Harry Connick, Jr. Keeps a Promise to his Mom
Brian Sheridan
A group of relatively-young musicians who are devotees of the legendary Bix Beiderbecke and his music have banded together to form a legal entity (Bix House Band LLC) and have purchased the Beiderbecke family home at 1934 Grand Avenue in Davenport, Iowa. Plans are underway to make the necessary repairs
Friday, July 31st, was the second day of the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz festival. But for a select group of musicians in the festival it was a day of wild anticipation. The group had a secondary agenda that day, and that was a real estate closing. Sometime mid-set, the word
Bob Wilber was born in New York City on March 15, 1928. He began performing professionally while still in high school, playing clarinet and saxophone and leading The Wildcats. Bob became a protégé of Sidney Bechet and is a leading exponent of classic jazz on the soprano sax and clarinet.
And a little bit of wailing too! What a fantastic Labor Day weekend celebration at the 11th Annual Hot Jazz Jubilee in Sacramento—great bands, venues, audiences and guest musicians with dozens of volunteers and attentive sponsors! The Thursday jam session is not scheduled on the program but depends on which
Helen Humes and Big Joe Turner never recorded together and do not seem to have ever shared a vocal, but their careers had several things in common. Neither singer changed their style or sound after they matured in the late 1930s yet they somehow stayed musically relevant for the next
“Eureka!” the thundering cry of the Gold Rush! In 1848, gold was discovered at John Sutter’s Mill in Coloma located on the outskirts of Sacramento. Searching for this precious metal, thousands of wannabe prospectors flooded into the region, basically forcing Sutter off of his own property. Sutter went about 30
Last Friday, September 18, I was on the verge of checking myself into the hospital. The alternative would have been to sit in my chair feeling supremely rotten. Editing and laying out the paper (which I had not yet begun at that point) seemed pointless in light of several intersecting
Please Say You Will (1895) is Scott Joplin’s first published composition. Though the “I’m sorry, please take me back” lyrics (written by Joplin) are bland and one-dimensional, the music points forward to the later Augustan Club Waltz, also in the key of B-flat major. In the song’s chorus, the right hand melody
Brian Holland’s admonition on Facebook said it all. “If you weren’t in Monterey the first weekend in March for the 2026 Jazz Bash By The Bay, you missed out. The Festival was one for the record books. Best time EVAHHH!” Brian collaborated with Jeff Barnhart as co-artistic directors responsible for
The 55th annual Bix Beiderbecke Jazz Festival got off to a rousing start on Wednesday, July 29 at Jim’s Knoxville Tap in nearby Milan, IL with a packed house enjoying a 7-piece band comprised of Davenport’s own Josh Duffee on drums, reed men Michael McQuaid from England and now New
Hal Smith: Hello to our readers! Thank you for your interest in the music of great American composer Fred Rose. Jeff Barnhart and I have one more article to share with you where we will talk about more of Mr. Rose’s jazziest compositions. Jeff, let’s begin with “Deep Henderson,” which
Here the unusual recording system for Berliner is illustrated. Throughout Berliner’s existence in the United States, he did not use recording methods typical of the time. The typical setup was that a performer would stand in front of a horn and sing or play into it. The horns used for
Carl Kress was born October 20, 1907, in Newark, New Jersey. Kress started on piano before picking up the banjo. Carl Kress, along with Eddie Lang, is one of the founding fathers of jazz guitar. While Lang pioneered the use of single-string horn inspired lines, Carl’s method was that of
My column on the Samuel Adams Pub at the Seamen’s Inne at the Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut produced some great responses, but none as special as the phone call I received from Art Doran, the banjo player and leader of our “Don’t Shoot” trio. He’ll be 95 in October,
Although he is rarely listed as one of the top prebop tenor-saxophonists along with Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster, and Bud Freeman, Eddie Miller (1911-91) deserves to be ranked at that high level. While he had a tone similar to Freeman’s (they often could be mistaken for each other),
One can never have too many Ella Fitzgerald records. She was remarkably consistent during her prime years (which lasted for over four decades) and was prolific both in the number of her recordings and live performances. And although she used certain routines for some songs, she always found places to
Dawn Lambeth is a delightful singer who interprets vintage lyrics with a joyful delivery, swinging phrasing, and a gentle warmth. Her voice is quite appealing, her improvising is subtle while uplifting melodies, and she is one of the top swing-oriented vocalists around today. I Get Ideas has Ms. Lambeth joined
At this point in time, it would not be surprising if tenor-saxophonist Scott Hamilton was running out of inspiration along with new songs to explore. He burst upon the scene in the mid-1970s, helping launch the comeback of small-group swing. His sound was fully developed by then along with his
JAZZ CLASSIC OF THE MONTH Earl Bostic (1913-65) was a major name in the 1950s and early 1960s. A superb alto-saxophonist who had impeccable technique that always impressed his fellow musicians, Bostic had a string of popular instrumental hits including “Flamingo,” “Sleep,” and “Harlem Nocturne.” His recordings during his most
Reed virtuoso Chad Smith’s Saxophobia: Celebrating the Sax Craze of the 1920s is nothing short of extraordinary—an exhilarating, 18-track collection unlike anything else currently being played or recorded, that I know of. It’s bursting with joy and musical wonders of a very special kind, and makes a compelling case for
Last month, I reviewed Hank O’Neal’s remarkable More Than Music book which contains his colorful stories (along with a countless number of photos) of some of the most interesting musicians and personalities who he encountered through his careers as the founder and head of Chiaroscuro Records, photographer, record and concert
The word “love” shows up in many a song, the standards especially, offering emotional reinforcement whatever your situation when your favorite singer sings that word. Songs question it, regret it, disparage it, and above all celebrate it, and when your singer is hip to those complexities you can glory in
Hank O’Neal is most famous in the jazz world for founding and running the consistently superb swing-based Chiaroscuro label and for organizing the Floating Jazz Festival which took place for years on cruise ships. However, as his utterly fascinating book More Than Music shows, there was much more to him
IN THE AI GARDEN (Apologies to C. Austin Miles) I come to the chapel alone In my search for sweet consolation; And the voice I hear, falling on my ear, Is an AI generation; And He walks with me And He talks with me And He tells me His battery’s
Dear John Tefteller, Thank you for your article “AI, the End of Physical Media, and the Future of Record Collecting” in the September 2026 issue of TST. I wholeheartedly agree with your point of view. Many other voices, including Rick Beato on YouTube, have echoed it. It also needs to
THE NEW ORLEANS RAGTIME FESTIVAL (New Orleans, LA) Oct 1-4 Since 2016, the New Orleans Ragtime Festival has been dedicated to preserving and promoting the vibrant legacy of ragtime music, vintage dance, and early American culture through world-class performances, educational programming, and community celebration. This milestone year marks a decade
If I could take anything from my mom, it would be her pathological optimism—the optimism of a single woman with a kid, a cat, and a German shepherd who pulled herself off of welfare by selling insurance on a bus. Later getting all the initials after her name her paper
Mitchell Player, a bassist and music entrepreneur who became a fixture of the New Orleans traditional jazz scene, died September 9 in New Orleans of complications from a recent kidney transplant. A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Player started on string bass at age nine and added electric bass at 16.
Charles A. Sengstock Jr., a music historian who documented the largely overlooked history of Chicago’s white dance bands and theater orchestras, died July 16 in Northbrook, Illinois. He was 93. Sengstock spent decades researching Chicago’s dance-band era starting in the early 1960s, eventually producing two books. His first, Jazz Music
Larry Linkin, who had a colorful career as a featured entertainer and the highly-successful head of the largest trade association in the music industry promoting music education and music-making advocacy, passed away August 25 in Scottsdale, AZ at the age of 87. “Link,” as he was known, was a soloist
Elliott “Stackman” Callier, a saxophonist who split his life between New Orleans and Portland and spent decades as one of the city’s most in-demand horn men, died August 21 in New Orleans. He was 83. Callier was born January 12, 1943, into a musical family, his father played saxophone alongside
Gregor Benko, a self-taught collector-historian who spent six decades tracking down lost recordings of the great Romantic-era pianists, died August 12 in Syracuse, NY. He was 82. Benko co-founded the International Piano Library in Ohio in the mid-1960s, with Albert Petrak, while still a teenager. The organization was built around
Vol. 11, No. 10
Harry Connick, Jr., Keeps a Promise to his Mom, by Brian R. Sheridan
Bob Wilber on Discovering Jazz, Hearing Louis, by Monk Rowe
The Beiderbecke Mystique: Preserving a Jazz Landmark, by Lew Shaw
Bix House Musicians Discuss History, Renovation Plans, by John Landry
World Class Syncopation at Sutter Creek, by Jared Szabo & Paul Orsi
Jazz Birthday of the Month: Carl Kress, illustration by Sara Lièvre
Static from my Attic, by Andy Senior
Final Chorus, compiled by Joe Bebco
Jazz Jottings: Monterey Jazz Bash Crowd up 25%, by Lew Shaw
My Inspirations: Anarchy at the Seaman’s Inne, by Jeff Barnhart
Ragtime Vignettes: Please Say You Will, by Brandon Byrne
Quarter Notes: Jumping & Jiving at the Jazz Jubilee, by Shelly Gallichio
Jazz Travels: 2026 Davenport Bix Fest, by Bill Hoffman
Profiles in Jazz: Helen Humes and Big Joe Turner, by Scott Yanow
Festival Roundup, compiled by Michael Buonaiuto; art by Joe Busam
Ain’t Cha Got Music: Fred Rose, Pt. 3, by Jeff Barnhart & Hal Smith
Emile Berliner’s Unique Recording Method, art by R.S. Baker
A Semi-Quincentennial Songbag, by The Carpal Tunnel Kid
The Heartbreak and Inevitability of Saying Goodbye, by Randi Cee
NAMM Head Larry Linkin Passes at 87, by Lew Shaw
Sax Virtuoso Chad Smith Recreates the Wiedoeft Sound, by Neal Siegal
Nights at the Turntable, CD reviews by Scott Yanow
Book Review: The Ghosts of Harlem by Hank O’Neal, by Scott Yanow