Looking for proof that jazz is alive and well? You’ll find the most recent publications and other work reported by the extremely active members of the Jazz Journalists Association after the jump. We never sleep! If you are a JJA member and would like your recent activities included in the next installment of Member Updates, send a brief paragraph beginning with your name to membernews@jazzjournalists.org by May 3, 2016.
David R. Adler led the Feit Seminar on jazz history at Baruch College in mid-March as a guest of Professor (and fellow JJA member) Eugene Marlow. David also wrote liner notes for pianist Victor Gould’s debut album Clockwork (Fresh Sound) as well as pianist Florian Weber’s Enja release Criss Cross: Exploring the Music of Monk and Bill Evans. His Before & After listening session with vibraphone master Joe Locke will appear shortly in JazzTimes.
Mirian Arbalejo has been Searching For Jazz Man. She also remembers in her blog the broadcaster, jazz specialist (and enthusiastic) Juan Claudio Cifuentes (AKA ‘Cifu‘), who passed away one year ago.
Jane Ira Bloom announces the premiere of “Wild Lines,” her new work for jazz quartet and spoken word inspired by the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Wild Lines was made possible by Chamber Music America’s 2015 New Jazz Works Program funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Foundation. The premiere is presented by The Magic Triangle Jazz Series on Thursday, April 28th at 8pm at Bezanson Recital Hall in the Fine Arts Center at UMASS/Amherst.
Noal Cohen published part 1 of his annotated discography “Lucky Thompson on European Radio and Television, 1957-1962” in Discographical Forum, Issue 61 (2016).
Sharonne Cohen traveled to Haiti to report on the 10th edition of the Port-au-Prince jazz festival for DownBeat magazine; wrote liner notes for guitarist / oud player Amos Hoffman’s newly released Back to the City; and covered the 20th anniversary concert series of the Upstairs jazz club in Montreal, also for DownBeat magazine.
Yvonne Ervin, finally recovered from producing the Second Annual Tucson Jazz Festival in January, has a busy April. She presented a Jazz Hero Award to Tom Guralnick of Outpost in Albuquerque on April 7 and to Herb and Lorene Ely in Phoenix at The Nash on April 11. After leading the Western Jazz Presenters Network Annual Meeting at SFJazz on April 16, she will produce the annual Charles Mingus Hometown Music Festival in Nogales, AZ on April 23.
Krin Gabbard is on the road publicizing his new book, Better Git It in Your Soul: An Interpretive Biography of Charles Mingus. In April he will be attending the Rhythm Changes conference in Birmingham, UK. At a plenary session at the end of that conference, he will give afterthoughts on his 1995 anthology, Jazz Among the Discourses.
James Hale interviewed drummer Matt Wilson for DownBeat about his new album of dedications to his late wife, and wrote program notes for the Ottawa International Jazz Festival.
Ralph Lampkin is busy working on promotions for Bill Warfield and the Hell’s Kitchen Jazz Orchestra featuring Nicole Henry at Iridium Jazz Club, while also producing the jazz singer/songwriter Martha Lorin, who will appear at the Cafe Noctambulo.
Steve Monroe’s March Jazz Avenues for the East of the River print and capitalcommunitynews.com editions included a preview of the kickoff Washington Women in Jazz Festival event, a Levine Music Young Artist Showcase at THEARC. Monroe also previewed WWJF performances by Leigh Pilzer and Jessica Boykin-Settles, and reviewed Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival highlights in February, including vocalist Sharon Clark and saxophonist Paul Carr playing tunes from their recently released CD “Carr & Clark — Soulful Serenity.”
Jim Wilke taught Jazz: Then and Now at Bellevue College during Winter Quarter. In the last three months, Jim’s Jazz Northwest on KPLU and kplu.org featured recorded concerts by Chano Dominguez, Clarence Acox, Art Lande, Industrial Revelation, The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra with Terence Blanchard, The Tipton Saxophone Quartet and an all-star septet from Jazz Port Townsend. Programs are archived at jazznw.org. On March 12, Jim received a Lifetime Achievement (so far) Award from the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra.
Member Updates are edited by Michael J. West. Use our JJA Member Directories to find JJA members qualified to contribute to your publication or production or to assist you with your jazz-related project. The directories can be searched by name, area of expertise and geographic location.
If you aren’t a JJA Member yet, consider joining us. Membership is open to both Professional Journalists (writers, bloggers, photographers, videographers, web producers and others who cover jazz) and Industry Associates (musicians, educators, presenters, promoters and others who work in the industry and support our work.)
