March 2020

On the Cover

Features and News

Shirt Tail Stompers

The Shirt Tail Stompers Celebrate Ten Years

Looked at one way, Shirt Tail Stompers are a “London-based jazz and swing band” (so says their website). Looked at another way, they’re better described

Glenn Miller Band

Recalling Bandleaders from the Big Band Era

From the dusty recesses of my jazz history archives, I recently came across a slim 32-page pamphlet published in 1942 entitled “America’s Band Leaders” by

Jason Marsalis

YouTube for Jazz Lovers

In a recent review of the Suncoast JazzFest I noted how much I enjoyed Jason Marsalis covering the Benny Goodman Quartet’s version of “Moonglow”. You

Chief Jolly marches

A History of New Orleans Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras dates back thousands of years to pagan celebrations of spring and fertility, such as the raucous Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Lupercalia. When

Columns

Matt Tolentino Mark Lenz Photo
Jazz Travels
Bill Hoffman

A Visit with Matt Tolentino

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

Cab Calloway
Profiles In Jazz
Scott Yanow

Cab Calloway: Profiles in Jazz

He has been gone for 25 years but everyone still knows who Cab Calloway was. The “Hi-De-Ho Man,” the singer of “Minnie The Moocher,” an

DIECKMAN 2016
Blowing Off The Dust
Larry Melton

Sedalia’s Ragtime Art Gallery

As I was contemplating a column for this month, I came across a Facebook posting that inspired this article. It was a recent photo in

Snow Street Music
Humor
Steve Provizer

Jazz Reality TV Shows

We in the jazz musical world are tired of being ignored by the media moguls who feed the bottomless American appetite for reality TV. Ever

Ben Selvin
Jazz Birthday
David Eric Selvin

Ben Selvin

Benjamin Bernard Selvin was born March 5, 1898, in New York. He began playing violin before age seven and studied to be a concert violinist.

Nicki Parrott
Jazz Jottings
Lew Shaw

Jazz Jottings March 2020

One of my favorite songs is “Once in a While.” Or should I say that two of my favorite songs are “Once in a While”

Joe-Franklin
Static From My Attic
Andy Senior

Confessions of a Fauxstalgia Bro

I wasn’t going to write the column I’m about to write. It’s going to cause me more of the trouble I’ve lately been experiencing, but

Banta at Edison c.1899
Recording Pioneers
R.S. Baker

The Original Frank Banta

Record collectors may be familiar with the name Frank Banta—a name usually associated with hot novelty and jazz piano of the 1920s, and rightfully so.

The Joy of Sax
The Professor Is IN
Adrian Cunningham

The Professor in Bed

Okay folks, let’s talk about sex. We may as well do so…it’s on our minds all the time anyway (just ask Freud). Most of us

Reviews

The Syncopated Bookshelf

Off the Beaten Tracks

Stompin Lickers Barely Covered

Barely Covered by The Stompin’ Lickers

Have you noticed Hollywood counts on European actors when they need a pitch perfect American accent? Christiane Beinl, who leads Vienna’s Stompin’ Lickers hones in

Nights at the Turntable

Richmond Rarities

Richmond Rarities

The Jazz Oracle label, which was recently purchased by Upbeat, has a very valuable catalog of 1920s jazz that fortunately Upbeat is making widely available.

Swingsations still swingin

The Swingsations are Still Swingin’

The Swingsations, a quintet based in Southern California, was founded in 1995 by its leader trumpeter-singer Jim Ziegler. The group originally consisted of Ziegler, Phil

86 years of Eubie Blake

The Eighty-Six Years Of Eubie Blake

Eubie Blake had such a unique career that he fits into his own musical category. A near-contemporary of Scott Joplin, Blake was a ragtime composer

The Final Chorus

Table of Contents

Tatiana Eva-Marie March 2020Features

Tatiana Eva-Marie’s Romantic Ambitions, by Joe Bebco

“Crazy Blues” Points the Way—to the “Race Records” Market, by Roger K. Smith

Recalling those Bandleaders from the Big Band Era, by Lew Shaw

Tuba Skinny Joins a Dutch Circus, by Robin Rapuzzi

Riding on the Shirt Tails of the Jazz Megastars, by Dave Doyle

Jazz Reality TV Shows We’d Really Like to See, by Stephen Provizer

Why Don’t You Do Right, Like Those Other Dancers Do?, by Dave Doyle

The Charles N. Huggins Online Jazz Archive, by Hal Smith

Bob Darch Centennial Concert to Be Held March 27, by Larry Melton

Columns

Jazz Birthday of the Month: Ben Selvin, art by Joe Busam; bio by David Selvin

Static from my Attic, by Andy Senior

Final Chorus, compiled by Joe Bebco

Jazz Jottings, by Lew Shaw

Jazz Travels: A Visit with Matt Tolentino, by Bill Hoffman

The Professor is IN: The Professor in Bed, by Adrian Cunningham

Dick Oxtot’s Golden Age Jazz Band, by Dave Radlauer

The Original Frank Banta, by R.S. Baker

Quarter Notes: Portraying Musicians, by Shelly Gallichio

Festival Roundup

Profiles in Jazz: Cab Calloway, by Scott Yanow

Blowing off the Dust: Sedalia’s Ragtime Art Gallery, by Larry Melton

Reviews

CD Review: Muggsy Spanier: Rare and Unissued Recordings, by Bert Thompson

Nights at the Turntable, CD reviews by Scott Yanow

Off the Beaten Tracks, CD reviews by Joe Bebco

YouTube for Jazz Lovers, by Frank Farbenbloom

The Syncopated Bookshelf

Adrian Rollini, review by Stephen Provizer

A&R Pioneers, review by Stephen Provizer

Rex Stewart, review by Stephen Provizer

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