Trad jazz band Tuba Skinny features bandleader Shaye Cohn on cornet. Performing and recording for over a decade, they’re branching out into jug band music, spirituals, country blues, string band music, ragtime, and New Orleans R&B.
Malcolm John Rebennack Jr., aka Dr. John (1941-2019), was known for his mix of jazz, blues, R&B and soul flavored with New Orleans Mardi Gras, swamp rock and a pinch of voodoo. Gitcha gris gris gumbo ya ya.
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band formed in New Orleans in 1977, playing traditional jazz mixed with bebop, funk, R&B and soul, and resurrected classic Second Line rhythms.
New Orleans’ famous Preservation Hall Jazz Band was founded by Pennsylvanian Allan Jaffe in the early 1960s as a dixieland revival group, aimed at reviving the careers of the early jazz greats and preserving traditional jazz.
Nope, I didn’t forget. Here’s a story of Valentine’s Day in 1933.
While the missus is knocking down the remaining little heart-shaped confections tomorrow, I’ll be knocking back you know where.
Porch Time commences at porch time.
Moonlight Shuffle, Les Elgart & His Orchestra (1959)
After successful runs with several big bands of the 1940s, Les Elgart and his brother Larry formed their own orchestra with a distinctive brass-heavy sound. Their most recognizable recording, Bandstand Boogie, became the theme song to Dick Clark’s American Bandstand television show.
From FB: Tom Waits on Everything and Nothing In September 1988, fresh off the release of his concert film Big Time, Waits sat down with music journalist Chris Roberts in a London recording studio. Captured on a rare cassette recording amidst ambient studio noise, Waits takes us on a journey from Stonehenge and the streets of New York to a surreal Hawaiian nightmare.
Grammy winnerMasa Takumi (a.k.a. Masanori Takumi) is a Japanese artist, composer, songwriter and producer. A self-taught multi-instrumentalist, he learned trumpet at 8 years old, and by high school was playing drums, guitar, bass and piano.
Hope everyone survived the New Year’s festivities. We didn’t have as many fireworks or sirens as in previous years, and I take that as a good omen.
Porch season starts tomorrow and I plan to attend, rain or shinola.
The end of a long year deserves a playlist to bring in the new one, so here’s a compilation of tunes that tugged on my earballs in 2025. Each set is in chronological order by date of recording.
Set 1 – January, February, March & April
Set 2 – May, June, July & August
Set 3 – September, October, November & December
I omitted seasonal tunes from the Halloween and Christmas playlists. Last year’s playlist (2024) is here, and the 2023 EoY list is here.
And one more thing:
May You Have a Happy & Prosperous New Year!
[Caveat: I don’t own the copyrights to any of these recordings. They are presented here for entertainment purposes only.]