Chris Barber (1930-2021) had a very long, productive and influential career. After brief periods playing the violin, cornet and clarinet, he settled on the trombone
Adolphus Anthony “Doc” Cheatham (1905-97) had a rather unusual career. Although inspired early on by King Oliver and Louis Armstrong, the technically skilled Cheatham spent
In the early 1950s, Bob Wilber (1928-2019) was having a musical identity crisis. He had been a protégé of the masterful Sidney Bechet during 1946-48
When one thinks of the top swing era bandleaders, the names of Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, and Harry James
It would be impossible to put together a documentary on the brilliant cornetist Bix Beiderbecke today without relying exclusively on third-hand accounts. Since Bix passed
Omer Simeon was born July 21, 1902, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Though born in the Crescent City, Simeon ironically did not start to play clarinet
Ever since he began recording as a leader in 1988, tenor-saxophonist Harry Allen has been both prolific and very consistent. His high-quality tenor playing, while
The New Orleans Jazz Museum, from January 30, 2020, through September 1, 2021, hosted a joint exhibition featuring the paintings of Noel Rockmore and his
When it comes to big bands of the 1924-34 period, Fletcher Henderson’s was difficult to beat, particularly if one does not include Duke Ellington. Henderson
A fine alto-saxophonist and arranger who was a member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra during 1937-41, Hal McIntyre (1914-59) started his own big band in
During 1938-45, Linda Keene (1911-81) sang with Glenn Miller, the Bobby Hackett Orchestra, Jack Teagarden’s big band, Red Norvo, Muggsy Spanier, Lennie Hayton, Charlie Barnet,
The violin was part of some of the earliest jazz bands in New Orleans but it was not taken seriously as a solo instrument in
Jonathan Stout has long been an important figure in the swing and swing dance community. An excellent guitarist whose style ranges from Carl Kress and
La Suite Wilson is an octet of superior swing players from France that consists of trumpeter Michel Bonnet, tenor-saxophonist Nicolas Montler, Matthieu Vernhes on alto
Veteran cornetist Ed Polcer, who is now 85, has been a talented soloist since the 1960s when he joined Benny Goodman’s small group. He managed
The COVID pandemic, while robbing musicians of the opportunity to play gigs and to even practice together, did result in some new projects being born.
Erroll Garner had such a unique style on the piano that it used to be very difficult for other pianists (which included George Shearing and
Jazz Classic of the Month: In the 1950s and ‘60s, most Dixieland bands enlisted one of their instrumentalists to also sing some numbers. Many were
Swing singer Maxine Sullivan and stride pianist Cliff Jackson may not have been the most logical matchup, but it was a marriage that worked. Both
In 1966, the Barroom Buzzards of Buffalo, New York, first came together as a Dixieland quartet comprised of banjoist Phil Santa Maria, clarinetist Paul Preston
He was one of the first jazz greats to emerge from New Orleans and become a national star, debuting on record on July 30, 1923,
