Hal Smith: Hello to our readers! Thank you for your interest in the music of great American composer Fred Rose. Jeff Barnhart and I have one more article to share with you where we will talk about ...

A group of relatively-young musicians who are devotees of the legendary Bix Beiderbecke and his music have banded together to form a legal entity (Bix House Band LLC) and have purchased the ...

Please Say You Will (1895) is Scott Joplin’s first published composition. Though the “I’m sorry, please take me back” lyrics (written by Joplin) are bland and one-dimensional, the music points forward ...

“Eureka!” the thundering cry of the Gold Rush! In 1848, gold was discovered at John Sutter’s Mill in Coloma located on the outskirts of Sacramento. Searching for this precious metal, thousands of ...

Gregor Benko, a self-taught collector-historian who spent six decades tracking down lost recordings of the great Romantic-era pianists, died August 12 in Syracuse, NY. He was 82. Benko co-founded the ...

Brian Holland’s admonition on Facebook said it all. “If you weren’t in Monterey the first weekend in March for the 2026 Jazz Bash By The Bay, you missed out. The Festival was one for the record books.

One can never have too many Ella Fitzgerald records. She was remarkably consistent during her prime years (which lasted for over four decades) and was prolific both in the number of her recordings and ...

Charles A. Sengstock Jr., a music historian who documented the largely overlooked history of Chicago’s white dance bands and theater orchestras, died July 16 in Northbrook, Illinois. He was 93.

Some performers spend their careers chasing Carnegie Hall. Harry Connick Jr., however, spent much of his career avoiding it. That isn’t a typo or a misprint. For a musician who has sold more than 30 ...

Last month, I reviewed Hank O’Neal’s remarkable More Than Music book which contains his colorful stories (along with a countless number of photos) of some of the most interesting musicians and ...

The 55th annual Bix Beiderbecke Jazz Festival got off to a rousing start on Wednesday, July 29 at Jim’s Knoxville Tap in nearby Milan, IL with a packed house enjoying a 7-piece band comprised of ...

Reed virtuoso Chad Smith’s Saxophobia: Celebrating the Sax Craze of the 1920s is nothing short of extraordinary—an exhilarating, 18-track collection unlike anything else currently being played or ...