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Royce Martin Charts a New Path for Ragtime

Fifty years after The Sting, it takes a special kind of musician to breathe new life into “The Entertainer” or “Solace”—those Scott Joplin masterpieces that

Texas Shout #6 Hand-Held Live Tapes

A Note from the Editor: The past doesn’t repeat itself but it does rhyme and this column from 1990 is a stunning example of that.

Texas Shout #14 Books About The Music

Set forth below is the fourteenth “Texas Shout” column. It first appeared in the February 1991 issue of  the West Coast Rag, (Now Syncopated Times.) There

vintage music class

Texas Shout #60 Learning To Play, Part 3

Set forth below is the sixtieth “Texas Shout” column. The concluding installment of a three-part essay, (Part 1, Part 2,) it first appeared in the

Louis and Bria in NYC

On a rainy Friday, December 1, I made my second trip to the Big Apple in just under two months. My main purpose was to

From the 2023 West Coast Ragtime Festival

For the third year in a row (not counting the Covid interruption), I attended the West Coast Ragtime Festival on the weekend before Thanksgiving. If

Cold Winds Outside, Hot Jazz Inside!

When we hit New Orleans this past January it was 32 degrees and very windy! The Mississippi encourages bitter winds through the Quarter and creates

Quarter Notes February 2024

And The Band Played On… The venerable 62-year old Preservation Hall has announced an expansion of its facilities to further support the 12-year old Preservation

Swingin’ Jazz in Chandler, AZ

The theme for this year’s Arizona Classic Jazz Society Festival was “Come, Swing with Me” and we certainly did! Held again at the San Marcos

EUREKA! From The Redwood Coast Music Festival!

The Redwood Coast Music Festival was an ecstatic experience, an overwhelming banquet of music and friendship. (If that seems hyperbolic, I can adopt Eddie Condon’s

The Many Talents of Frank C. Stanley

In the earliest days of the phonograph, many recording artists were forced to work extra jobs to make a living. None of the workers in

The Lost Hook Tapes

It really is a waiting game based on luck and endurance. I am banking on the idea that if you stick to your artistic career

Birthday Blues

“Everything happens for the best” Does it really? In a continuation of last month’s theme of reality being how we perceive it, perhaps the better

Randi Cee

Reality is a Cruel Mistress

If I was a rich man, I would have a right proper mid life crisis. I suppose that is a very sexist idea that you

The Elusive Legacy of Bill Erickson 1929-1967

“Erickson, usually erroneously labelled a Dixieland jazzman, was in every way a comprehensive modern musician, performer and composer whose interests ranged from the blues to

San Francisco Jazz, Phase Two, 1940-66

WWII Jazz boom, The Fillmore, Oakland Blues, North Beach & Forbidden City Nightclubs San Francisco was the location for dynamic developments in popular entertainment: Traditional,

Ain’t No Wrong Notes in Jazz

It is easy to be impressed by jazz musicians… if you are not one yourself. We are, after all, an impressive bunch. And I know

Bad Moon Rising

Jazz musicians are a mischievous bunch. I doubt that’s a surprise to any of you, as the history books are filled with stories of pranks

The New Syllabus

There’s been a lot made in the news in recent times about systemic issues in our education system. As I understand it, there seems to

Bill Allred has died at 87

Trombonist Bill Allred died on February 1st at 87. He was one of the largest figures of his generation in classic jazz and leaves a

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