Jazz journalism is alive and well, as JJA members are getting their news and views about the music out in every media platform — locally, nationally and internationally.We never sleep! See the most recent publications and other work reported by the extremely active members of the Jazz Journalists Association after the jump. If you’re a JJA member and want your recent activities included in the next installment of Member Updates, send a brief paragraph beginning with your name to membernews@jazzjournalists.org by April 3, 2018.
Stephanie J. Castillo is celebrating the official U.S./Canada release of her acclaimed documentary Thomas Chapin: Night Bird Song. On March 20, the film and a Special Edition DVD will be available on ITunes and other streaming platforms. A new website to support the film’s release is at www.nightbirdsongfilm.com.
Ken Franckling photographed and wrote an overview of personal highlights aboard the 2018 edition of The Jazz Cruise for his Jazz Notes blog. He also blogged about two February concerts in Southwest Florida: a Veronica Swift/Jeff Rupert quartet performance in Port Charlotte and a Dick Hyman-Ken Peplowski “Symphony of Broadway”-themed concert with a 47-piece orchestra in Venice, FL.
James Hale profiled Toronto-based drummer Nick Fraser for DownBeat and wrote about guitarist Stephane Wrembel’s Django Experiment III for SoundStageXperience.com.
Lew Shaw continued his coverage of jazz-oriented museums with a visit to the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, California. The Museum presents the storied history of music instruments and products – from invention to creation to market – and is based in the headquarters of NAMM. Among the interesting exhibits currently on display is the piano in use at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. on the night that President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated – April 14, 1865.
Jeroen de Valk has been planning a concert on June 1, 2018, opening a local festival in a hotel close to the location where Chet Baker died, thirty years ago. We’ll concentrate on his music: from the early Mulligan days to the dynamite Tokyo concert in 1987. In the band are de Valk; John Engels, who worked with Chet in Japan; and other Chet veterans.
Michael J. West‘s weekly picks feature, Jazz Setlist, made a happy return to Washington City Paper this month after four months at Washingtonian magazine. He is also continuing with his new WCP column Crescendo in Blue, which this month looked at the local jazz smorgasbord known as the Mid Atlantic Jazz Festival.
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.)
