See now: First samples of eyeJAZZ, the JJA’s brand of 
from-the-scene music-news videos made quickly with handy pocket digital cameras and uploaded just as fast to the Internet. And here’s our logo —
Brief clips with interviews and music from the 45th anniversary concert of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) and also its 40th — both held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago — has been posted at YouTube and the eyeJAZZ Facebook page (please visit and “like” it).
Here’s the clip by Howard Mandel of Nicole Mitchell and Ari Brown talking about Roscoe Mitchell’s “Contemporary Experiments” for sextet at the AACM 45th anniversary concert in Chicago:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_izlo7MNDU
eyeJAZZ, the “guerilla video” project for which the JJA has received generous support from the Doris Duke Foundation via the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, is attracting sign-ups for its news feed (see subscription button elsewhere on JJANews) and gaining buzz among musicians and jazz journalists.
In Chicago, JJA “A Team” honoree Dick Wang, a music professor who 45 years ago encouraged and guided AACM members including Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman and Henry Threadgill, was enthusiastic when hearing of the project — “That’s putting jazz journalism on the cutting edge!” he said. JJA founding member John Litweiler and photographer Lauren Deutsch, a member as a professional photographer as well as executive director of the Jazz Institute of Chicago both expressed interest, while member Rahsaan Clark Morris has made a practice of capturing video on his smart phone, though he’s not consistently posted to the web. Look soon for his clip on “A Team” honoree Geraldine de Haas accepting her award at the JJA Jazz Awards satellite party in Chicago last June.
“I took my pocket video camera to the AACM show Friday night, pulled it out when I realized I could ask some questions up close, and also video-taped a brief bit of performance, which I sought permission to use,” Howard Mandel said about his two-minute 35-second clip. “I traveled all day Saturday, but Sunday afternoon spent about three hours editing what I shot on my Mac using iMovie, titling it and posting it to YouTube. Then I shared it at Facebook, tweeted about it, and will write it up for my personal blog, probably posting in the morning. Getting interesting video material is half the job, disseminating it the other half.
“I don’t know how many folks are interested in seeing Nicole Mitchell and Ari Brown play Roscoe Mitchell’s piece — putting up a clip like this is one way to find out. But I’m believe there are plenty of AACM fans worldwide who’d like to with the organization happy birthday, and here’s a glimpse for them of what’s happening at the AACM Chicago base. Video-making is fun to do, easy, and I bet I’ll do fancier editing faster, when I get a little more used to the software.”
The JJA’s eyeJAZZ plan is to equip 30 applicants with HD pocket video cameras, offer 4 months of concerted training by noted videographers Bret Primack and Floyd Webb (among others) online, and flood YouTube and other such channels with new evidence of the scope and energy of jazz activities, audience participants included. The jazzNEXT grant supporting eyeJAZZ runs for a six month period starting in January, but the JJA sees the initial funding as fuel for a project that could become popular beyond that official grant term. Video clips that independent producers believe fit the eyeJAZZ criteria (brief, newsy, made with handheld consumer cameras) are solicited for posting at the eyeJAZZ Facebook page.
