Reviews Keep the Music Alive

Since TST co-editor, webmaster, and in-house reviewer Joe Bebco generally has a lot to say (and I generally don’t) I’m ceding the Static space to him this month. – A.S.

Offbeat, which has covered the New Orleans music scene for 37 years, provided excellent reviews of the traditional jazz bands of that city. I considered them our only competition for professional reviews of traditional jazz albums intended for an already knowledgeable audience. Offbeat ceased publication of a monthly issue in January. This came after going digital several years ago. The mix of material that makes a magazine a magazine does not translate well to the digital format, and the choice to go digital usually marks the beginning of the end.

The loss of Offbeat as a reviewer of our music means even a group as prominent as Tuba Skinny might not get any coverage for an album outside of blogs and social media posts from fans. Offbeat is only the latest of hundreds of local music publications that can’t make it work anymore, which means that the same fate faces bands in small cities all over the country. The local newspaper, which no one reads either, is not going to cover a local band as often or as well as the music mag did, especially not with meaningful reviews of albums targeted to a readership likely to buy them.

Not to be too ham-handed about it, but reviewing isn’t easy and most won’t last long doing it. It is often a thankless job, though I was warmed this winter by positive feedback from Henry Blackburn about my review of his recordings with the New Orleans Rascals of Osaka, Japan. Henry, who turned 100 years old on March 22nd, wrote, “The fate of the release of the 35 years of my visits with the Rascals: Joe Bebco’s review of Arigato, from Henry could not have been happier. Joe’s developing their history and characterization of our joinings over the years captured all…So deeply and precisely appreciated! And for me a warm ending to a long life as an amateur of jazz in connection with its musicians.”

This may be a quirk of my personality, but while the warmth of praise may carry me for a few months, the chill of criticism can stifle me for a year. I did, as a matter of fact, quit writing reviews for this paper for ten months after a particularly harsh critique.

I forced myself to return to reviews because there weren’t people reviewing the albums I wanted reviewed. I tend to cover the albums by active current bands rather than reissues. I prefer to cover the self-releases found on Bandcamp. I prefer to cover bands ripping it up in Iowa that will never get coverage outside of Iowa if I don’t write about them.

No shade on our other reviewers. There are reissues and albums of new material from a few labels that must be reviewed. The fact is that most of those albums also wouldn’t get covered if The Syncopated Times weren’t around. Michael Steinman might review a few in his great blog. A band releasing on Rivermont or Turtle Bay might wrangle local coverage in their home city. That’s it.

The Syncopated Times is the only outlet for national coverage of the releases we review. The same can be said for our artist and band profiles, and most of our history items. That service alone is worth keeping us around no matter how minimal the readership might seem. Staying around to write and share these stories costs more money than we have coming in, which is why we went not for profit. What we do here, supporting these artists, serves a public good, and requires public support.

So I have two requests this month. First, if you are reading this, you are almost certainly qualified to review an album for The Syncopated Times. We have nearly 1000 to explore on our Bandcamp page. Pick one and tell us what you think. Maybe you’ll find you enjoy the process, maybe you will hang up your reviewer’s hat after one review, either way, it is a new voice in our paper, and one more album that won’t fall through the cracks.

The second thing is, please give. Give a subscription to your local high school music room, or your nephew who just picked up an instrument. Give a subscription to your friend who likes jazz, but not necessarily our kind. Spread the word. Give money if you can. Syncopated Media, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, and we have a direct PayPal link for donations and a GoFundMe page. I am confident that sustaining grants will come through for us but they take time, and this year, 2025, is going to depend on the community stepping up with direct donations of time and resources while we await grants that arrive in 2026.

You can also hold a fundraiser for us, pass a bucket at your jazz society meeting or get more creative like a record sale or eBay charity auction of your jazz collectibles (ask me how). Just be sure to tell us about your efforts so we can promote them. If you make it a subscription drive all the better. There is nothing we need or want more than new readers, but there is only so much Andy and I can do on our own to find them. If you are reading this you are part of this. Syncopated Media is all of us.