I didn’t have far to travel to write this installment—25 miles to my hometown of York, PA—to interview my friend Bob Erdos. Bob, as many
I’ve been reminded again recently that archival work isn’t all about shuffling old papers and blowing the dust off of old artifacts to conserve them.
It is significant that T.S. Eliot and Scott Joplin lived in St. Louis at the same time. In fact knowing of Eliot’s fascination with English
Robert “Bob” Effros was born December 6, 1900 in London, England. His Russian Jewish parents emigrated shortly afterward from London to Memphis, Tennessee. Raised in
Whether you’re listening to a live band in a club, or kicking back at home with friends listening to a record, it’s very important to
Cheryl Stephens will be remembered by longtime jazz fans as a petite gal with a big voice and a happy disposition who overcame physical adversity
This is The Festival Roundup as printed in our January 2017 issue, the most recent Roundup can be found under “Events” in our menu. NY
A Kind of Immortality There’s something exquisitely ironic about publishing and editing a paper dedicated to joyous and lively syncopated music and not finding the
A Branding Problem? To the Editor: At last months Jazz Festival in San Diego, Jim Ritter of the Buck Creek JB was finishing a wow
Eugene Bertram Krupa was born in Chicago on January 15, 1909, the youngest of Bartley (Bartłomiej) and Anna Oslowski Krupa’s nine children. Though Gene’s parents
Vince Giordano knows his way around a soundstage. The leader of New York City’s Grammy-winning band The Nighthawks lives in Brooklyn, but he’s also right
Elkhart, Indiana has long been the major center in the United States for the manufacture of band instruments. Over the past century, the city has
Bandleader Glenn Crytzer has just produced a compilation CD, That New Old Sound, featuring 17 of the hottest swing and vintage jazz bands working today.
For the past several years, the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society’s Teagarden Youth Trad Jazz Camp has had to turn away applicants, and so we have
On Feb. 26, 1917, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded “Livery Stable Blues” and “Dixie Jass Band One-Step” (soon better known as “Original Dixieland One-Step”).
It is possible to be a jazz expert and still have no idea who Mel B. Kaufman was. Kaufman (1879-1932), a traveling salesman who sold
From Apr. 7, 1945 through Nov. 1945 and again from Apr-Oct. 1946, Duke Ellington and his Orchestra appeared on a weekly series of 55-minute programs
Greg Murphy is a seasoned pianist and composer who has assembled a great team for this, his fourth CD as leader. It’s a mix of
I’ve heard sports fans discussing football “Dream Teams,” a hypothetical assembling of great historical players and coaches, putting together theoretical plays, and games, styles, and
Martin Torgoff—journalist, author and film-maker—has taken a unique point of view in
Canadian guitarist and banjo player Warren Stirtzinger died Dec. 4, 2016, in St. Catharines, Ontario. He was 65 years old. Stirtzinger was a member of
AL CAIOLA, 96, on Nov. 9 in Allendale, N.J. A guitarist, composer and arranger who spanned a variety of music genres, including jazz, country, rock,
WALTER “Hod” O’BRIEN, 80, on Nov. 20 in Lake Monticello, VA following a long battle against cancer. Pianist, composer and bandleader, he studied at the
RICHARD LAGERMAN, 78, on Nov. 26 at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, PA. A broadcaster of classic jazz and pop on radio station WRDV
CHERYL STEPHENS, 69, on Nov. 27 in American Fork, Utah. Originally a county-western singer, she was best known as the vocalist with the Desert City
Vol.2, No.1 January 2017
Bandleader Dan Levinson Celebrates a Century of Jazz on Record, by Andy Senior
St. Louis Ragtimers and the Goldenrod Showboat, by Larry Melton
Rocky Giglio: Band City’s Music Man, by Van D. Young
Postmodern Poetry and Ragtime, by Larry Melton
Jazz Trumpeter Bob Effros, by Barbara Effros
Jazz Birthday of the Month: Gene Krupa, illustration by Gary Price
Shellac That Takes You Back, Andy Senior
Jazz Jottings, by Lew Shaw
An Interview with Bob Erdos of Stomp Off Records, by Bill Hoffman
The Professor’s Guide: How to Listen to Jazz, by Adrian Cunningham
Festival Roundup, compiled by Russ Tarby
Final Chorus, compiled by Lew Shaw
The Syncopated Bookshelf:
Bop Apocalypse: Jazz, Race, the Beats, & Drugs, an interview with the author, F. Norman Vickers
Nights at the Turntable, album reviews by Scott Yanow
John, Paul, George, and Django, CD review by Harvey Barkan
Nighthawks on the Big Screen, movie preview by Russ Tarby
Summer Breeze, CD review by F. Norman Vickers
“A Primordial Romance” (poem), by Andy Senior
Hot Jazz Compilation to Benefit ACLU, by Andy Senior
Teagarden Youth Jazz Camp Adds Second Session, by Bill Dendle