James Rivers

Biography
Articles

James Rivers: A Retrospective

by Thomas Cole
July 18, 2026

James Rivers was part of the backbone of the New Orleans sound, from the earliest days in the '50s until July 5, 2026 when he passed away at the age of 89. A regular at Jazz Fest, he performed there only two months earlier, his final public appearance. He's played with everyone in New Orleans and will be greatly missed. What follows, in his words alone, was most probably his final statement to a journalist. I went to ...

Album Review

Jon Cleary: So Swell

by Thomas Cole
July 20, 2023

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 ...

Album Review

Jon Cleary: The New Orleans Collection: So Swell

Read "The New Orleans Collection: So Swell" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
January 14, 2021

Newvelle Records, which was established in 2015, believes that in the digital age there is an opportunity to build a new model for the creating and distributing music. Each year, Newvelle releases a series of six albums, exclusively on vinyl, that pairs musicians with celebrated artists, writers and poets. The New Orleans Collection contains four single sleeve 180-gram clear vinyl albums, each of which was recorded in New Orleans between January and March 2020 at Esplanade Studios, a former church ...