Karl Ackermann published a list of a dozen essential Matthew Shipp albums at All About Jazz.
Matty Bannond interviewed British tuba player Theon Cross for The New York City Jazz Record this month. He also reported on a concert by Scottish saxophonist Matt Carmichael in Jazz Journal and reviewed new releases by Tyshawn Sorey and Marta Warelis on the Free Jazz Collective website.
David Basse did four Zooms in August with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Swing University. Seton Hawkins, the director, took participants on an amazing jazz travelogue of cities around the globe. David presented Kansas City two decades at a time, beginning in 1918. The fifth installment (from September 19th) is on the JALC Facebook page.
Ken Franckling wrote about the unexpected August 19 passing of trumpeter, bandleader and revered educator Dan Miller at age 53 in his Jazz Notes blog. He previewed appearances by pianist & singer Dena DeRose in the September issue and vibraphonist Chuck Redd in the October issue of Hot House.
James Hale has begun collaboration with Dave Douglas on a book that will explore the trumpeter-composer’s musical journey.
Willard Jenkins’s edited book Ain’t but a Few of Us: Black Music Writers Tell Their Story will be published December 2 by Duke University Press. The book presents presents over two dozen candid dialogues with Black jazz critics and journalists discussing the obstacles to access for Black jazz journalists, how they contend with the world of jazz writing dominated by white men, and how these racial disparities hamper their efforts at writing about other music genres as well.
Sanford Josephson interviewed alto saxophonist Zoe Obadia for the Rising Star feature in the September issue of Jersey Jazz Magazine (reprinted on allaboutjazz.com). He also interviewed Cyrus Chestnut for a feature on the Central Jersey Jazz Festival and bandleader James Langton for a feature on the Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival. For his “More Giants of Jazz” online class for Rutgers Lifelong Learning Institute, he lectured on Hoagy Carmichael, Count Basie alumni, Mary Lou Williams, and Dave Brubeck.
Richard Kamins has been busy interviewing artists for his now twice-monthly radio show on WESU-FM 88.1 and wesufm.org in Middletown, CT. These include Ben Allison, Melissa Stylianou, Marshall Gilkes, Garabedian, Anat Cohen, and Ernesto Cervini (the last three will air September 29, October 6 and 20, respectively). On October 6, trombonist-composer Joe Fiedler comes to visit his two freshmen classes (“How Does Music Reflect & Influence Society”) at Quinnipiac University. His writing for steptempest.blogspot.com is starting to pick up again.
Howard Mandel followed through on the JJA’s Sept. 11 JazzBash!, reviewed albums of quartets led by Michael Formanek and Tom Harrell for DownBeat, co-wrote with photographer Kent Richmond an essay on Louis Armstrong and Lil Hardin for the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s JazzGram newsletter, and penned a script for Dee Alexander in the JIC’s “Chicago Loves Pops” concert (on Oct. 22). He edited/posted Luciano Rossetti’s “Seeing Jazz” Photography Master Class on YouTube, and moderated Marc PoKempner’s “Seeing Jazz” session, to be edited/posted tout suite.
John Pietaro was hired by Local 802 AFM as organizing director in June. His latest poetry book, A Bleeding in Black Leather, was published in August by UnCollected Press/Raw Art Review. Pietaro’s band the Red Microphone also released a corresponding album of the same name on ESP-Disk.
Monk Rowe, the Joe Williams Director of the Fillius Jazz Archive at Hamilton College, has conducted 440 video interviews with jazz artists. He continues to make the interviews available to all. Season 1 of his podcast Jazz Backstory, featuring audio excerpts from the resource, recently launched. The Fillius Jazz youtube channel offers the full video interviews, including sessions with Phil Woods, Lonnie Liston Smith, Maria Schneider, Jon Hendricks and one Howard Mandel, JJA president. Monk can be reached at mrowe@hamilton.edu.
Mike Shanley covered the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival for JazzTimes’ website. His ShanleyOnMusic blog included reviews of Ethan Philion and Harry Skoler’s Mingus tributes, and a write-up about Kirk Knuffke’s and Whit Dickey’s recent albums. Mike also finished mixing an album by his (non-jazz) band the Harry Von Zells.
Rob Shepherd conducted several interviews for PostGenre, including two-part conversations with Steve Lehman (on Sélébéyone’s ‘Xaybu: The Unseen’) and Jeff Coffin. Rob also engaged in shorter discussions with Sasha Berliner and Angelica Sanchez, the latter on her new trio with Billy Hart and Michael Formanek.
Carol Sudhalter is honored to have been invited to participate on baritone saxophone in the premiere performance of pianist Mickey Tucker’s “Spiritual Collage: A Suite for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra”, in Bloomington, Indiana on October 23, 2022. The piece is part of that week’s Jazzin’; B-town special presentations, presented by the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra and IU’s Archives of African American Music and Culture (AAAMC). The jazz band comprises many celebrities, including famed pianist Cyrus Chestnut.
