Jazz Travels

On the first weekend in November I attended the Arizona Classic Jazz Festival at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Chandler. This hotel has been greatly

After a year’s hiatus due to the pandemic, the 12th annual Central Pennsylvania Ragtime and American Music Festival returned to Orbisonia and Rockhill, PA on

This is not an article I expected to write, but given that the events I’m relating occur on a regular or seasonal basis, I felt

The 50th anniversary Bix Beiderbecke jazz festival in Bix’s hometown of Davenport, Iowa, got underway in its usual fashion on Thursday afternoon, August 5, with

I spent most of this summer in western New York instead of at my usual place, Potsdam in the St. Lawrence River valley, since my

Although pianist Domingo Mancuello (pronounced Man-KWAY-o) lives only three miles from me (but not for long—see below), I did not meet him here in Lancaster.

Like many of you since the onset of COVID, I’ve been itching to be able to attend live music events and festivals. There just haven’t

Charlotte Dickison retired as director of the Olympia Jazz Festival after the 2019 edition. She made many friends from all over the US and Canada

Suncoast Jazz Festival director Joan Dragon has had a long and varied worklife, in and outside the music world. Having never attended this festival, I

The renowned French quartet Paris Washboard made a brief trip across the pond in February to play four concerts in my neck of the woods.

At the West Coast Ragtime Festival in November I sat down for about half an hour for a wide-ranging conversation with multi-instrumentalist Matt Tolentino, who

Combined with my trip to the West Coast Ragtime Festival as reported last month, I attended for the second time the San Diego Jazz Fest

Sometimes too much of a good thing is, well, too much. Such is the case with the West Coast Ragtime Festival, which I attended for

The eleventh annual Central Pennsylvania Ragtime & American Music Festival took place on September 20-22 in Orbisonia and Mount Union. There was a slight change

What are you—yes YOU—doing to keep traditional jazz alive? That was the recurring theme of my recent conversation with Vince Giordano, leader of the Nighthawks,

The 48th annual Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival occurred from July 31 through August 3 at the perennially over-air conditioned Rhythm City Casino in Davenport,

The Thursday afternoon concert featured new pieces by contemporary composers such as Vincent Johnson, Marty Mincer, John Reed-Torres, and Martin Spitznagel, the latter two playing their own works. This added a welcome variety

This event with a hopelessly long but descriptive name occurs annually on Memorial Day weekend on the beautiful University of Mississippi campus in Oxford. This

In late April I spent a week in New York, volunteering at the NY Hot Jazz Camp as I have done every year since its

The word “unique” is often misused, perhaps most frequently when someone describes something as “rather unique.” It’s either unique—one of a kind—or it isn’t. But

Over Thanksgiving weekend I attended the San Diego Jazz Festival for the first, and hopefully not last, time. The 39th annual installment organized by America’s

Jeff (Barnhart) and Joel (Schiavone)’s House Party started small nine years ago, but has outgrown several venues as its reputation has spread. At first it

The sixth annual New York Hot Jazz Festival, held Sunday, September 30, at the McKittrick Hotel on West 27th Street in the Chelsea section of

The tenth annual Central Pennsylvania Ragtime and American Music Festival convened on September 21-23 at its now regular location, Orbisonia and Rockhill Furnace. I know—that’s

The 47th annual Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival in Davenport, Iowa, got off to a rousing unofficial start on Thursday, August 2, with a free

The venerable Montauk Club, a mansion overlooking Prospect Park in Brooklyn, was the site of the CD release party for Glenn Crytzer’s Ain’t It Grand?

The 3rd annual New York Hot Jazz Camp, which took place during the first week in April, culminated in the Gotham Jazz Festival from noon

In the past two months or so I attended release parties in Manhattan for two CDs that have already been reviewed in TST: The Unheard

Andrew Greene of the Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra talks about leading a ragtime ensemble, the importance of the Maddox Collection, accompanying silent cinema, and more.

January 16 marked the 80th anniversary of Benny Goodman’s historic Carnegie Hall concert. The event was commemorated at two New Jersey locations ten days and

The New York Hot Jazz Fest Stage is a small part of Winter JazzFest, an eight-day event of—as its organizers claim—“communal celebration, open discourse, and

Last March I reported on the Chicken Fat Ball, an annual early January event in Maplewood, NJ. This year’s installment was held on January 7,

Since this is a nationwide newspaper, I normally don’t report on local jazz events unless it’s to draw your attention to a noteworthy individual or

In late October I finished a bicycle trip in New Orleans, where I had allotted two days to indulge my other passion, traditional jazz. I

Davenport The Bix Beiderbecke Museum and Archive opened officially on August 3, the first day of the 46th annual Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival. It

I first encountered 15-year-old pianist Daniel Souvigny at last year’s Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, MO. I saw him again a few months later

Since this is a newspaper of national, indeed worldwide, circulation, I normally do not report on single-day events that readers who live beyond a several-hour

February 26, 2017 is widely, though not universally, recognized as the 100th anniversary of the first recorded jazz. The day was commemorated with many concerts

The 54th Chicken Fat Ball took place on Sunday, January 8 at the former Women’s Club in Maplewood, NJ, a well-to-do suburb about 20 miles

Like the Central Pennsylvania Ragtime and American Music Festival that I reported on last month, Jeff and Joel’s House Party is a small event in

I write this report with some trepidation, hoping that it will not spoil a good thing. The Central Pennsylvania Ragtime and American Music Festival has

I’ve attended the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival in Davenport, Iowa five times, starting in 2001. This year’s installment was perhaps the best ever—top-notch bands

I had heard good things about America’s Classic Jazz Festival in Lacey, WA, but living on the other side of the country, I had never

Sometimes too much of a good thing is, well, too much. That was the case at this year’s Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri.

The first-ever New York Hot Jazz Camp is now in the books. It was conceived, organized, and overseen by my good friends Molly Ryan and