Photo Credit: Michael P. Smith
The 250th anniversary celebration of the U.S. birth this July will resound with jazz, and not only in the USA. Fests in Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands, among others, mark our calendar! See them all listed at DownBeat (your 2026 JJA Jazz Awards Publication of the Year winner!):
https://downbeat.com/news/detail/complete-listings-downbeats-2026-international-jazz-festival-guide
and look for JJA members to be there, ready to spread news and views!
Our newest members, not missing a beat:
Paul Goldstein with The Jazz Groove, a listener-supported, non-profit, and non-commercial radio service, impacting individuals and communities in San Francisco and beyond by championing the power of jazz music with compelling original content! https://jazzgroove.org/?channel=mix1
Harris Meyer, prolific freelance writer and editor out of Chicago, contributing a recent JJA feature, “Jazz Matters: Appreciating Doug Ramsey, an Admired Colleague.” https://news.jazzjournalists.org/jazz-matters-appreciating-doug-ramsey
Steven Roby of Backstage Bay Area, a vibrant independent jazz journalism platform dedicated to spotlighting the artists, venues, and live-music culture of the San Francisco Bay Area! https://www.backstagebayarea.com
Lookin’ Ahead to collaborative possibilities with them, and all our JJA Jazz Crusaders! Some of what’s been happening:
Steve Braunginn, host/producer of Strictly Jazz Sounds podcast and Stephanie Matthews, 2025 Jazz Hero Award recipient and executive director of A Tribe for Jazz, presented WCBE Jazz Sunday host/producer, Dr. Jack Marchbanks the 2026 Columbus JJA Jazz Hero Award on International Jazz Day, followed by a concert with Spanish trumpeter Milena Casado at the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio.
Steve Cerra maintains both JazzProfiles blogspot and CerraJazz Substack, and has been hard at work self-publishing Jazz Trumpet A Reader Volume 1. This is the 18th in a series and you can locate all of them on his JazzProfiles. He’s also finishing work on a 2nd Jazz Trumpet anthology with an expected completion this month. A lot of work goes into developing these collections and they contain many rare articles, interviews, and commentaries which would be of interest to members, and anyone pursuing Jazz research. (Steve was awarded a JJA Special Citation for Historical Writings in 2025.)
John Chacona presented the 2026 Akron JJA Jazz Hero Award to saxophonist/composer/educator Chris Coles at the University of Akron’s Jazz Week. From his home base of Cleveland, Chacona continues his project documenting the people, places and events where improvised music in the Black American tradition can be found in northeast Ohio. Coverage that appears weekly on his let’s call this blog is now mirrored on Substack and YouTube channels with the same name. Interviews with local and touring artists originally conducted for let’s call this can be found in greater length at All About Jazz.
Steve Foster of Jazzshots continues his coverage of grassroots jazz clubs around Oxfordshire, England. Jazz is alive and kicking in rural Oxfordshire and surrounding counties where they’re booking top UK jazz musicians. For a menu of Jazzshots, check out Stephen Foster Photography. We’re looking forward to seeing more photojournalism from Steve this year, and possible collaborations with our growing jazz community in the U.K.!
Doug Hall has interviewed Swingtime Big Band leader, arranger, saxophonist and artistic director Steve Shaiman regarding promoting his love and passion for the Big Band era, on Talk About Jazz with Doug Hall. Steve’s band is celebrating 50 years of performances with authentic recreations of timeless swing music by such iconic bandleaders as; Count Basie, Artie Shaw, Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey & Duke Ellington.
David Haney’s Journey to Luray, with Yael Acher, is reviewed in the June issue of New York City Jazz Record. On June 5, Haney was the featured guest on the Vienna Live podcast. That day also saw an album release, The Waters of Nonexistence, on Ravello Records: a new work drawing from ancient Vedic stories and placed in modern day, New York City. https://simeonmorrow.com/vienna-live/david-haney-the-waters-of-non-existence
Hank Hehmsoth received a 2026 AACME Elevate grant through H Project Performing Arts Association for Double Vision Jazz Ensemble’s Austin-based contemporary jazz series, supporting original music, public performance, and community engagement. Upcoming programming includes the Eddie Durham Tribute featuring Double Vision Jazz Ensemble at Texas Music Museum and a youth jazz workshop/jam session.
Ellen Johnson, jazz vocalist, author, and educator, released Elemental Essence: A Neurosonic Journey on June 12, 2026; a five-track ambient neurosonic work produced in collaboration with Shea Thompson at Scientific Sounds which blends brainwave entrainment frequencies with the natural elements. Johnson also publishes the Sound Creativity Journal, a Substack and podcast exploring the intersection of music, voice, neuroscience, and creativity, and has a forthcoming book with Bloomsbury, Healing, Harmony and the Voice: How Singing Transforms Lives.
Sanford Josephson authored an article in the June issue of Jersey Jazz Magazine, “Remembering Ken Peplowski and Celebrating the Work of the Jazz Foundation of America.” https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_J–e9907Y34gbHldtYErmVJedsovnIK/view
Mr. Peplowski was the recipient of the JJA Jazz Award for Clarinetist of the Year. He will be missed.
Gloria Krolak, poet, author and jazz radio host, is thrilled that her poem “The Fantastic Nicknames of Jazz” has been published at Ted Gioia’s Substack, The Honest Broker. Another poem, “Almost Twelve Rounds,” has been published at Scribeworth Magazine, an online literary site.
Ian Mackenzie interviewed pianist Sharon Minemoto about her family’s experiences with the internment of the Japanese in World War II on Canada’s West Coast, as told in her new release, “Goodbye, Strawberry Hill.”
Howard Mandel interviewed JJA 2026 Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism honoree Zan Stewart for The Buzz, reviewed Rhombus by Larry Goldins, Peter Bernstein and Bill Stewart for DownBeat, posted about Sonny Rollins on Mandel’s Media Diet, attending shows by The Klezmatics at City Winery (Chicago) and the Chicago Blues Festival.
Dee Dee McNeil continues to contribute cd reviews to Making A Scene! on a weekly basis. She landed the cover story about jazz saxophonist and composer, Rickey Woodard in the June issue of LA Jazz Scene. Her “Live Review” of the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra Concert that saluted Maurice White at the Long Beach, California Carpenter Center also published in LAJazzScene.buzz. Her article “Jazz Strings and Other Musical Things” published in Musicalmemoirs and featured in depth reviews of nine different cd releases by jazz guitar and bass players.
Rick Mitchell continues to produce two radio programs a week. Jazz in the New Millennium, now in its eleventh year, is syndicated through the African American Public Radio Consortium and airs on about 18 stations nationwide. Rick hosts live jazz, blues and Americana shows on KBOO-FM, Portland’s non-commercial, community station, where he began his radio career more than 50 years ago. He continues to market his book, also titled Jazz In the New Millennium, featuring interviews with 84 prominent jazz musicians active in the 21st Century.
China Moses, singer-songwriter, producer, and broadcaster has parted ways with East Village Radio, where she hosted Jazz Adjacent, the umbrella for all her radio, music, journalism, and curatorial work. Her Jazz Adjacent Substack remains active, with a brand relaunch planned for this fall. Her tenth-year show Made In China on TSF Jazz, France’s leading independent national jazz radio station, moves to a weekly format this season — every Thursday at 7PM — featuring live performances, guest interviews, and new releases, with the voice as its central focus. On Jazz FM UK, Late Night China Moses, now in its eighth year, is the network’s standout weekday performer.
Natalia Rikker performed as the host of a concert with music by Russian jazz flutist Georgy Anokhin, presenting his program suite based on Friedrich Schiller‘s play “Fiesco’s Conspiracy at Genoa.” Natalia also gave a lecture on the history of jazz at the Fabrik International Jazz Festival in the Ural city of Tyumen.
Fiona Ross has been busy curating the Women in Jazz Photography exhibition, which is currently on tour in the UK having spent two weeks exhibiting at the Manchester Jazz Festival. The exhibition features award-winning photographers from South Africa, New York, Poland and the United Kingdom including fellow JJA members Tatiana Gorilovsky and Enid Farber. Fiona is also recently back from performing in Paris as part of her Moments In My Notebook album tour.
Monk Rowe is the Joe Williams Director of the Fillius Jazz Archive at Hamilton College in Clinton New York. Since 1995, Monk has conducted video interviews with jazz artists both famous and unsung. The 530+ sessions, organized in Playlists by Instrument, are viewable on the Fillius Jazz youtube channel. Monk also hosts the podcast Jazz Backstory, now in its fifth season. Voices of these interviewees address fascinating themes and topics in the jazz world. He co-authored the book, Jazz Tales from Jazz Legends with his wife Romy Britell. Monk is a saxophonist, pianist and composer and currently directs The Five Families Ensemble, a contemporary chamber group that includes all four families of instruments plus vocals.
Ron Scott, jazz columnist and freelance writer in NYC, along with his non-profit TransAtlantic Jazz Exchange are delighted to announce the opening of TransAtlantic Cultural House in Cape Town, South Africa. It is a new community-rooted space dedicated to music where artists, young people, educators and community members can share knowledge, and preserve the rich musical and cultural traditions of South African heritage through cultural exchange.
Brad Stone continues to produce the regular (mostly weekly) radio program, The Creative Source, featuring new releases and current artists; and emphasizing progressive jazz, jazz fusion and original compositions. The program streams on demand via SoulandJazz.com and has been “on the air” for over 12 years now. His interview program, “Chats with the Cats,” which airs on YouTube, will be revived this summer.
Neil Tesser‘s liner essays appear on several newly released albums: Live Your Dream, a live set from the Brad Goode Quintet with Ernie Watts; Resistant Noise, a compilation of pieces from classical composer and flutist Janice Misurell-Mitchell; Frenetic Domain, from jazz saxist Shawn Maxwell and classical saxophonist Chika Inouye; John Hart’s New Mantra; Anthony Ferrara’s Straight into the Sun Vision; and Love Grows Deep, an in-concert 2001 recording from vibist Dick Sisto and pianist Fred Hersch.
Jesse “Chuy” Varela, program and music director at KCSM JAZZ 91 (and 2023 JJA SF Bay Area Jazz Hero), has recently conducted a plethora of on-air interviews: Steve Wilson, John Beasley, Rudresh Manhatappa, Eddie Henderson, Eliane Elias, Luciana Souza, Stella Heath, Allan Harris, Sheila Escovedo, and others. He also coordinated with the Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble on the BHS Honors Project where students get to explore something in jazz other than playing their instrument. Three students chose to do radio programs. Thanks for keeping jazz broadcasting alive, Chuy!
