Member Updates: December 2010

Bridget Arnwine is the Jazz Music Examiner for http://examiner.com/dc.

R.J. DeLuke wrote about trombonist/composer/arranger extraordinaire Josh Roseman for AllAboutJazz.com, on the heels of a story about Kenny Werner and his triumphant album (borne of tragedy) No Beginning, No End. R.J. continues to write on his blog, RJ on Jazz, most recently giving a tip of the hat to George Wein on his perseverance with the Newport Jazz Festival.

Kirpal Gordon reviewed Barry Wallenstein’s jazz poetry book, Tony’s World, for American Book Review. The interview, on the subject of jazz and poetry, is posted here. Also, a review of Gordon’s Ghost & Ganga: A Jazz Odyssey is posted here.

Geoffrey Himes’ profile of the Cajun band Beausoleil, originally published in Offbeat magazine, was included in Best Music Writing 2010 (Da Capo Press), published on November 2, 2010. Geoff was also a featured guest on November 13 at the New Mercury Readings, a new Baltimore series of public readings by nonfiction writers. On November 20, Geoff also hosted a concert of songs about Baltimore for the Creative Alliance at the Patterson Theatre.

Janice Jarrett is now in her fourth or fifth year as one of the Roads Scholars for the Arizona Humanities Council, traveling about five times a year to different parts of the state to speak to audience on topics that include “Jazz and the American Identity,” “Music and Healing” and “Music and the Brain: Can Music Make You Smarter?” She is working on an upcoming CD with many featuring her lyrics, including those to compositions by Kenny Barron and George Cables.

Willard Jenkins will hold two events in December with Randy Weston to promote African Rhythms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston (composed by Randy Weston, arranged by Willard Jenkins, published by Duke University Press): a book signing at Harlem Arts Salon on December 5, and a free listening party for Weston’s new release The Storyteller at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Neshui Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame at Frederick P. Rose Hall. Willard’s blog The Independent Ear also features two new installments in its series of conversations with African American music writers, “Ain’t But a Few of Us.”

Gordon Marshall has initiated a new blog, Minds On Song, focusing on the role music plays in the lives of non-musicians, featuring essays, interviews and poetry.

Bill Milkowski is working with guitar great Pat Martino on his autobiography, scheduled for a Fall 2011 release on Backbeat Books. He has also written recent concert summaries for Wolfgang’s Vault on 1967 Newport Jazz Festival concerts by Earl Hines, Gabor Szabo and John Handy; 1972 Newport concerts by Freddie Hubbard, Oscar Peterson, Benny Goodman, Herbie Mann, and the Ruby Braff-George Barnes Quartet, as well as mid-’70s Great American Music Hall concerts by Sarah Vaughan, Joe Pass, Clark Terry, Eubie Blake, Stephane Grappelli, Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie and Hampton Hawes.

Sebastian Scotney’s LondonJazz site came in sixth in Wikio’s November 2010 survey of the most influential music blogs across all genres of music in the UK. LondonJazz will be two years old on January 12, 2011.

Carol Sudhalter recorded Under My Hat (Doodlin’) with legendary organist/vocalist Sarah McLawler. Carol has also just completed the translation from Italian of a new book on Brunelleschi’s dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral in Florence, Italy, Il segreto della cupola del Brunelleschi (“The Secret of Brunelleschi’s Dome”) by Roberto Corazzi and Giuseppe Conti (Pontecorboli Editore). The book will be on the market in January 2011.