Crystal Swing Band • Live From The Avalon Ballroom
Back in the 1990s, it was not uncommon for many cities to have their own neighborhood swing orchestra, playing the hits of the big band
Back in the 1990s, it was not uncommon for many cities to have their own neighborhood swing orchestra, playing the hits of the big band
His name may be largely forgotten today, but arranger Ralph Flanagan (1914-95) had no less than 21 hits during the 1949-53 period. Earlier he had
Andy Kirk (1898-1992), who played bass sax and tuba until the mid-1930s when he began to just wave a baton, never soloed, did not write
Arguably the top jazz trumpeter or cornetist on records prior to 1923, Phil Napoleon has somehow managed to miss being prominently included in most jazz
George Girard (1930-57) could have been a big star but his life was tragically cut short by cancer. A technically skilled Dixieland/swing trumpeter with an
Zutty Singleton (1898-1975) was long overdue for a retrospective on CD. During 1924-69, he was on nearly 200 sessions. While most listeners probably think of
504 Records (named after the area code of New Orleans) was founded by Mike Dine in 1979. Dine was a jazz fan from England who
It was a short-term musical partnership but it helped to launch several major careers in the British trad jazz movement. Trombonist Chris Barber (1930-2021) had
Boogie-woogie, which has been said to have originated in Texas in the 1870s, started out as a piano music characterized by an “eight-to-the-bar” left-hand pattern
The group that came to be known as the Secret Six (named after abolitionist John Brown’s Secret Society Of Six from 1859) originated during the
Hadda Brooks (1916-2002), like Nat King Cole, had two careers in one. She began playing piano when she was four and was classically trained. Brooks
A major swing/mainstream cornetist from England, Digby Fairweather has had a busy and productive career since he began recording regularly in the mid-1970s. His style
Ole “Fessor” Lindgreen, who turns 84 this year, is a veteran Danish trombonist and bandleader who has played Dixieland, swing, blues, and rhythm & blues
Mosaic box sets are always highly recommended to lovers of the artist’s music, but unfortunately their impeccable compilations are only in-print for a limited period
James P. Johnson, along with Jelly Roll Morton, was the first significant jazz pianist and a major figure in moving jazz piano beyond ragtime. Johnson
They were one of the most popular Dixieland bands of the 1950s and ’60s, performing and recording their enthusiastic brand of trad jazz for a
The Upbeat label has proven to be the perfect home for the many recordings organized and produced by the late trombonist Big Bill Bissonnette for
A member of one of the greatest jazz vocal groups ever, the Boswell Sisters, Connee Boswell (with one early exception) began recording as a single
Jazz And Swing On Screen is the fifth release on the Upbeat label for the London Swing Orchestra. It was preceded by The Roaring Twenties,
There were quite a few “gaspipe” clarinetists who during the 1920s were popular for a time. Those musicians emphasized odd sounds and novelty effects, whether
Clarinetist George Lewis, trumpeter Kid Howard, and trombonist Jim Robinson made for a potent frontline, one that was featured on some of Lewis’ best-known records.