of Cleveland’s Bop Stop, an
Evan Arntzen comes from a very musical family. His grandfather played soprano and clarinet, his father is a pianist, his mother is a singer, and
Cornetist Paul Strandberg from Sweden played in the late 1970s and 80s with Scanjazz, the Absalon Orchestra, and the Hot House Jazzmen. Strandberg led Paul
The French cornetist Jean-Pierre Morel has been playing classic jazz at least since 1966 when he made his recording debut with the Famous Melody Boys.
Nat King Cole’s centennial was March 17, resulting in many tribute albums being released this year. However, good as some of those homages are, none
Trombonist Chris Barber formed his first band in 1949 and retired in August 2019. The Big Chris Barber Band will carry on, and continue to
Banjoist Eric Silk may be somewhat forgotten today but during 1955-58 he and his Southern Jazz Band recorded 32 songs for the British Esquire label;
Clarinetist Acker Bilk (1929-2014) will always be best remembered by the general public for his 1962 hit “Stranger On The Shore” which featured his low-register
Trombonist Roger Marks has been a fixture in the British trad/swing scene since at least the late 1970s when he worked with cornetist Rod Mason’s
Back in the early 1970s, small-group swing appeared to be dying a slow death. The survivors of the swing era who had continued to make
The finest jazz guitarist of his short lifetime, Eddie Lang was masterful as both a melodic soloist and a sophisticated accompanist, whether playing bluesy single-note
Always very industrious, Irving Mills was not only Duke Ellington’s manager (also managing Cab Calloway, Fletcher Henderson and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band), a music
(Jazz Classic of the Month) Art Tatum was amazing. Arguably the greatest musician to ever perform jazz, Tatum could play piano with blinding speed and
Marty Elkins is a delightful swing singer who deserves to be better-known. She worked with pianist Dave McKenna when she was attending college in Boston
Carl Sonny Leyland is well known in the U.S. as a powerful blues, boogie-woogie, and stride pianist as well as being a fine blues singer.
While Queens is not thought of as one of the centers of jazz, quite a large number of jazz artists have lived in the New
Neville Dickie, one of the top stride and boogie-woogie pianists of the past 50 years, has led at least 28 albums since 1966, having a
The Bunk Johnson Story would make for a fascinating movie. Born around 1889 (he claimed it was 1879 so he could say that he had
British bandleader-trombonist Chris Barber was very fortunate to have two great clarinetists in his band for extended periods: Monty Sunshine (1953-60) and Ian Wheeler (1961-68).
Trumpeter Ken Colyer (1928-88) always fought for what he believed in. From the start, he loved ensemble-oriented New Orleans jazz, and he never really veered
It has always seemed a bit improbable that Catherine Russell, the vibrant and exciting swing singer, is the daughter of Luis Russell, the leader of
Imagine visiting a friend who owns a huge 78 collection, and enjoying an evening discussing music and life with him while your friend pulls out
Pete Allen, who plays most of the reeds but is best known as a clarinetist, first recorded with his brother banjoist Bernie Allen’s group in
Joe Licari has been a top clarinetist for over 60 years although widespread fame seems to have eluded him. How many musicians still on the
Since he burst upon the national jazz scene in the mid-1970s, tenor-saxophonist Scott Hamilton has been remarkably consistent. A world-class player from the start, he
With the popularity of Dixieland throughout the 1950s, there were occasional attempts to “update” the music and place the repertoire in a different setting. A
Vic Lewis (1919-2009) had his life changed when he first heard the music of Stan Kenton. From then on, he led modern jazz bands in
Johnny Guarnieri Plays Harry Warren is a single CD that has been reissued as a companion to the wonderful Guarnieri biography, Superstride by Derek Coller
Big Bill Bissonnette (1937-2018) made a major contribution to New Orleans revival jazz. In addition to being a fine trombonist most inspired by his idol
She had a small voice that could not compare to that of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. She never scatted and her improvising tended to
V-Discs (short for “Victory Discs”) hold a unique place in music history. During 1943-49, special recording sessions were held to produce 78s that were specifically
Trumpeter Frankie Newton (1906-54) receives career spanning treatment in his own three-CD set from the Acrobat label which has excellent liner notes by Paul Watts.
He was Great Britain’s first major jazz star. Trumpeter-singer Nat Gonella (1908-98) could be thought of as the British Louis Armstrong since Satch was his