My Buddy: Remembering Buddy Greco

By Bruce Klauber If Louis Prima invented the concept of the Las Vegas lounge entertainer, then singer/pianist Buddy Greco defined it. But those who remember Greco as the penultimate “lounge lizard,” known for his up-tempo version of “The Lady is a Tramp,” will be...

Remembering jazz legend Charlie Ventura

By Bruce Klauber Stan Kenton was an incredibly popular bandleader whose career spanned five decades. But if he is remembered at all today, it’s likely because he was the founder of what we now know as collegiate jazz education. Before Kenton instituted his in-school...

In praise of piers for fishing and amusement

By Bruce Klauber My first visit to Atlantic City, so I’m told, was in 1956. I was 4 years old. Our family stayed at the then grand Traymore Hotel, but there was a purpose to the visit other than a vacation. It seems I had an appetite issue, and the pediatrician’s...