
Syncopated Times Back to School Drive
Times are tough for school music programs, and for print publications. Here’s an idea that can help with both. Now you can buy a half
Times are tough for school music programs, and for print publications. Here’s an idea that can help with both. Now you can buy a half
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance offers us one of American film’s great moments. U.S. Senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) has gained his position of
Soon we’ll come to the end of life’s journey,And perhaps we’ll never meet anymore;Till we gather in Heaven’s bright city,Far away on that beautiful shore.
Pioneering Lindy Hopper and jazz dancer Norma Miller, known as “the Queen of Swing” to modern Lindy Hoppers, passed away May 5, 2019 from degenerative
Red Allen, Tommy Ladnier, Baby and Johnny Dodds, Pops Foster and many others giged with bandleader Fate Marable, who ran the bands for the Streckfus
One of the wonderful things about jazz music is the enormous back catalogue of B-sides and rarities waiting to be rediscovered, even by long-time fans
We just returned from a great weekend, April 12 to 14, at the 46th Three Rivers Jazz Affair. The festival had a sorrowful start, though.
British politicians are the bad jazz musicians of Europe. Smugly self-absorbed, they honk tone-deaf, repetitive solos out all time and tune with their confused, Continental
Teddy Wilson (November 24, 1912 – July 31, 1986) was one of the most consequential figures in jazz right when jazz was making its greatest
One of New Orleans’ most unabashedly entertaining jazz combos—the Dukes of Dixieland—started out in the late 1940s strictly as a family affair featuring brothers Frank
On Saturday evening, April 6, 2019, an enthusiastic crowd of nearly 200 welcomed organist Tony Thomas to Pittsburgh for a highly anticipated screening of Buster
Realizing that they had amassed a huge collection of important artifacts of the jazz revival, and hoping to ensure their preservation, The San Francisco Traditional
Last spring we ran a story about the plight of jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden’s New Orleans home. At that time the church that owns the
Longtime reader Patrick Scull tells The Syncopated Times that the Holy Crow Jazz Band was the sleeper hit of this year’s Jazz Bash by the
I owe a debt I can never repay to the community of African-American musicians who had settled in the Los Angeles area years ago. They
Jean-Marie Masse was born four hours south of Paris and halfway to the Pyrenees in the small city of Limoges, known around the world for
On the afternoon of February 12th, 1924 at New York City’s Aeolian Hall Paul Whiteman and his Palais Royal Orchestra held a concert billed as
Ronald P. Hutchinson passed away swiftly and unexpectedly from cancer on February 2 in New Jersey, he was 67. He was beloved by many for
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
New One-Act Play by Ifa Bayeza Chronicles the Life of the Tale-telling Trumpeter The American playwright Ifa Bayeza—author of The Ballad of Emmett Till, which
When I interviewed Gerry Mulligan in 1981, he told me that his dream was to have a television show patterned after Lawrence Welk’s. An odd
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
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
In December we announced that a high school trio out of Sacramento was sending two musicians on to The Berklee School of Music. We were
Ehud Asherie has definitely taken a circuitous route to becoming a professional musician. The 39-year-old pianist was born in Israel, lived in Italy for six
Over the past 70 or so years, traditional and swing jazz have been my primary jazz interests, beginning as a young listener in my early
‘Don’t You Feel My Leg!’ Maria Muldaur, the jug-band chanteuse who scored a surprise pop hit with 1973’s “Midnight at the Oasis,” released her 41st
Ted des Plantes is an Ohio based multi-instrumentalist who has been involved with numerous traditional jazz groups in a career spanning 50 years. He has
When given the task of writing about a legend of ragtime, I was instantly struck by how inadequate a few words describing such a life
The Sultans of Swing It’s the Saturday before Halloween at the James Joyce Pub in Santa Barbara, and in the long narrow room with the
Jacksonville’s First Couple of Jazz When a hot horn man who once led the Dukes of Dixieland married a velvety-voiced Southern belle with exceptional musical
In our November 2018 issue, we published an essay, “Record Collecting: Where Do I Begin?” by Terri Bruce. The following is a reader’s response by
The Map In 1932, E. Simms Campbell, considered the first commercially-successful African-American illustrator, created a map of a two-block area of Harlem between Lenox Avenue
One of the things that interests and intrigues me most as I have interviewed and written about more than 100 musicians in the past decade
Johnny Maddox, one of the most recognizable personalities in ragtime history died Tuesday, November 27th, he was 91. He planted the seeds of a ragtime
November 11, 2018 was the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice, which ended World War I and marked a turning point after which
In Search of an American Music Antonín Dvořák spent three critical years in America residing in New York City, (with summers in a rural Czech enclave
Campaign songs became increasingly important with the rise of sheet music from about 1840. The recording era made them even more accessible to the people.
Collegetown Chronicles When your repertoire boasts more than 1,000 tunes, you never know what you’re going to play next. “That’s kind of true,” says Ithaca,
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly About seventy years ago when I was a young teen and a precocious collector of jazz, my mom
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem, New York and spanned the 1920s into the mid-1930s. It
I’m standing in my favorite flea-markety antiques store panicking a little as I stare at milk crates filled with used records. My husband and I
Dan Barrett shares some of his experiences in playing with legendary trombonist Spiegle Willcox (1903-99) and gives insight as to the interplay among musicians while
For some time now, I have been gathering material on “Ragtime” Bob Darch in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of his birth in 2020. I
A Young Jazz Fan in the French Quarter Ask anyone what street comes to mind when they think of Dixieland jazz and the response, usually,
An Enlightened Jazz Era The Berkshires of Western Massachusetts with its historic landmarks, museums, and performing arts venues have long been a vacation mecca for
Don Suhor spent all but two of his 55 years as a jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist in his native New Orleans, playing Dixieland and
Hot Jazz Catches On, Again As promised when we left Europe back in August (See: Grand European Tour) we’ve returned to catch up with the UK.
Peter Bullis, 85, on September 4th, one day shy of his 86th birthday. He was banjoist and manager of the New Black Eagle Jazz Band, having
Our Lady Jerry Wexler dubbed her “Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrows”: the depth of her sound and ability to connect us to something primal owes
(What you sow, so shall you reap) While still a high school tuba player I discovered that I could play along with Elvis Presley records
Avant-garde trumpeter Ted Daniel had been blowing jazz licks for more than a half-century when he experienced an unexpected epiphany while touring Europe in 2009.
For more than four decades former Stan Kenton lead-trumpeter Mike Vax has traveled the United States and overseas preaching and playing the Jazz Gospel. So
For what, and by whom, you may ask, is Irving Berlin owed an apology? Glad you asked. In the immortal but likely apocryphal words of
“Dancing is poetry with arms and legs.” (Charles Baudelaire) “I can’t feel my legs…” (Ross Konikoff) A few weeks ago I was in a pretty
The Syncopated Times intended to run a review of the Scott Joplin Memorial Concert, held every year at his graveside in St. Michael’s Cemetery, Queens.
Circus Culture is alive and well. Young creatives have taken to learning the trades of the sideshow as well as the entertainments of the center ring. Acrobats
This is a special year for Denver’s Queen City Jazz Band. It’s their diamond anniversary, which means they have been entertaining jazz fans for the
While mourning the loss of leader Tony Pringle, the band plays on Cornetist Tony Pringle always told his bandmates in the New Black Eagle Jazz
Tony Pringle was a founding member, cornetist, vocalist, and musical leader of the Boston-based New Black Eagle Jazz Band. Originally from Liverpool, England, he was
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