Newsletter Articles
prez sez June 2026 Edition
Well, there are certainly different ways to play this wonderful music from the first part of the last century. What we heard from Black Swan on Sunday was a polished, driven, exciting version of traditional jazz…
prez sez may 2026 Edition
The April concert was another really fine afternoon of wonderful traditional jazz brought to us by Alex Guilbert as leader of his Stampede Seven.
MIKE DAVIS AND THE NEW WONDERS
Mike Davis traces his love for the trumpet back to a Disney movie. He grew up in a musical family, with both his parents playing strings in the Seattle Symphony, but Davis wanted an instrument of his own.
AT LONG LAST, THE BLACK SWAN COMES BACK
Call it a hot jazz scrimmage, a rent-party rumble, a barn-burner of stomps and blues; Black Swan doesn’t just play the gig; they blow the roof off the joint and then move the goalposts for good measure.
ALEX GUILBERT LEADS THE CHARGE WITH THE STAMPEDE 7 ON APRIL 19!
This month’s PSTJS session features Alex Guilbert’s Stampede 7 Sextet.
PREZ SEZ - April 2026
Wow! What a cool afternoon of music performed by the Hot Lovin’ Jazz Babies from Portland this afternoon!
PREZ SEZ - March 2026
As most of you know, I have played traditional jazz for a long time.
IT’S THE HOT LOVIN’ JAZZ BABIES ON MARCH 15!
Although the Hot Lovin’ Jazz Babies have performed for us just once before this month, most of its members are familiar to us as part of the Bridgetown Sextet.
ARNIE AND HIS RHYTHM
“Arnt’s repertoire is optimistic and romantic but there’s also melancholy: Hear his moving, even fierce “Brother Can You Spare a Dime?” in honor of Bing Crosby and economic miseries, and his earnestly wounded “Careless Love.”
PREZ SEZ - February 2026
Well darn, that was really fun. I am still basking in the energy that was present in the room at our meeting yesterday at the Elks.
IN MEMORIAM: BOB RANN
Robert “Bob” Rann, renowned tubaist and a foundational figure in the traditional jazz revival movement, passed away peacefully on August 1, 2025, at the age of 88.
RETURN OF THE NOONATICS JUMP STARTS A NEW SEASON!
Our inaugural show for the 2025–26 season features Matt Weiner’s Noonatics, a combination that debuted on our stage in March 2023 as a tip of the hat to the great New Orleans clarinetist Jimmie Noone.
GENE SILBERBERG RECALLS 50+ YEARS AS A JAZZ MUSICIAN
Growing up, I was fortunate enough to receive a well-rounded education. My family and most of their friends were secular Jews. Where we lived, if your kid didn’t go to college, the whole neighborhood would find out about it …
THE AIN'T NO HEAVEN SEVEN LEADS THE CHARGE INTO OUR NEW YEAR ON JANUARY 18!
The old standby, “this band needs no introduction ...” is an especially fitting way to present this January’s featured attraction. Co-founded by our president Dr. Terry Rogers…
How Do You Learn to Play the Piano?
I am pleased that Judy has asked me to do some writing for the Puget Sound Jazz Newsletter, and since I have just finished writing liner notes for a new piano CD where I consider jazz as a “tribal” experience…
CLEANING OLD RECORDS CAN BE CHALLENGING.
The column below is from the Quad-City Times titled “Dough’s Q-C” Doug answers questions about collectibles. The Quad Cities includes Davenport, Iowa, Rock Island, Moline and East Moline, Ill.
Festival Profiles: Clint Baker
This is one more in a series of biographies of great traditional jazz musicians. The series started with the March/ April 1991 issue and was developed by Rambler founding publisher and Board Member, the late Len Levine). Reprinted from the Spring 2012 Jazz Rambler.
THE VARIOUS STYLES OF “OKOM”
Some people, those who are unfamiliar with Our Kind of Music, will make the totally erroneous statement that “It all sounds alike.” Nothing could be further from the truth…
LU WATTERS CENTENNIAL
Trumpeter, Lu Watters was born in Santa Cruz, California, on December 19, 1911, and began playing the trumpet/cornet at a very early age.

