Here are the most recent publications and other work reported by the extremely active members of the Jazz Journalists Association. We never sleep!
David R. Adler wrote the July 2012 cover story for JazzTimes on guitarist/vocalist John Pizzarelli. He’s currently working on a JazzTimes feature about the commercial decline of “smooth jazz.” In early August he is expecting the birth of his second daughter. Soon after he’ll begin another semester teaching jazz history at Queens College.
Gregg Akkerman published an interview with vocalist Sachal Vasandani at All About Jazz as part of his “Jazz on the 90th Floor” column. Akkerman will be interviewed by Bill McCann for his “Saturday Morning Edition of Jazz” show on WCDB in Albany (June 23, 9-11 a.m.). The two will discuss Akkerman’s book, The Last Balladeer: The Johnny Hartman Story, to be released the first week of July by Scarecrow Press as part of their Studies in Jazz Series.
Angelika Beener has just wrapped up two stories for DownBeat: On guitarist Mike Moreno’s new release and JazzSet‘s 20th anniversary, with an interview with its host, DeeDee Bridgewater. She has also recently written about the “Modern Standard” on her Alternate Takes blog. A feature on drummer Marcus Gilmore is in the works for the blog, as well as reviews of new releases from Orrin Evans and Davy Mooney for the Nextbop blog. Angelika will also join The Checkout’s Josh Jackson as co-host of the 2012 JJA Awards on June 20th.
Suzanne Cloud will be covering Leo R. Gadson, a jazz concert producer in Philadelphia since the 1970s in her “Philly Jazz Journal” column for JazzTimes, and will be combining the feature with a review of Gadson’s latest production in his Jazz on the Square series featuring saxophonist Tim Warfield, pianst Mulgrew Miller, bassist Vicente Archer, and drummer Chris Beck at the Ethical Society of Philadelphia on Rittenhouse Square.
Yvonne Ervin, JJA Vice President, produced the Charles Mingus Hometown Music Festival in Nogales, AZ with the Santa Cruz Advocates for the Arts in April and broke ground with Nogales’ mayor for the Mingus Memorial Performance Park which will be opened next year on Mingus’ 91st Birthday.
John Fenton has been posting large amounts of material about the Auckland Jazz scene on his ‘Jazz Local 32’ Blog and he is working towards the JJA Awards satellite party on the 20th June. There is publicity associated with the Awards Night and he has been profiling the artists who will be attending and sending the information to local media outlets. He has also been following a large number of gigs about town and videoing them, taking photographs and writing reviews. Recording and writing about several young outstanding Jazz Studies Students from the Universities has been a high point of the month for him.
Ted Gioia‘s new book, The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire, will be published by Oxford University Press on July 9. In this 500-page work, Ted traces the history and role in jazz of 250 leading standards, and includes a listening guide to more than 2,000 different recordings.
Steve Griggs wrote a feature on bassist Jeff Johnson for Earshot Jazz and 4Culture provided grant funding for his book project on saxophonist Joe Brazil.
Marcia Hillman had a delightful interview with 84-year-old blues singer Ernie Andrews for an article to appear in the next issue of The New York City Jazz Record.
Patrick Hinely finally got back to Charleston SC for Spoleto Festival USA after a five-year absence, and spent some time with bassist Renaud Garcia-Fons and ukelele phenomenon Jake Shimabukuro.
Lyn Horton has ceased to write for all publications except her blog, The Paradigm for Beauty. She posted an article on her blog (also posted in the JJA Music Diaries) which gives her reasons for making this move. Her blog will continue to carry music-related articles.
Matthew Kassel wrote a review of Regina Spektor’s sixth solo album, What We Saw From The Cheap Seats, for The Forward. He wrote a profile of the guitarist Peter Bernstein for Hot House Jazz and a review of Across The Imaginary Divide, a new album from Béla Fleck and the Marcus Roberts Trio, for The New York City Jazz Record. At the last minute, he was invited to the New Orleans Jazz Festival, in late April, and happily attended for the first time. And though it doesn’t have to do with jazz, he penned his first piece for the small business section of The Wall Street Journal.
Kiyoshi Koyama‘s recent guests at NHK-FM’s Jazz Tonight show (every Saturday from 11:00 pm – 1:00 am) were Jim Hall and Chris Potter, both of whom performed in Tokyo late May. Jim played “Bags’ Groove,” duetting with Brian Camelio, and Chris played an amazing solo rendition of “All The Things You Are.”
Rudy Lu‘s photo was published in an interview with drummer Dave Colarco in the June issue of Drummer’s World. He also photographed and reviewed the most recent performance of the Ed Palermo Big Band at the Falcon Marlboro, NY for nippertown.com, and photographed the one-time performance of a quintet lead by Dick Oatts and Jon Gordon on alto sax at Albany’s Lark Tavern, as well as a piano duet featuring Rebecca Cline and Nicki Denner at Union College Schenectady, both for albanyjazz.com.
Howard Mandel produced the 16th annual JJA Jazz Awards at the Blue Note in June — while writing his CityArts column about the Jazz Gallery on the real estate market, Marcus Roberts playing Jelly Roll Morton at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the Vision Fest (where he appeared on a panel, “Freedom Then/Freedom Now”). Howard convened an informal meeting of about a dozen emerging jazz journalists at the Garage, introducing the JJA.
Dom Minasi will appear with Cristian Amigo in their Improvising Guitar Duet in the On the Way Out Presents Music From the New York Underground Series at Freddy’s Back Room, 627 5th ave in Brooklyn on Tuesday, June 26th.
Steve Monroe‘s May “Jazz Avenues” column for the Mid-City DC edition on capitalcommunitynews.com featured previewsof the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival and the upcoming DC Jazz Festival, as well as a review by Bobby Hill of Jason Kao Hwang’s performance at Bohemian Caverns, and a review of saxophonist Antonio Parker’s new CD Steppin’ Out — Live @ HR-57. Monroe’s profile was also added to the ongoing dialogue “Ain’t But a Few of Us,” regarding African-American jazz writers on the Independent Ear.
Lenore Raphael has had a great month. She will be featured in the next issue of the Steinway magazine, has been a producer of a soon to be ongoing jazz series in New York and her new recording with the wonderful guitarist Howard Alden has just been released on the Swingin’ Fox Music label.
Lew Shaw has been featuring some of the up-and-coming young musicians in his series of profiles in The American Rag, the most recent being Molly Ryan, the Anderson Twins (Pete and Will), and Rossano Sportiello.
Arnold Jay Smith has been serializing his trip to Cuba in 1977 w/Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines, David Amram, Ray Mantilla, Joanne Brackeen, and others. www.jazzinsights.net: Essays. Rants. Riffs. Check it out.
Daniel Smith‘s two-part profile in Cadence magazine, originally scheduled to begin July, 2012, will now take place in October, 2012 and January, 2013. These interviews will spotlight his unique career, ranging from numerous award winning classical and crossover albums to his much praised jazz albums and performances. Along with appearing in the print version, audio versions on the Internet will feature links to sample CDs, a new electronic press kit, and recent YouTube performance videos.
Carol Sudhalter is delighted that her upcoming tour (June 12 to July 24) will include several dates in the island of Sardinia, which she has always longed to visit. The dates will be in Villasimius, Barisardo Marina, and drummer Vittorio Sicbaldi’s new Jambalaya Jazz Club in Cagliari. She expects to be blogging about the woes of beating a path to Sardinia from Plymouth, UK.
Richard Vacca‘s book, The Boston Jazz Chronicles: Faces, Places, and Nightlife 1937 – 1962, has just been published by Troy Street Publishing. The release was celebrated with a launch event at Wally’s Jazz Cafe in Boston on May 6. First review is in; the May 1 issue of Library Journal says: “It’s impossible to view this book as anything but required reading for those interested in the music and the city.” Off to a good start!
F. Norman Vickers, a charter member of JJA, was recently honored by Mayor of Pensacola, FL for his longtime work for jazz. He is a founder of Jazz Society of Pensacola (JSOP) and Pensacola JazzFest (PJF) and a past president of American Federation of Jazz Societies. The 29th annual Pensacola JazzFest was held April 14-15. At this event, Mayoral Proclamation was read celebrating that event and Vickers was presented the Key to the City.
Jim Wilke recorded Bobby Broom, Orrin Evans, Human Spirit and Wayne Horvitz groups during the Ballard Jazz Festival for broadcast on KPLU’s “Jazz Northwest.” Other recent shows aired concert recordings of Lary Barilleau’s Latin Jazz Collective and The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra playing NW jazz composers music. On “Jazz After Hours” (PRI), Jim interviewed Amina Figarova on the eve of her US tour, and celebrated the Gil Evans Centennial with Ryan Truesdell’s Gil Evans Project and Gil Evans’ own recordings from throughout his career.
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If you are a JJA Member and want your update to be included in next month’s roundup, send it to membernews@jazzjournalists.org by July 1, 2012.
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