Steve Ross: The King of Cabaret
Brian Sheridan
March 1, 2018
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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
When it comes to creating famous quotes that are destined to be repeated generation after generation, Brian Holland says his father was no Mark Twain.
An overdue update on my project to raise money for Puerto Rico hurricane relief. As you may recall, in addition to a GoFundMe page (thanks
The Greatest Jazz Story Never Told, a new documentary film produced by MCG Jazz in Pittsburgh, features the talents of international Jazz Masters George Benson,
For more than three decades, the Saratoga Jazz Festival has presented some of the best jazz musicians in the world at its gorgeous performance space
The traditional jazz society in Sacramento lives to see another day! It’s just in a different format. The Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society officially went out
In 2012, Gary Church wrote a 135-page book which he titled The Autobiography of a Nobody: The Life and Times of a Sideman. Hardly an
The Dodds Brothers, clarinetist Johnny and drummer Baby, were very important jazz pioneers who made a major impact on jazz of the 1920s. While their
Charles Ellsworth “Pee Wee” Russell was born March 27, 1906, in Maplewood, Missouri. He spent his childhood in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where he variously studied violin,
When I began publishing The Syncopated Times in February 2016, I stated my determination to reach out beyond the arbitrary borders of this country to
After 32 years of service, John Edward Haase has stepped down as Curator of American Music at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and
Jazz is a mysterious art form, full of many eccentricities, not the least of which is that elusive style of singing known as scat singing. Scatting
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
This is The Festival Roundup as printed in our March 2018 issue, the current Roundup can be found in our menu under “Events” JAZZ BASH
Throughout mid-February, I was suitably entertained watching the Winter Olympics. I thoroughly enjoy the amazing feats of skill, endurance, agility and downright courage the athletes
Cortland, not Corning To the Editor: Thank you for the front-page article on Colin Hancock, an amazing young musician and more whom I’m privileged to
Fourteen-year-old piano phenom Joey Alexander brought a brand-new trio to the Corning Museum of Glass Auditorium February 17, drawing a large and enthusiastic crowd.
One of the greatest trumpeters in jazz history and an exciting musical force throughout the 1930s, Bunny Berigan led big bands during 1937-42 and starred
In 1917 the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (comprised of cornetist Nick LaRocca, trombonist Eddie Edwards, clarinetist Larry Shields, pianist Henry Ragas, and drummer Tony Sbarbaro)
Billie Holiday’s recording career can easily be divided into three main parts. Her 1935-42 recordings for Brunswick, Vocalion, and Okeh, both as a leader and
Early jazz collectors who are close to owning all of the significant American and British jazz recordings will find much of interest in the Svensk
The L.A. Swing Barons are all dancers as well as musicians and it shows in the driving sound they capture in their first album, Kansas
Lovers of the weird will beam from the first notes of Book of Rhapsodies Vol. II, the fourth album from the critically acclaimed Ghost Train
I have the pleasure to review this month three albums from a remarkable talent known to many readers of The Syncopated Times; trumpeter and vocalist
The Dirty River Dixie Band was founded in 2014 after two music students at Texas Lutheran University were wowed by a live show of the
VIC DAMONE, 89, on Feb. 11, of respiratory illness at Miami Beach hospital. One of a number of prominent Italian American singers who dominated the
HEINZ JAKOB “Coco” SCHUMANN, 93, on Jan. 28 in Berlin. Born in Berlin to a Jewish mother, by his teenage years he was spending his
HUGH MASEKELA, 78, on Jan. 23, of prostate cancer in South Africa. One of the most important names in African Jazz, he received his first
KENNETH DIEHL, 96, on Jan. 18 in Scottsdale, AZ. A co-founder of the Arizona Classic Jazz Society, he served as the Society’s first President (and
WILLIAM H. (Bill) HUGHES, 87, on Jan. 14, on Staten Island. Born in Dallas, Texas, he later moved with his family to Washington, D.C. and
BILL MOODY, 76, on Jan. 12, at home in Vallejo California. The author of nonfiction books on jazz topics as well as a series of
Vol.3, No.3 March 2018
Steve Ross: The King of Cabaret, by Brian R. Sheridan
What is to be Done?, by Joe Bebco
Olivier Lancelot, Knight of the Ivory Table, Bids Adieu, by Dan Levinson
Wesla Whitfield: “Time to Leave the Room”, by Lew Shaw
Gary Church, Sideman Extraordinaire, Dies at 61, by Lew Shaw
Stake a Claim in the Future of Trad Jazz, by Doug Robinson
Static From My Attic, by Andy Senior
Jazz Birthday of The Month: Pee Wee Russell, Illustration by Gary Price
Jazz Jottings, by Lew Shaw
Blowing off the Dust, By Larry Melton
Jazz Travels, by Bill Hoffman
Profiles in Jazz: The Legacy of Johnny and Baby Dodds, by Scott Yanow
The Festival Roundup, by TST
The Final Chorus, compiled by Joe Bebco
The Professor is IN, by Adrian Cunnigham
The Syncopated Bookshelf:
Jazz Transatlantic: The African Undercurrent in Twentieth-Century Jazz Culture by Gerhard Kubik, reviewed by Joe Bebco
Ralph Peer and the Making of Popular Roots Music by Barry Mazor, reviewed by Joe Bebco
Experiencing Big Band Jazz by Jeff Sultanof, reviewed by Michael Steinman
Album Reviews:
Nights at the Turntable, by Scott Yanow
Off the Beaten Tracks, by Joe Bebco
Concert Review: Joey Alexander, text and photos by John Herr
Stomptime Launches Ragtime Cruise, from a press release
Sacramento Jazz Society Reboots, by Lew Shaw
Puerto Rico Jazz Fundraiser Update, by Joel Albert
Film Celebrates Pittsburgh Jazz, by Lew Shaw
Swingin’ into Saratoga June 23-24, by Russ Tarby
