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 January 3, 2014.
Brian Arsenault recently reviewed albums by Kellye Gray, Raymond Langosch Cooley, and TriBeCaStan for The International Review of Music.
Nancy Barell has been broadcasting 8 years this month and it is going really well. She is ranked 30 out of over 400 jazz stations on Live365.com. The latest program features Frank Sinatra (as always) and new releases from Paul Marinaro, Marlene Ver Planck, Gilad Edelman, Janis Mann and Kenny Werner as well as the best of straight ahead jazz that Nancy can find.
Jane Ira Bloom premieres a new group at the Cornelia Street Café on Wednesday Dec 18, 8:30pm with long-time collaborators Mark Dresser (bass) and Min Xiao-Fen (pipa), along with Satoshi Takeishi (percussion). The group first played together at the United Nations performing Resonations, a 2009 large-ensemble project combining musicians from remote locations around the world.
Ken Martinez Burgmaier directed and produced a new film and a Jazz Alley TV specialon the Thelonious Monk Jazz Saxophone Competition and tribute to Wayne Shorter at the Kennedy Center and Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. He interviewed and worked with Herbie Hancock, Branford Marsalis, Robin Ford, Kurt Elling, Jimmy Heath, Bobby Watson, and other greats.
Stephanie J. Castillo and music impresario/restauranteur Michael Dorf of City Winery are teaming up to throw a major fundraiser for the Thomas Chapin film project, Thomas Chapin: Night Bird Song, on Jan. 20. All proceeds will benefit the film, now raising the funds needed for its second round of filming this spring.
Steve Cerra posted a review of Gary Giddins’ Celebrating Bird: Revised with a New Introduction to his blog.
Nate Chinen organized and moderated “The Year in Jazz: A Critics Roundtable,” featuring the esteemed jazz journalists Larry Blumenfeld, Greg Tate, Kevin Whitehead and Seth Colter Walls. The public event, at MIST Harlem on Dec. 12, was organized in partnership with the Jazz Museum in Harlem, as part of its Harlem Speaks series.
John Fenton has been busy writing his weekly blog JazzLocal32.com and and attending a number of gigs around Auckland, New Zealand. He has recently interviewed Mike Stern and Brenda Boykin and has also photographed dozens of visiting and local Jazz artists. Hugh Masekela was a highlight. He is working to raise the profile of some Australian and New Zealand musicians who deserve wider recognition and will be flying to Sydney to see Mike Nock, James Muller and Roger Manins perform.
Ken Franckling profiled alto saxophonist David Glasser in the December issue of Hot House in conjunction with his December 14 quartet gig at Smalls. He also blogged in November about three local jazz concerts in Southwest Florida. The snowbirds are flooding back and the concert season is heating up.
Eugene Marlow continues to post to his weekly Marlowsphere Blog. He recently posted a recollection of his “next door” relationship with jazz piano great Bill Evans. For December he has drafted a three-part series on the London (England) jazz scene. Marlow’s review of The Jazz Life of Billy Taylor appears in the December issue of The New York City Jazz Record. He is on the verge of completing a book on jazz in China.
John McDonough’s album notes for Mosaic’s Records’ flagship holiday release, The Complete Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald Decca Sessions (1934-1941) came out in October 2013. In September he began his sixth year teaching the Jazz History 210 at Northwestern University. On July 25, he did a piece on NPR’s All Things Considered discussing how jazz first forced Hollywood to reluctantly change its race policies on the screen.
Ralph A. Miriello attended a performance of Freddy Cole and Hilary Kole at the Stamford Palace Theatre, wrote a piece about the concert and did an interview with Mr. Cole, and reviewed pianist John Escreet’s latest album Sabotage and Celebration for his blog and the Huffington Post.
Jennifer Odell recently completed a feature on the growing popularity of New Orleans-style brass band music outside the Crescent City for DownBeat, covered the Pinettes Brass Band’s win at this year’s Red Bull Street Kings event for Jazz Times, and presented Dr. Lonnie Smith with his 2013 JJA award at Snug Harbor. She also spoke at length with Bonnie Raitt about Allen Toussaint, Joe Henry and the end of Bonnie’s “Slipstream” tour for Offbeat magazine.
Fran Morris Rosman, over at the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, is busy with two new releases – Richard Haver’s great book on Verve Records AND the new Ella 10-disc set, Ella Fitzgerald, The Voice of Jazz. They’re also getting ready for the JEN conference in Dallas. “We are very proud that ‘our’ kids from Cal State Long Beach will be performing.”
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.)
