The Syncopated Bookshelf

Jazz is often thought of as America’s first cultural export. This isn’t entirely true. Long before jazz, or even ragtime, America had developed a form

I met Steve Spracklen almost 50 years ago when I arranged a concert through Bob Vernon billed as “Three Generations of Ragtime.” Steve, Peter Lundberg,

Duke Ellington has inspired a unique devotion among his most ardent fans. In contrast to many cults built around music legends the Ellingtonians are focused

This biography of jazz multi-instrumentalist Adrian Rollini has a long history. The book was started in 1980 by Dutch musician and jazz scholar Tom Faber.

The great cornet player Rex Stewart, best known for his work with Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington, was also a prolific writer. He contributed to

We like to assume that the recorded body of American roots music-blues, jazz and “hillbilly”/country-accurately represents the best work of America’s diverse musical community in

When Andy Senior mentioned in an email that Lew Shaw was publishing a second Jazz Beat volume of personality essays, I decided it was time

“Wow, wow, wow! He knew everybody!” That was my impression through the first half of Clive Wilson’s new memoir about chasing his love of traditional

Author Ted Gioia may be known to readers of Syncopated Times through his writing about jazz, which includes many articles and the books: The History

When it is said that a performer “died on stage,” it is usually a metaphor for a poor show or performance. However, there’s apparently real

On mentioning Johnny Guarnieri (1917-1985) to a doctoral student who was writing a dissertation on a jazz topic, I was only moderately surprised when the

There was a sign in our hospital medical library which read: Any book is new until you’ve read it. Certainly this can apply to Doug

Johnny Guarnieri (1917-85) was one of the great stride and swing pianists, a natural who when he was 15 had not only heard of James

The researchers Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff have made a monumental contribution to scholarship on the history of American popular music. In three large, thoroughly

As if the origins of Jazz weren’t already mired in countless controversial theories and myth (founded and unfounded, scholarly or otherwise), along comes Vic Hobson’s,

First released in hardcover back in 2012, we are using the occasion of a paperback edition to bring attention to John McCusker’s exciting biography of Edward “Kid”

Ed Berlin is the premiere modern researcher of Scott Joplin and the early days of ragtime. In 1980 he published Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural

Volume I of this two-part series followed the African roots of jazz across the Atlantic. (Read our review here.) It covered the knowable history with linguistic

Back in 2001, Gary Giddins completed his definitive biography on the first 37 years of Bing Crosby: A Pocketful Of Dreams – The Early Years,

  1917 is remembered by many as the year jazz exploded on the scene and changed American music forever. In his new book about that

For those who aren’t previously acquainted with this writer, Marc Myers is a trained historian who writes about jazz for the Wall Street Journal and

Buildings of New Orleans is part of The Society of Architectural Historians Buildings of the United States series. Begun in 1976 it is a slowly growing