The Syncopated Times

Turtle Bay Records (TBR), established in 2020, features primarily but not exclusively New York-area musicians who play and/or sing music from the 1920s-’40s. Founded and owned by Scott Asen, it takes its name from the neighborhood where Scott lives and works.

Join us for the 14th annual River Rasin Ragtime Revue’s Ragtime Extravaganza. This year, River Raisin Ragtime Revue (R4) will be partnering with the City of Adrian’s First Friday/America250 celebration! R4 will perform a free “America 250” concert at the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Adrian.

Have you noticed more people than ever before seem to comment that the world is “going to Hell in a hand basket?” I first heard this phrase from my grandfather over 50 years ago. People have been commenting on the incivility, intolerance, and enmity they sense around them since I can remember. Everyone seems to think it’s never been so bad before. I believe they’re mistaken.

I do not consider baked goods to be oracular. Nonetheless, there was a time when I looked forward to the end of a meal of Chinese take-out when the message inside the attendant fortune cookie would provide a moment’s amusement. The messages were frequently funny, sometimes cryptic, often written in slightly broken English, but always gave me a sense of a writer’s mind at work on the other end of the baking process.

The 52nd Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival, held May 27-30, had not even begun before I met two of the musicians getting off the same train I was on coming to Sedalia—Steve Hicks and Tadao Tomokiyo. Tadao, in fact, was sitting a few rows ahead of me in the same car, but I didn’t notice him. This year’s festival presented an extensive and outstanding roster of musicians—21 pianists and 15 others by my count.

Marion Harris, Lee Morse, and Teddy Grace had several things in common. Each were talented jazz-oriented singers who are largely forgotten today. They each had potentially significant careers and a certain amount of prosperity for a time but had their careers (and in one occasion their life) cut short by tragedy. All three, who fortunately made a series of rewarding recordings, deserve to be better known today.

In this column I have written much about trombonist Arthur Pryor, and while he did lead his own band, his long time assistant was fellow low brass man Simone Mantia. Mantia was one of these figures who ended up being on a lot of records uncredited, much like Pryor’s brother Sam and Jimmy Hager. Mantia has a similar story to that of Frank Mazziotta, but he originated from a different part of Italy. Mantia was from Sicily, where a good percentage of Italian immigrants came from.

What do you call three super-talented pianists and two grand pianos on the stage at a sold-out concert? “SIX HANDS, TWO PIANOS featuring Stephanie Trick, Nicole Pesce, and Paolo Alderighi” – who delight in presenting high-energy arrangements of classic jazz, swing, ragtime, blues and the Great American Songbook tunes while demonstrating complex coordination across two grand pianos.” Stephanie Trick is a leading stride piano virtuoso whose style is reminiscent of James P. Johnson and Fats Waller.

This continues the saga of a Connecticut drummer, hailing from Maine, who lived a brief but exciting musical life during the 1920s. Harvey (Fr: Hervé) Belair, born in Maine, as we chronicled in the last issue, played in the Emil Heimberger Orchestra at the once prominent Hotel Bond in Hartford, CT. It would come as no surprise that word of this drummer’s talent got around, and to some unexpected spots.

The year 2025 was rather special, as my family and I had the chance to attend both Mike Durham’s International Classic Jazz Party (better known as Whitley Bay) as well as the Davenport Bix festival—two top annual events, highlighting the best of today’s hot jazz. This gave me a chance to view both events’ variances. After much observation during attendance, I was quite amused at the differences in both the musical aspects as well as the overall festival format.