Jazz journalists made the most of April, as our members’ updates of most recent activities heartily demonstrate!
The JJA engaged its members, associates and local jazz communities in the celebration of 23 U.S.-based Jazz Heroes (with a video town hall featuring them from Bret “Jazz Video Guy” Primack), and announcement of hundreds of honored nominees for 2021 Jazz Awards at our newly skinned JJAJazzAwards website. JJANews has published provocative, informative posts and is planning what comes next.
But enough of the collective us. Here’s what you’ve wrought:
Jeff Cebulski’s column, “Jazz with Mr. C,” is back after a pandemic-induced production layoff. The new one features a lengthy interview with Chris Brubeck, son of the late Dave Brubeck, who updates what’s happening in the musical Brubeck family and talks about the new Time OutTakes release.
Ken Franckling reviewed trumpeter Yohan Giaume’s Whispers of a Shadow – Opus 1, a tribute to composer and pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk, in Offbeat magazine’s April issue. He also provided the context/narrative for trumpeter James Suggs’ March 27 “Tribute to the Jazz Masters” concert at the Firehouse Cultural Center in Ruskin, FL. Suggs’ quartet performed the music of favorite horn players from Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie to Tom Harrell, Roy Hargrove and Ingrid Jensen.
Sid Gribetz published a discography of the late Freddie Redd on the Jazz Discography website.
James Hale wrote about listening to the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s 1971 debut album, The Inner Mounting Flame, through the new Rotel A11 Tribute integrated amplifier for his Art+Tech column on SoundStageXperience.com.
Doug Hall completed a long-form profile article on Thelonious Monk for AllAboutJazz that focused on both the artist’s life and his thriving legacy. He is also interviewing co-owners of the leading jazz club in Taiwan, The Blue Note, and writing an upcoming profile article (late April) including the jazz scene on this small island were he escaped Covid to visit his wife’s family.
David Haney published his rediscovered 2012 interviews with Sonny Rollins and Andrew Greeney in the April edition of Cadence magazine. Lost until a few months ago, these interviews were intended for the 2012 annual edition. He also completed and released on YouTube two out of the three stories in his new musical Vishnu in New York, featuring a modern, up-to-date retelling of three classic Hindu stories. Plans are being made for a live theater version in 2022.
John Edward Hasse continues his contributions to The Wall Street Journal, most recently articles on Dave Brubeck, Take the “A” Train, Kitten on the Keys, Crazy Blues, and the centennial of U.S. radio broadcasting. He has lectured virtually for The Smithsonian Associates, The George Washington University, the University of Maryland, Towson University, and Carleton College. In January, he chaired a panel discussion, “Jazz and the Pandemic: Where Do We Go from Here”? for the JEN conference.
Howard Mandel wrote about the interactive online 1927-themed show “Into the Mist” for DownBeat; prepared prints by the late Lona Foote for exhibition by the Museum of the City of New York; updated Henry Threadgill’s radio play Bedghosts for the Jazz Institute of Chicago to post enriching the NEA Jazz Masters webcast on the JIC platform; supervised Melanie Nanez’s creation of the new JJAJazzAwards.org website, edited the Jazz Heroes bios and texts as well as press releases and posts regarding the 2021 Jazz Awards, and RIP Bob Porter and William Brower for JJANews.
Paul Rauch reviewed trumpeter Charlie Porter’s new release “Hindsight” for All About Jazz. He wrote “Seattle Jazz Spawned a Number of This Year’s Grammy Nominees for the Seattle Times, published March 18. He continued to write the monthly feature cover story for Earshot Jazz, highlighting Seattle JazzEd.
Mike Shanley reviewed I pledge allegiance to the flag — the white flag — pianist Stephanie Nilles’ tribute to Charles Mingus — and Live at the 55 Bar by Ben Monder, Tony Malaby & Tom Rainey in the March issue of JazzTimes. In March, the shanleyonmusic blog expounded on drum albums by Scott Clark, Devin Gray and Gerald Cleaver, as well as Joe Lovano’s Trio Tapestry and Alan Sondheim & Azure Carter’s wild ESP album.
