I’ve never been a Bird lover—for no good reason other than that his playing feels cool, detached, even saucy. It lacks the breathy soul of
A few disclosures are in order. 1) Though the late Glenn Jenks (1947–2016) and I met only at ragtime festivals, we communicated occasionally by phone,
–The 1947 film New Orleans altered jazz history by inspiring Louis Armstrong to form his small-group All-Stars, a format he maintained for the rest of
Arthur Briggs (1901-1991) was considered the premier Jazz trumpet player of Europe between the two world wars. Living in France continuously after 1931, he deserved
If San Francisco jazz had its own Mount Rushmore, Pat Yankee would be on it. Born in Lodi, California, Pat saw a medicine show at
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
The title of this article is a bit of a misnomer. If you want to read about Louis Armstrong there are several long and worthwhile
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
