Features

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.

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

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

(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

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

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

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,

After Bruce Boyd Raeburn moved to New Orleans in 1971 to work on his doctoral dissertation in United States Cultural History at Tulane University, he

Italian-Americans were instrumental in the creation of jazz: Nick LaRocca. Leon Roppolo. Joe Venuti. Louis Prima. When he was born, Eddie Lang was named Salvatore

You may have met Dick Rippey selling CDs at numerous Midwest jazz festivals. Perhaps you own several favorite CDs on the Triangle Jazz label, such

In the St. Louis region, Dennis Owsley has been the source of jazz programming on the local NPR station KWMU since 1983. His Jazz Unlimited

What is it that T.S. Monk would like you to know about his famous father on the 100th anniversary of the elder Monk’s birth (October

No, the title “Jazz Bugs” doesn’t refer to a new jazz band but I wouldn’t be surprised. I use it in reference to being “bitten”

Jazz from before WW2 is experiencing a resurgence with a growing audience base. Because jazz education programs at the high school and collegiate level rarely

Early this year, veteran reedwoman Sarah Spencer relocated permanently to her native England after nearly two decades in the United States. Over the past several

In 2011, Attorney Herb Ely had the vision of opening an inclusive jazz venue in the heart of Phoenix, Arizona that would give budding jazz

I was languishing in my Tokyo hotel room with three days off, eight weeks into a thirteen week Far East tour, too lazy to practice,

The Scene of the crime? The new tenant had only recently taken up residence at 43-30 46th Street in the Borough of Queens, New York.

Evergreen, Colorado, is about 1400 miles from New Orleans. But from July 28th through the 30th, the scenic mountain community will again become “Bourbon Street

The Man from Circleville The man the public came to know as Ted Lewis was born Theodore Leopold Friedman on June 6, 1890 in Circleville,

Larry “Link” Linkin’s name may not be all that familiar to most jazz fans, but this master clarinetist and retired president of the trade organization

Introducing the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra Co-directors Carol and Jeff Loehr have added a special, one-night-only performance of the famed Tommy Dorsey Orchestra led by Terry

When we all come to that moment of truth when we have to dispose of our cherished record collections, the question arises: What is the