Ask the birds, the trees, and Old Father Time,
JJA member activities continue to climb! A new record of members’ updates came into JJA central this month, confirming that a timeless passion for jazz and journalism in every genre plays on, to keep this music alive for us today and for future generations.
Encore! In addition to September updates, check out the recent reportage on Festivals across the nation and around the globe, on JJA News!
Matty Bannond reported from Hayden Chisholm’s “To Bee Ritual” in Cologne for Free Jazz Collective during September and also wrote about a live performance by Kalia Vandever for All About Jazz. September marked the one-year publication anniversary of his jazz-related novel, Cutting Contest. He is now working on reviews of albums by Tyrone Allen II, Oddrun Lilja and Gisela Horat for Jazz Journal. In October, he will attend concerts by Gabby Fluke-Mogul and Christian McBride.
Jane Ira Bloom announces the Oct 22 digital release of her latest trio album, Light from a Person on Outline Records (OTL147 & OTL147i), featuring vibist David Friedman and bassist Ken Filiano. The project will be released in high definition stereo and 5.1 immersive sound.
Bob Blumenthal was honored to speak, along with fellow journalists Herb Boyd and Aidan Levy, at the Celebration of the Life and Music of Sonny Rollins that the Rollins family and the Jazz Foundation of America held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on September 19. The event also included remarks by more than a dozen others, in person and via video, as well as musical interludes by over 40 artists.
Steve Braunginn, producer/host of Strictly Jazz Sounds podcast, enjoyed listening to Adam O’Farrill’s quartet Elephant in Columbus, OH, A Tribe for Jazz (ATFJ) presentation. He spent some time with both Adam and his pianist Yvonne Rogers, with whom Steve held preliminary discussions regarding a live podcast interview with her before a live audience on October 19. Steve also rejoined bassist Richie Goods and vibraphonist supreme Chien Chien Lu at an ATFJ presentation at the Columbus Museum of Art. Finally, he spent considerable time preparing a two-part podcast episode about Thelonious Monk, just in time for his birthday. The two-part series will be in All About Jazz as well as on all standard streaming services.
Steve Cerra of JazzProfiles enjoys continued successful sales of his book Shelly Manne: His Life and Music, now donating half royalties to a local school district to help individual students buy musical instruments, in addition to a full drum kit gift to his local community college big band and financial support to the Gerry and Franca Mulligan Foundation.
John Chacona published interviews with Virginia MacDonald, Moises Borges and Ava Preston for All About Jazz where he reviewed Cleveland’s free Hingetown Jazz Festival and a performance by Otherlands Trio. Every week he documents the people, places and events where improvised music in the Black American tradition can be found in northeast Ohio on his let’s call this blog and on Substack.
Con Chapman’s profile of Tete Montoliu was published on AllAboutJazz.com on September 6.
Thierry De Clemensat of Blue Bayou Radio wrote a tribute to Cassandra Wilson and over twenty reviews for Paris Move, including the upcoming release of the JJA Trumpeter of the Year, Michael Dease. Additionally, he reported on Charles McPherson at Monk’s Jazz Club in Austin TX. Blue Bayou Radio continues hosting JJA’s podcast of The Buzz for French audiences.
Enid Farber’s summer-into-fall photo schedule was pretty full, including a milestone birthday at the Montreal Jazz Festival, her first time there. Other festivals shot included Poughkeepsie, NY’s Jazz in the Valley; The Charlie Parker Fest; The Nyack, NY Jazz Fest; the Sunset Music Series on the Hudson River; the Union, NJ Jazz Fest; The Jazz Foundation of America’s Sonny Rollins Memorial; and Eli Yamin and his Jazz Power Initiative’s first performance in their new home at upper Manhattan’s People’s Theater.
Sid Gribetz wrote the liner notes for Houston Person’s new CD From The Heart (Arbors Jazz).
Doug Hall has interviewed piano prodigy Ian Macklin-Sims, who began playing the instrument at 5 and was touring the country performing at 16 in high school. Just graduating from Berklee College of Music, Ian is making plans for his future professional career. Published on Talk About Jazz with Doug Hall.
Geoffrey Himes covered the DC Jazzfest for JazzTimes magazine with a focus on Isaiah Collier, Bill Frisell, Emmet Cohen, Michelle Rosewoman, Jeremy Pelt, TK Blue, Danilo Perez and Ekep Nkwelle.
Sanford Josephson interviewed vibraphonist Joe Locke, tenor saxophonist/bandleader Lance Bryant, and tenor saxophonist Jacob Chung in the September issue of Jersey Jazz Magazine. On October 13, Josephson will begin his fall 2026 Jazz Giants and Rising Stars online course for Rutgers’ Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program. On October 27, he will make a presentation on the Life and Music of Tony Bennett at the Metuchen, NJ, Library.
Yuki Kimura blogged about helping Rich Huang, “Drum King” of Taiwan, also featured in the book Echoes of Swing: Translocal Journeys Across the Jazz Scenes of Aomori, Japan, and Taiwan, during his visit to Tokyo and reconnecting after 20 years with his longtime friend Tsunoda Hiro, “Drum King” of Japan.
Kelly Korzun attended the 2026 Chicago Jazz Festival, a four-day-long celebration of one of the city’s most beloved art forms. In addition to local, national and international performances at Millennium Park, this year’s program included panel discussions and other special events at the Chicago Cultural Center produced by the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) in partnership with the Jazz Institute of Chicago. Check out Fest Reports: Chicago, Re-viewed for more highlights.
Leslie Lynnton Fuller in Indianapolis, aka Naptown, interviewed Nate Smith and Sheila E. in advance of Indy Jazz Fest. During a visit to Washington D.C. she attended a protest showing support for the beleaguered Kennedy Center.
Howard Mandel reviewed All Together Now by Nicole McCabe and Savannah Harris for DownBeat and republished his articles about John Coltrane, written in 2002 and 2012 at Mandel’s Media Diet.
Rayna Mathis recently completed production of the Earshot Jazz Festival program. The 38th festival runs in Seattle, WA, October 7-25, in partnership with venues across the city, featuring an incredible lineup of international & national acts and Seattle’s own resident artists. Festival schedule at earshot.org/festival.
Rick Mitchell produced new Jazz In The New Millennium radio programs on trumpeter Charles Tolliver and saxophonist Sherman Irby as well editing a previously aired program on Cassandra Wilson. He recently interviewed Joshua Redman, Chief Adjua and Makaya McCraven for DaCamera of Houston.
Molly Motherwell debuted two new jazz programs in September at WEMU: “Planet Jazz,” featuring global jazz and hosted by musician and bandleader, Dave Sharp, 5-7 pm (ET) Sundays and “ The Music Room,” a showcase of fresh jazz grooves, the local scene and happenings, plus an occasional deep dive into classics and rare gems, hosted by veteran broadcast Michael Jewett, 7-9 pm (ET) Sundays.
Chuck Obuchowski, host of Out Here & Beyond on WWUH Radio 91.3 FM / wwuh.org in West Hartford, CT, will interview Jeff Lederer on Oct. 6 at 10 a.m. The multi-reedist performs “There’s a Yearnin’ – Music for Winds and Voice” with the Wildebeest Wind Quintet and vocalist Mary LaRose at Firehouse 12 in New Haven on Oct. 9 at 8:30 p.m. Chuck turns the mic over to longtime WWUH announcer J.O. Spaak on Oct. 13 from 11 a.m. – noon, featuring compositions by Oscar Brown Jr. to mark his centenary. The legendary singer, songwriter, and poet was born on Oct. 10, 1926 and died in 2005.
Wildstyle Paschall photographed Indianapolis drummer Richard “Sleepy” Floyd by the iconic John Spaulding sculpture of jazz musicians at the intersection of West Street and Indiana Avenue.
Fiona Ross is currently working in Zurich as a judge for the ZKB Jazzpreis 2026. Running for over 24 years, it is Switzerland’s most lucrative jazz prize (15,000 Swiss francs for the winner, and 5,000 francs for the runners-up) held at the Moods jazz club in Zürich. Fiona is also working on the next stop on the Women in Jazz Media photography exhibition tour, which starts in October at the Penarth Jazz Festival in Wales with includes fellow JJA members Enid Farber and Tatiana Gorilovsky.
Luciano Rossetti made a two-part photo report (over the summer) for New York’s Vision Festival, published in AllAboutJazz and also reportage on Minerva Musicae Festival at Manerba del Garda (Italy). His most recent big project about ECM music will open next October 30, in Bergamo Italy (Exhibition and Catalog).
Syd Schwartz interviewed Charles Tolliver for an SFJazz feature about his Africa/Brass band appearing in San Francisco in October. He also wrote liner notes for a live Ella Fitzgerald release on Gearbox Records; for Sonny Clark, Michel Petrucciani/Jim Hall/Wayne Shorter on Blue Note; and the upcoming Wilbur Harden/John Coltrane Savoy reissues on Craft.
Hilary Seabrook has had a difficult month, with personal bereavements. However, she managed several reviews and podcast episodes – especially one of each featuring Scottish sax player Matt Carmichael. The month ended with a special live podcast episode with an audience on YouTube, before taking a few days off to plan more Harmonious World projects.
Rob Shepherd published several of his interviews on his website: Nate Smith on his first festival as Newport Jazz Artistic Director; Jon Madof on his new trio’s release, ‘Netzach,’ on John Zorn’s Tzadik Records; Producer Sun Chung on five years of his label, Red Hook Records; NEA Jazz Master Charles Lloyd on Zakir Hussain and ‘Forest Flower’ at sixty; and Arturo Sandoval ahead of his Austin City Limits debut.
Wilbert Sostre was featured on two articles by Jesse “Chuy” Varela, KCSM Program/Music Director and Melissa Rohlfs, KCSM Underwriting Representative in the KCSM Jazz 91 September Newsletter, celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. He is the author of Boricua Jazz: The History of Puerto Rican Jazz and host of “Puerto Rico Jazz” heard Sunday Mornings at 10am (PST) on KCSM’s HD2 channel.
Emily Steinhilber is heading into Seattle’s Earshot Jazz Festival. Her October work for The New York City Jazz Record includes the Branford Marsalis Quartet and Dianne Reeves, plus an interview with Miles Davis collaborator Robert Irving III. She will be in conversation with Antonio Hart.
Neil Tesser emceed the third night of the Chicago Jazz Festival and onstage presented Patricia Brennan with her JJA award as “Jazz Mallet Instrument Player of the Year.” Over the summer, Tesser’s liner notes appeared on new albums by saxophonists Vito Dieterle, Jimmy Farace, Antonio Ferrara, Rob Scheps, and Arman Sangalang; pianists Michael Eckroth and Tommy Muellner; and trumpeter Brad Goode. He continues to host “Jazz Across America from Chicago” on Thursday nights at KSDS-FM in San Diego.
Jesse “Chuy” Varela produced tributes galore on KCSM JAZZ 91: Sonny Rollins’ Birthday, Arsenio Rodriguez’s Birthday, Miles’ 100th, and Trane’s 100th. He also conducted interviews with Ali Ryerson, Bobby Sanabria, Jason Olaine (MJF ’26), and Denny Zeitlin. He wrote a memorial piece on Louie Romero, timbalero with Mazacote; Willie Colon; David Amram; Ron Carter; and others for El Tecolote in the San Francisco Mission. He is currently reviewing Ravi Coltrane at the UC Theatre Berkeley and MJF ’26.
Linda Yohn continues to host the “Swing Set” on WRCJ-FM in Detroit, with the highlight of her summer being the 2026 Detroit Jazz Festival over Labor Day weekend. She presented the JJA Award to Artemis for “2026 Mid-Sized Ensemble of the Year” with assistance from Detroit and Ann Arbor JJA Jazz Heroes, W. Kim Heron and Ellen Rowe. At DJF she also hosted stages for: The Borderland Ensemble, The University of Michigan Jazz Ensembles, Roberta Gambarini with the Detroit Jazz Festival Orchestra, Skyler Tang quartet and Joe Lovano’s “Coltrane 100: Both Directions at Once” Festival as a closer. She also conducted a DJF livestream interview with pianist, composer, and vocalist Sequoia “Redwood” Snyder which was featured in a Detroit PBS “Detroit Performs Live” episode.
