Matthew de Lacey Davidson: ‘Success Is to Be Measured’
Jeff Barnhart
February 28, 2024
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Hal Smith: Well, Brother Kevin…It seems like forever since we “talked shop” for an article in The Syncopated Times. Before another year slips away, what do you say we talk about one of our favorite drummers; someone who is consistently overlooked, but deserves to be much better known? That would
YouTube is just full of surprises, isn’t it? For instance, today I learned that there’s a channel called Electro Swing Thing, which recently uploaded a compilation video called “Electro Swing Mix – Best of 2023.” This surprised me, as I was under the impression that electro swing—that fist-pumping cocktail of
During the Swing era, bandleaders had a variety of different opinions about the importance of employing a female singer. Some, such as Artie Shaw, considered most of his vocalists to be a necessary evil, a bit of window dressing that was needed to help make his band more accessible to
Traditional jazz and ragtime are back in St. Louis these days and as vibrant and joyful as in the days when the Goldenrod Showboat graced the levee. New venues are opening, and new audiences are seeking out the music. I’ve been watching and celebrating these developments via the local media
Jeff Barnhart: Welcome back, dear readers. This month we’re continuing our discussion of a unique traditional jazz group that had its heyday in the 1960s in California, the El Dorado Jazz Band! Hal, at the end of last month’s column, you indicated there was about to be a personnel change.
Multi-keyboardist Dick Hyman, born March 8, 1927, will turn 97 years old this month. With a prolific career behind him he’s no longer performing publicly, but it’s important now to highlight his broadly diverse accomplishments in jazz music in all idioms. From his younger days as a professional musician working
From the 1920s to the 1940s my great uncle Harry Berman had a multifaceted career as a performer on stage, screen, records, and radio. His professional name was Bobby Burns Berman, but he was also known as B.B.B. or simply Bobby. B.B.B. started out on the Keith-Orpheum Vaudeville circuit before
The “Roaring Twenties” were off to a rousing start by late 1920. Musically, if not in other ways as well, the contributions of African Americans were already defining it. Mamie Smith recorded “Crazy Blues” and immediately after its release sold hundreds of thousands of copies launching the “race record” market
When we hit New Orleans this past January it was 32 degrees and very windy! The Mississippi encourages bitter winds through the Quarter and creates a somewhat miserable environment. But step inside any music venue and the notes and vocals keep you warm as toast! The block and a half
On a rainy Friday, December 1, I made my second trip to the Big Apple in just under two months. My main purpose was to see Bria Skonberg’s quartet at Birdland, where she was in the midst of a four-night residency. To make the most of the trip, I explored
In the latter 19th century, a few daring publishers decided to try and combine their hustling status with the phonograph. In the 1890s it was still a very far fetched idea to combine these two aspects. In 1897 Russell Hunting and a few other prominent recording artists teamed up to
In previous columns I’ve shared stories regarding the people who paved the path I’ve traveled to become, musically—and sometimes so much more, who I am today. From my piano teacher Jay Hickerson to banjoist/vocalist Bob Price to the entire Galvanized Jazz Band, mentors kept appearing at exactly the right time
There was a knock at the door and when I answered the fellow introduced himself as David Reffkin (not to be confused with Joshua Rifkin and not related). David was interested in the upcoming ragtime festival and had arrived four days early to help. So, after a get acquainted conversation
This week I felt it entirely necessary to buy myself a huge computer monitor—though not the largest one that was available. As my eyesight sinks slowly in the West (floaters not withstanding), I could no longer endure my twenty-two inch screen. My new one is twenty-seven inches, and just about
Said What? It was at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival while we were preparing to start our first gig, when I was approached by the trumpet player from the Australian band which had just finished their set. A very talkative, congenial chap, he kept referring to the time we had played
Jimmy McPartland was born on March 15, 1907, in Chicago. Jimmy played violin as a child, and at 15 switched permanently to the cornet. In the early 1920s, he met a group of fellow jazz enthusiasts who became known as the Austin High Gang. They were inspired by the ODJB,
James P. Johnson is another gifted performer/composer whose music bridged the span between ragtime and jazz and he was an early innovator of Harlem stride. Johnson was born in New Jersey and grew up in New York City where heard original ragtime played and was fascinated by the music. After
The music of Brian Patrick Keenan—introspective, melodic, and texturally firmly-built—has always appealed to me. His 2003 piano piece Heartland is a tango in simple ternary form in the luminous key of D major. When listening to Heartland, I can’t help but recall pieces by Scott Kirby and George Winston which
42nd annual JAZZ BASH BY THE BAY (Monterey, CA) March 1-3, 2024 The 42nd annual Jazz Bash By the Bay Monterey takes place March 3-5, 2023, in the beautiful Conference Center and Portola Hotel & Spa with eight venues. Invited bands for 2024 include: Blue Stree, Brass Nickels, Bye Bye
Wham Re-Bop-Boom-Bam: The Swing Jazz of Eddie Durham premiered February 1st on many public television stations nationwide. The 60-minute documentary has been receiving considerable praise from the jazz community for its helping to unearth the legendary accomplishments of an often-unheralded pioneer of jazz. Hailed as a “delight” in a recent
Many TST readers, like me, are of an age that we can recall Pearl Harbor, the camps at Auschwitz, and the atrocities of the Japanese soldiers in Burma and the Pacific. We also remember the wonderful music of the time—Benny, the Dorsey brothers, Artie Shaw and more. Today, two generations
Within Dick Hyman’s Century of Jazz Piano (Arbors), a five-disc CD set totaling 121 selections, pianist Dick Hyman seeks to demonstrate the development of jazz piano from its pre-ragtime beginnings to its near present (recorded mainly in 1996-7). This includes accurate early styles and techniques (far from primitive) to the
In response to the list of Armstrong’s rivals in Lew Shaw’s column (“Jazz Jottings,” February 2024), I think Jabbo Smith could (and in fact, did) give Louis a run for his money. Ikey Robinson told me that he and Jabbo were high and out on the town and walked into
I have read praise for cornetist and trumpet player Malo Mazurié for years and have enjoyed listening deeply for him in several groups where he was a member. These were groups playing artistic traditional jazz and “Chamber Jazz,” a term sounding much more caged than it should to describe what,
This album got lost in the shuffle, many of my notes date back a full year and I needed to refamiliarize myself with many of them. The only unusual thing about that is I have not let this album slip into the mass of over a hundred that, though more
This album extends outside of our normal range at TST, but I see Tom Rigney’s zydeco band scheduled at nearly every festival and I think an important segment of our readers will enjoy Juliet Varnedoe. This six-track album features a very New Orleans form of entertainment, inflected by zydeco and
It has been a few years since I last reviewed an album of Golden Age jazz. The peak of which in my reckoning being that amazing flowering of hot creativity in the second half of the 1920s. Many factors came into that event. One of them was the introduction of
Although I never thought that I would have the name of Elvis Presley in any of my Syncopated Times reviews, the recent compilation Inspiring Elvis from Upbeat will be of interest. Its 25 selections have been chosen as examples of the type of music that inspired Presley in his early
Few swing era sidemen had as much commercial success in later years as Jonah Jones (1908-2000). A hot trumpeter with Stuff Smith’s combo on 52nd Street in the 1930s and Cab Calloway orchestra and small groups (1941-52), Jones was an exciting player who could create explosive solos as he showed
Jazz Classic of the Month Doc Evans (1907-77) was a reliably hot cornetist who spent much of his life living and playing in Minnesota. He was offered many opportunities to play outside of the Midwest. Evans spent 1947-52 working in Chicago and made his first record dates (Apr. 25-26, 1947)
Pete Allen has been leading bands for 45 years and, although the personnel of his sextet has changed many times, his brand of joyful and freewheeling jazz has stayed consistent. Allen is a very skilled clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist who also plays banjo and takes occasional vocals. Early on
Vol.9, No.3 March 2024
Matthew de Lacey Davidson: “Success Is to Be Measured”, by Jeff Barnhart
The Spirit of Hot Jazz in St. Louis: T.J. Muller’s All Stars, by Larry Melton
Drummers’ Summit: Let’s Talk About Morey Feld, by Hal Smith & Kevin Dorn
Whisper Darkly: A Secretive Jazz-Age Theater Project, by Dave Doyle
97 Years of Jazz: Happy Birthday Dick Hyman!, by Ted des Plantes
Bobby Burns Berman: “Hollywood’s Entertainer of the Stars”, by Adam G. Burlock
“The Harlem Strut”: A “Groundbreaking” Stride Solo, by Scott Brown
Jazz Birthday of the Month: Jimmy McPartland, by illustration by Joe Busam
Static from my Attic, by Andy Senior
Final Chorus, by compiled by Joe Bebco
Jazz Travels: Louis and Bria in NYC, by Bill Hoffman
My Inspirations: My “Dear John” Letter, by Jeff Barnhart
Ragtime Vignettes: Heartland, by Brandon Byrne
Quarter Notes: Cold Winds Outside, Hot Jazz Inside!, by Shelly Gallichio
Helf and Hager Set Up Shop on Tin Pan Alley, by R.S. Baker
Rudiments of Ragtime: Installment 14: James P. Johnson, by Larry Melton
Festival Roundup, compiled by Joe Bebco
Profiles in Jazz: Benny Goodman’s Female Singers 1939-49, by Scott Yanow
Blowing off the Dust: David Reffkin, by Larry Melton
Is It Real or Is It Memorex: The Lost Hook Tapes, by Randi Cee
Ain’t Cha Got Music: El Dorado Jazz Band, Pt.2, by Jeff Barnhart & Hal Smith
It Was a Gas! Weird and Wacky Sidelights of the NGJB, by Phil Crumley
Dick Hyman’s Century of Jazz Piano: An Appreciation, by Ted des Plantes
Nights at the Turntable, CD reviews by Scott Yanow
Off the Beaten Tracks, CD reviews by Joe Bebco
The Music Never Stops: A Report from Israel, by Frank Farbenbloom
