Reporting on Dick Hyman’s multi-faceted career is like inscribing a poem on a pinhead. His autobiography is, in effect, “published” in many audio, video, print
One of the few women-only college level jazz programs is coming to an end. The jazz program at Spelman College, a historically black institution for
At the time of his passing, in 2000, Milt “The Judge” Hinton was considered by both fans and fellow musicians the Dean of Jazz bassists.
In these times of heated partisanship this paper tries to be an oasis of unity around a shared musical interest. It’s with some hesitation I even
The year was 1887. Buddy Bolden moved into a shotgun double, that signature New Orleans residence, he was ten years old. Located at 2309 First
“On the avenue, Fifth Avenue, the photographers will snap us…” So wrote Irving Berlin in “Easter Parade,” back in 1933, and they sure did this
When I came to be associated with this paper I brought with me an assumption that my obsession with vinyl records and 78s would be
I was twenty-two years old, on my first trip to Europe with a now-legendary band called the Sunset Music Company. People often ask me for
With the continual announcements regarding jazz societies and festivals shutting down, it would appear that the good ship TradJazz is sailing in turbulent waters. But
Located just off of Interstate 5 in Carlsbad, California, 30 miles north of San Diego, the Museum of Making Music describes itself as the only
Joe Bebco’s article (“What Is To Be Done?” March 2018) resonated strongly with me. As someone whose deepest sense of jazz’s immediacy and importance was
I was introduced to song stylist Wesla Whitfield at one of her numerous appearances at the Plush Room, a popular San Francisco cabaret, and immediately
Olivier Lancelot, an exceptional French pianist and a master of the “stride” piano style, died unexpectedly in a motor scooter accident in Paris on January
As news of festival closings came in a steady drip through December and January I found myself repeatedly assuring people that the sky was not
Dick Ames fell in love with jazz when it was America’s popular music in the 1930s, went on to play cornet with a college dance
During the original heyday of ragtime music in the very late 1800s and the very early 1900s, banjos were in common use in minstrel shows
Marlene VerPlanck, one of the best-known interpreters of the American Popular Songbook died Sunday, January 14, 2018, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital after a brief illness.
Benny Goodman’s jazz concert at Carnegie Hall on January 16, 1938, was the first jazz concert to be held there. It was historic in a
Writing in his The Age of Roosevelt three-volume series, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. referred to the Depression days of the early 1930s as
New Jersey Jazz Society starts 2018 in style with Big Apple all-stars They’ll be jumpin’ for joy in Jersey in January when a seven of
Guitarist and fellow-Mississippian Mundell Lowe died on December 2nd, 2017 at age 95. My encounters with Mundell were brief but meaningful and I’d like to
Mere days after the announcement of the permanent cancellation of America’s Classic Jazz Festival in Lacey, Washington [Editors note: It made a comeback in 2019],
Wynton Marsalis thinks he’s on the right track at Lincoln Center. The talented New Orleans jazz trumpeter initiated a jazz program at Lincoln Center for
The Cakewalkin’ Jass Band pack Tony Packo’s in Toledo, Ohio, for their 50th anniversary celebration. From left: Russ Damschroeder, trombone; Dave Kosmyna, cornet; Buddy Lopez,
