This album could have fell through the cracks. On first glance at the attractive album art by Stephen Lack, it looks like many albums I receive from artists who play outside of the genre areas of The Syncopated Times. While Abe Pollack’s name did ring a bell I still wonder

If a poll were taken of jazz pianists, other instrumentalists, critics, and knowledgeable fans that asked who was the most remarkable jazz musician of all time, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker and John Coltrane would be near the top, but I would be willing to wager that Art Tatum would win.

Hal Smith, the drummer, author, producer, and current elder statesman of trad jazz is due for a column highlighting his amazing series of albums focused on the style of an individual West Coast Revival band. He is including in these groups many musicians too young to have enjoyed these bands

Reviewing these three albums is the first time I’ve had the chance to really listen to the Brian Holland/Danny Coots combo. I’ve put their names online a thousand times for our festival roundup and seen a few YouTube videos, but because I don’t make it to many festivals and they

Children’s music is trash, isn’t it? Take “Baby Shark,” or that Colomelon dross, or anything released by the cringeworthy cover factory Kidz Bop—it’s all a steaming pile of hot commercial garbage that brings youngsters closer to neither great music nor clever songwriting. It wasn’t always this way, though: anyone who

Paying tribute to a jazz instrumentalist can be a tricky proposition, particularly if one plays the same instrument. A balance has to be found between emulating the artist and adding something new to the music. Earlier, altoist Owen Broder on Front And Center had paid homage to the great Johnny

Some records you really can judge by their cover. Take the latest release by Jane Scheckter, for instance. There’s a picture of Jane on the front, which is apt because it’s a vocal jazz album and you’ll hear a lot of her. Pianist Ted Firth, bassist Jay Leonhart and drummer

In these days of diminishing audiences and venues, it takes a brave soul to start a traditional jazz band, not alone keep an existing band viable. Banjo player Kevin Scott is just such an individual who has done both. For a good number of years he has led the successful

These days we seem to be witnessing the sunset of traditional jazz. The number of traditional jazz clubs and festivals, along with that of their attendees, has been shrinking in recent years. In similar fashion, as demand has declined the output of CDs has diminished; in turn, so has the

Noelle Goforth has a beautiful voice and a love for swing standards. On her CD ’Deed I Do, she performs a dozen of her favorite songs. She is joined by a top-notch jazz quartet (with pianist David Mesquitic having a prominent role) and, on various numbers, the excellent trumpeter Curtis