Jim Beatty is an 84-year old semi-retired New Orleans-style clarinetist. Perhaps best known for his association with the late cornetist Jim Goodwin, Beatty (who doubles
Pops Coffee turned his focus to traditional jazz in his early 50s but he pursued learning with such vehemence that thirty-odd years later he has
There was a sign in the medical library of the hospital in which I practiced; it stated: Any Book Is New Until You’ve Read It.
In preparing a remembrance of Maurice Peress for the Final Chorus column published this February I was intrigued by a description of his 2004 book,
Stride pianist extraordinaire Judy Carmichael candidly admits to being a Pollyanna, a characteristic which, she knows, annoys many people. In this marvelous memoir, the California-bred
The story of Ralph Peer is the story of music publishing and how it defined the American soundscape from the days of piano rolls and
The culmination of almost 60 years of field research and immense learning, Jazz Transatlantic is a remarkable contribution to the academic literature and a milestone
Richard M. Sudhalter told Jeff Sultanof that he should write books. Five pages into Sultanof’s multi-faceted examination of big band jazz, I felt the same
History is not only about wars and revolutions, disasters and discoveries, the famous and the infamous. No, it’s also about the common people, working men
Clarinetist Jim Beatty is one of the last living links to the jazz revival of the 1940s and ’50s. Remarkably he has worked professionally in
Most readers of this column would have, at least, heard of pianist/ group-leader/ composer Fred Hersch. He is now a 61 year old artist who
Recently I saw a Quad-City Times story about yet another book purporting to enlighten the public about the life and career of Bix Beiderbecke. I
Growing up in Davenport, Iowa, Brendan Wolfe could not help but be familiar with the name Bix Beiderbecke. He was aware of this Davenport native
This book explores the relationship between religion or spirituality and its influence, if any, on American jazz musicians. Little has been done in attempts to
It’s hard to believe this was David Fulmer’s debut novel because it’s so taut the tension itself turns the pages. For lovers of early jazz,
“I don’t remember that there was ever any question of me doing anything but playing music. The only question for me was where I was
This is the third novel in the jazz series for juveniles. The reader follows a 19 year old African-American girl singer. In this fictional account,
While Ragged but Right relives the dusty days of tented minstrelsy, Lift Every Voice examines the music of the same time period from an academic
Ragged but Right musicologists Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff carry readers on a rousing roller-coaster ride from carnivals to tent shows to vaudeville as they
This elegant book, 8.75” x 11”, comes at a time when the 1930 early Technicolor movie about Paul Whiteman and his band, is undergoing a
This pre-publication book review is unusual in that it is on a work of fiction. It is the last of author Larry Karp’s four mystery
Michael Jarrett is a published author and jazz authority as well as an English professor at Pennsylvania State University at York, PA. He looks at
I was impressed immediately with this book’s physical presence. It’s hefty, and I momentarily thought it was sized to mimic a 1940s record album. Actually,
This is the second book of juvenile fiction by author Mick Carlon. His previous book, Riding on Duke’s Train was about a young African-American boy
