Jazz Articles about Conal Fowkes

About Conal Fowkes

Album Review

Ragtime takes its name from the ragged rhythmic patterns created by syncopated melodies played against a regular, steady bass line. The result is a lively and energetic sound that predates traditional jazz and swing. Among ragtime's foremost exponents was Scott Joplin, whose music was reintroduced to the public in 1973 via Paul Newman and Robert Redford's blockbuster film, The Sting. Talented as Joplin was, however, ragtime had much more to offer, a sentiment that is proven true more ...

Album Review

High Society New Orleans Jazz Band: Live at Birdland

Read "Live at Birdland" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 13, 2025

Long before Bird (Charlie Parker), Diz (Dizzy Gillespie), Prez (Lester Young), the Count (Count Basie) or the Duke (Duke Ellington) raised their voices, jazz was being performed, for audiences large and small, in New Orleans and other cities and towns along the Mississippi River and elsewhere, lending those yet to come the bedrock from which to explore fresh ideas and chart new musical pathways. Even though the world of jazz has been remodeled and amplified ...