Articles by Thomas Cole
Sunday Best: A Netflix Documentary
by Thomas Cole
Ed Sullivan, at one time was the most renowned name in US television. Most of us hear that name and think of Elvis Presley and his electrifying game-changing performance in 1956. Few of us will ever forget the hip-shaking gyrations that captivated a nation. Nothing like it had ever been seen on national television. Or so the myth goes, as Elvis premiered on the Milton Berle Show a few months earlier. Or we think of and remember his introduction of ...
Continue ReadingJon Cleary: The Bywater Sessions
by Thomas Cole
Interviewed on WWNO in New Orleans, when asked what has inspired his The Bywater Sessions album (and it is an album as the traditional vinyl format is available), the response was simple. Musicians from New Orleans thrive on live performances and, too often for one reason or another, the CDs sold at gigs do not reflect the one-off ambiance of a live performance that, by its very nature, immediately disappears into the ether. Cleary's goal was to produce a recording ...
Continue ReadingBenny Jones: Jazz History & More
by Thomas Cole
I was born and raised in the 6th Ward, which is called Tremé these days but these days I live near the Fairgrounds. My father was in the Eureka Brass Band and was very good friends with bot the Humphrey brothers--Willie and Percy. They had all played in different bands together as well as at Preservation Hall; he got around as he was playing the bass drum behind a lot of people. As a member of the union too, he, ...
Continue ReadingClint Maedgen: Life Before & With Preservation Hall
by Thomas Cole
My first memories of listening to music as a kid? I was probably listening to Fats Domino and rock 'n' roll on the radio. The power of AM radio at that time in the '70s was a huge foundational influence on me, as it has been for a lot of people in those days. And sittin' in the car with my father, as he played cassettes with Hank Williams and Bob Wills, among others, I remember filing all that away ...
Continue ReadingJohnny Vidacovich: Magnet In The Middle
by Thomas Cole
The ever changing cast of the Johnny Vidacovich Trio defies the meaning of that word--trio . Historically, jazz trios with a drummer in the middle have included such notables as Art Blakey, Gene Krupa and Max Roach but none of those groups changed cast members on a weekly basis or deviated very far from what they normally played--jazz. These drummers, for the most part, embraced their familiar style of music or genre and played. But every Thursday evening the Vidacovich ...
Continue ReadingThe Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Miner Auditorium
by Thomas Cole
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band Livestreamed from SF JAZZ Miner Auditorium San Francisco, CA August 18, 2023 The dichotomy or, in more blunt terms, the extreme differences of opinion over the current course charted out by creative director and heir to the Hall, Ben Jaffe, seemingly has been fully addressed with the song selection and current configuration of the band on this most recent concert tour. Featuring their recently named musical director, Wendell ...
Continue ReadingClint Maedgen: Roussel Maajon
by Thomas Cole
"Roussel Maajon" is the thinly veiled pseudonym of Preservation Hall stalwart, saxophonist/vocalist Clint Maedgen, who is easily identified after a few bars if one is at all familiar with his distinctive voice and energetic music style. And every jazz fan, at least in New Orleans, knows who Roussel is--Kyle Roussel, keyboardist with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Easy enough to dial up on Spotify, Huey “Piano" Smith and the Clowns concludes on an adjacent iTunes playlist as “Sookie, ...
Continue ReadingJon Cleary: So Swell
by Thomas Cole
Imagine the joy of discovering a new album from Jon Cleary recorded in 2020, featuring Johnny Vidacovich and James Singleton together and occasionally accompanied by James Rivers on sax. Part of the Newvelle Records project involved producing an actual vinyl record titled The New Orleans Collection though it escaped notice from a casual listening audience with access only to segments of the sessions on YouTube. With ample advance notice with full charts provided by Cleary for this epic ...
Continue ReadingJohnny Vidacovich: Out Da Box
by Thomas Cole
The jazz tradition is often one featuring drummers leading bands. Gene Krupa headlined a group known by his name as have jazz greats Art Blakey, Buddy Rich, Elvin Jones and the list goes on. Appearing on that same list of the 50 greatest jazz drummers, why not Johnny Vidacovich too? With no explicit intent to break the molds from which jazz drummers emerge and set new standards, his thing comes effortlessly--it is who he is rather than a ...
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