The Syncopated Times

The Syncopated Times is a unique monthly publication dedicated to hot jazz, ragtime, and swing music. Each edition features exclusive articles, interviews with must-know contemporary artists, and engaging history segments. Our book and music reviews will ensure you're up to date, while our listings of festivals and events will assist you in planning your next outing.

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Articles

Meryl Zimmerman • Easy to Love

1 month ago | syncopatedtimes.com | Dave Doyle

For the first time in my life, I’m actually in a jazz band. I should caveat that claim by saying that my maybe-bandmates haven’t yet heard me play so, by the time you read this, it may no longer be true. Still, I’ve got myself a portable piano and I’m learning how to comp—and albums like this one are proving an invaluable inspiration. I’m talking about Easy To Love, the latest offering from Hal Smith and friends, featuring vocalist Meryl Zimmerman.
Reviews Keep the Music Alive - The Syncopated Times

2 months ago | syncopatedtimes.com | Joe Bebco

Since TST co-editor, webmaster, and in-house reviewer Joe Bebco generally has a lot to say (and I generally don’t) I’m ceding the Static space to him this
Morey Feld swings, drives, then swings some more

2 months ago | syncopatedtimes.com | Hal Smith

Part One of this discussion of Morey Feld appeared in our March 2024 issue, and Part Two was published in May 2024. Hal Smith: Brother Kevin, I have really been looking forward to this analysis of another film where we can see and hear the great Morey Feld onscreen. By the way, thanks to YOU for making me aware of it and also for commenting on some of the techniques that Morey used. (We’ll get to that shortly). In 1966, Benny Goodman took a sextet to the Belgium Jazz Festival in Brussels.
Tolkien’s Biographer Was Also a Pro Jazz Bassist

2 months ago | syncopatedtimes.com | Dave Doyle

The joy of digging through thrift store vinyl crates is the prospect of discovering new arrangements, new songs, even new bands or composers which had previously escaped my attention. The main draw is what’s on the disc, although the liner notes can be equally fascinating. Very often the brief bio on a sleeve prompts further research about the players and tracks therein—but a recent buy took me down a different kind of rabbit hole, thanks to some handwritten notes on the back.
Ryan Calloway: Master of Music, Art, and Dance

Mar 1, 2025 | syncopatedtimes.com | Hal Smith

Hal Smith: Ryan, you can be contacted for original artwork, graphic design, swing dance instruction, to lead a band and to perform as a sideman. That is an impressive list of talent for one individual! Which one of those skills did you pursue first? Ryan Calloway: Thank you, Hal! I’m generally a curious person which can be a double-edged sword, but ultimately I prefer it that way—I’m never bored. Art was my first love and everything comes back to drawing for me.
The Firehouse 5+2: When ‘Goes South’ is a GOOD Thing!

Mar 1, 2025 | syncopatedtimes.com | Jeff Barnhart |Hal Smith

Hal Smith: Jeff, This month’s column was intended to be the first in a series of articles about the New Black Eagle Jazz Band; a collaboration between you and the Eagles’ trombonist Stan Vincent. However, you’ve mentioned it will be such a large project your schedule doesn’t allow meeting this month’s deadline and you’ll pick it up with Stan later this Spring.
Hamilton College’s Fillius Jazz Archive Celebrates 30 Years

Feb 28, 2025 | syncopatedtimes.com | Russ Tarby

Thirty years ago at Hamilton College in Kirkland, N.Y., Milt Fillius Jr. and his fiancé, Nelma “Nikki” Nenneau, teamed up with jazz singer Joe Williams to launch an oral history project that eventually blossomed as the Fillius Jazz Archive. Now celebrating three decades of producing more than 500 videotaped interviews with jazz performers, arrangers and critics, the Fillius Jazz Archive is busily embracing 21st Century technologies, according to Monk Rowe, its longtime director.
Sylvia Fine Scored Some of Hollywood’s Best-Loved Musicals

Feb 28, 2025 | syncopatedtimes.com | Dave Doyle

“Behind every great man, there is a great woman.” How many biographical articles have opened with that trite old aphorism? It acknowledges—quite rightly—that many of the great scientific and cultural achievements of the ages would not have been possible without a supportive spouse or sibling keeping geniuses clean and fed. But there is a glaring problem with this well-worn idiom (which is at least a century old now, its original author unknown).
Gretchen and the Sidecar Six • Getting Some Fun Out of Life

Feb 28, 2025 | syncopatedtimes.com | Dave Doyle

Hello, reader—it’s been a while. (Happy New Year, by the way!) A while since I wrote, a while since I danced—a while since I did anything fun, to be honest. I suppose I’d been in a malaise since Christmas (our second without Dad), and it’s taken some medicinal music to lift me out of the funk and get me back to the things I enjoy—including tipping you to the hottest new jazz that money can buy.
Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano • Painting the Town

Feb 28, 2025 | syncopatedtimes.com | Brian S Sheridan

Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano have created something truly special with their new album, Painting the Town. Celebrating two decades of marriage and a deep love of their hometown New York City, this record—their first together—is a captivating blend of pre-war cabaret, Broadway, jazz, and pop that evokes a nostalgic yet fresh atmosphere. Right from the opening track, listeners are enveloped in the undeniable chemistry that the multi award-winning Comstock and Fasano share.