John Joyce: A Punk Rocker Embraces NOLA Street Jazz
Hunter Burgamy
Freddie Gavita won the 2017 British Jazz Award for Best Trumpeter. He holds the Trumpet seat at Ronnie Scott’s and has featured at the BBC Proms. His album of original compositions, Transient, was released in 2017 and this year he released an album entitled “1959” as part of the Ronnie
This year our annual visit to England covered two very different Jazz events. First was Bude for our fifth year. For four days at the end of August, Bude wasn’t just a seaside town in West Engand—it was the beating heart of British jazz. The Cornish seaside town of Bude
Jeff Barnhart: Hal, we’ve been having great fun listening to the 1945 sides made by trombonist Kid Ory and his marvelous band. I have to think of all of our topics thus far, the subject of Ory in the 1940’s has garnered the most feedback, quite a lot of it international!
Her story reads something like a fairy tale: Young scholar becomes overnight international jazz star. It even includes the element of the unknown singer championed by the dean of the British Jazz Community—Humphrey Lyttelton. She has built a solid career that includes award-winning and hugely successful recordings, sold-out extended engagements
Only one U.S. president came close to becoming a jazz musician. Bill Clinton has often humorously stated that, while playing the tenor-sax as a teenager, he realized that he was never going to be another John Coltrane so he decided to pursue another field. He actually has appeared on a
We all know the blues, a musical genre that includes a 12-bar verse and chorus. While this is true, in the early 20th century, this style of music had a broader definition. Not all blues songs and pieces were required to have a 12-bar verse and chorus, before the 1920s,
Teddy Wilson was born in Austin, Texas, on November 24, 1912. Under his parents’ tutelage, his early music education began at the age six with piano. Then, he studied violin, oboe, and clarinet at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. Wilson moved to Detroit with his brother, musician Gus Wilson.
On September 23, I lost a person very important to me on many levels. Bob Draga’s passing closed a lengthy chapter of my life. Whether or not you ever heard him, you most likely heard of him. He was larger than life as a musician, humorist, and entertainer. A self-professed
Getting ready to spend a few weeks in New Orleans and already craving some oysters! Our go-to place is Acme Oyster House on Iberville near Bourbon and even if we don’t get to many of our other favorite restaurants, we always make room for Acme! Being in the same location
I love comparing the myriad recordings of Scott Joplin’s music, particularly the more comprehensive collections of his work. Thus I am pleased to evaluate Alessandro Simonetto’s newly-completed Scott Joplin cycle. Simonetto is an Italian classically-trained pianist and composer specializing in the music of Erik Satie. His expert command of keyboard
There is a question in Judaism that’s asked once a year: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” It refers to the festival of Passover, which occurs in the spring and commemorates the Jews’ exodus from slavery in Egypt. No need to explain it further here, but that’s
In the midst of the darkening gloom that attends the season, I’ve had the pleasure of attending (or at least listening in on) some marvelous jazz performances this past month—all despite my disinclination to put on hot music at home for my own enjoyment. Most days, I can’t bring myself
Kyla Titus’s 2014 biography, co-authored posthumously in part with her mother Chica Boswell Minnerly, The Boswell Legacy: The Story of the Boswell Sisters of New Orleans and the New Music They Gave to the World, was groundbreaking. Remarkably, prior to its publication, there had never been a truly comprehensive book
AUTUMN EXIT ZERO JAZZ FESTIVAL (Cape May, NJ) – Nov. 7-9 The 2025 Autumn Exit Zero Jazz Festival takes place in Cape May, NJ., November 7-9. International touring artists performing on the Festival Main Stage in Cape May Convention Hall and Cape May outdoor stages, and bars and club venues.
After more than a half-century of performing ragtime and Dixieland jazz, I thought I’d experienced all of the musical high spots. Among other things, I’d played throughout the USA, plus Canada and London; played over 30 cruises, covering Alaska, Hawaii, the Caribbean, the Mexican Riviera and the Mediterranean; received a
JAZZ CLASSIC OF THE MONTH Two of the finest stride pianists to emerge during the mid-to-late 1940s (along with Dick Wellstood and Don Ewell) were Dick Hyman (who could play in nearly any style) and Ralph Sutton. Hyman and Sutton only recorded together a handful of times including the obscure
Harry James (1916-83) was not only a virtuoso trumpeter with his own exciting style but the leader of the most popular big band of 1942-46 (after Glenn Miller broke up his civilian orchestra). In the 1940s, James was the most famous jazz trumpeter other than Louis Armstrong, and he remained
The group Paul and His Gang is best known in the United States for its 1996 Stomp Off recording Take Your Tomorrow. The band was formed by cornetist-vocalist Paul Strandberg in his native Sweden in 1990 specifically to play at a Bix Beiderbecke memorial concert. The ensemble, with some personnel
The High Society New Orleans Jazz Band was founded and is co-led by pianist Conal Fowkes and trumpeter Simon Wettenhall. Long-time musical friends, they were both part of Woody Allen’s band for several decades. Fowkes and Wettenhall have worked with many New York trad groups and recorded with singer Barbara
When Caity Gyorgy won her second JUNO Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year, jealous critics crawled out of their hidey holes to diminish her achievement. Unfazed, the Canadian songstress fired back with a brilliant diss track (“The Bartender,” on 2023 album You’re Alike, You Two) and just went
When it comes to dancing, I don’t get around much any more. I had the option of going out last weekend, but I opted to stay in and watch a movie instead. Honestly, it’s like the lockdown—throughout which I bemoaned the prohibition of public partner dancing and what it was
Discovering a band that resonates with you is like the early days of a love affair, everything after is measured against that spark. You discover them on album A, album B feels like a revelation, and by album C you think maybe the spell has faded—until you meet someone for
The names of the personnel on this CD, with the exception of two, Pete Allen (leader of the Dukes of Wellington band) and Roger Marks (leader of the Armada Jazz Band), did not ring any bells for me, probably because I am not domiciled in the UK; but I’m quite
You’re probably not going to like this set. But I don’t want to underestimate you. To make the critical balancing act worse, I don’t want to oversell you, either. I do this all the time in my house, praising to the skies a movie or a recording that my family
Clarinetist Bob Draga, a beloved mainstay of the traditional jazz festival circuit, passed away on September 23, 2025, on his 78th birthday. Known for his impeccable musicianship, sharp wit, and engaging stage presence, Draga was widely regarded as one of the most entertaining figures in the world of classic jazz.
David W. “Smiley” Wallace Jr., a lifelong champion of ragtime and early jazz in the Kansas City region, died on October 2, 2025. He was 93. Born February 10, 1932, in Joplin, Missouri, Smiley and his wife Helen were introduced to ragtime through “Ragtime Bob” Darch and soon became key figures
On October 5, 2025, jazzman Frank Ward died. Frank was a greatly admired cornetist who was a longtime member of the historic Cakewalkin’ Jass Band. Although not yet a member, Frank was on hand to hear the band’s inaugural performance at the Bonnie Bar on December 8, 1967. He sat
Trombonist and pianist Herb Gardner, a fixture of the New York and New England traditional-jazz scenes for more than six decades, passed away on September 23rd, he was 88. Known for his versatility, intellect, and easy humor, Gardner bridged the worlds of mainstream swing, Dixieland, and classic jazz with equal ease.
Scottish guitarist and banjoist Jim Douglas, one of the most respected figures in British traditional jazz, died in early October 2025 while living in the Philippines with his son, Will Douglas. He was 82. Born Robert James Elliot Douglas on May 13, 1942, in Gifford, East Lothian, he began his
Raymond “Raybo” Boyce, a beloved voice of jazz radio in Central New York for more than three decades, died on September 20, 2025, at age 92. A New Jersey native, Boyce began his broadcasting career in his home state before serving in the U.S. Army, where he met his wife
Vol.10, No.11, November 2025
John Joyce: A Punk Rocker Embraces NOLA Street Jazz, by Hunter Burgamy
“…And Get Your One Last Thrill…” by Tex Wyndham
Bude and Gunton Hall: Contrasting Jazz Festivals, by Frank Farbenbloomns
Stacey Kent: A Career Sparked by Serendipity, by Schaen Fox
A Few Words with Freddie Gavita, by Gavin Milnthorpe
Jazz Birthday of the Month: Teddy Wilson, illustration by Sara Lièvre
Static from My Attic, by Andy Senior
Final Chorus, compiled by Joe Bebco
Jazz Travels: Cat and the Hounds at Birdland, by Bill Hoffman
My Inspirations: Remembering Bob Draga, by Jeff Barnhart
Ragtime Vignettes: Simonetto’s Joplin, Evaluated, by Brandon Byrne
Quarter Notes: An Ode to an Oyster, by Shelly Gallichio
Blues Songs at the Turn of the 20th Century, by R.S. Baker
Profiles in Jazz: A “Mount Rushmore” of Jazz? by Scott Yanow
Ain’t Cha Got Music: Kid Ory on Columbia, by J. Barnhart & H. Smith
Festival Roundup, compiled by Michael Buonaiuto; art by Joe Busam
Jazz Jottings: Bob Draga, 1947–2025, by Lew Shaw
“Smiley” Wallace, Beloved in the Ragtime Community, by Larry Melton
Nights at the Turntable, CD reviews by Scott Yanow
Bert’s Bits and Beats, CD reviews by Bert Thompson
Book Review: The Boswell Legacy, by Neal Siegal
Off the Beaten Tracks, CD reviews by Joe Bebco
Doyle’s Discs, CD reviews by Dave Doyle
CD Review: Pharoah Sanders Complete Theresa Sessions, by B.A. Nilsson