David R. Adler wrote liner notes for Alex Sipiagin’s Generations: Dedicated to Woody Shaw. He’ll soon write a piece on Fred Hersch to appear in JazzTimes, as well as notes for a forthcoming BEE Jazz trio session with Jerome Sabbagh, Ben Monder and Daniel Humair.
Laurence Donohue-Greene, Managing Editor of All About Jazz-New York (newyork.allaboutjazz.com), wrote liner notes for the recent Jazz Lab Records release by trumpeter Miki Hirose (A Day in New York). Laurence’s photo artwork also graces the debut of the Kadima label’s “Triptych Series,” bassist Mark Dresser’s CD/DVD release Guts (Bass Explorations, Investigations and Explanations). Lastly, All About Jazz-New York is honored to be nominated for the fourth time in the Jazz Awards’ Best Periodical Covering Jazz category. Herbie Hancock is AAJ-NY’s June issue cover story, in anticipation of the pianist’s 70th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall.
Gary Giddins published his 11th book in April, Warning Shadows: Home Alone with Classic Cinema, his first book not primarily about music, though unsurprisingly its longest essay is about the uses of jazz in movies. An abridged edition of Jazz (written with Scott DeVeaux) is being readied for classrooms in the fall.
Geoffrey Himes has contributed two chapters to a new book, Music at the Crossroads: Lives and Legacies of Baltimore Jazz, to be published this month by Loyola University in Maryland. This anthology on Baltimore’s rich jazz history, edited by Mark Osteen and Frank J. Graziano, features Geoff’s profiles of Cyrus Chestnut and Gary Bartz plus profiles of Eubie Blake, Cab Calloway, Chick Webb, Billie Holiday, Mickey Fields, Albert Dailey, Ellis Larkins, Hank Levy, Ethel Ennis and the Left Bank Jazz Society. A publication party will be held at the Eubie Blake Jazz Center on Sunday, May 16, at 3 p.m.
Rozanne Levine brought her quartet Chakra Tuning to the Yippie Museum Café in New York in May, and she will be performing with saxophonist/clarinetist Mark Whitecage as the duo RoMarkable at Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, New York in August. After that they head to Portland, Oregon for two recording sessions for Mahaffay Musical Archives. In September, Rozanne performs in vocalist Nicki Mathis’s annual The Many Colors of a Woman Jazz Festival in Hartford, Connecticut.
Bill Milkowski wrote 19 concert summaries from the 1964 Newport Jazz Festival (including performances by Stan Getz, Rosetta Tharpe, the George Russell Sextet, Mose Allison, Dizzy Gillespie, Ben Webster, Dave Brubek, Jimmy Smith and Max Roach performing the “Freedom Now Suite” with Abbey Lincoln) for the Wolfgang’s Vault website (www.wolfgangsvault.com). He also did a 1970-themed Before & After session with Christian McBride, and a legacy piece about Freddie Hubbard and the recording of his 1970 classic Red Clay, for a special 40th anniversary issue of Jazz Times, which publishes in September. Bill also wrote liner notes for Conrad Herwig’s The Latin Side of Herbie Hancock (Half Note) and Fay Claassen’s SING! (Challenge) and contributed an appreciation of the late Herb Ellis for Guitar Player magazine.
Bob Porter published a eulogy for Jerry Wexler and an appreciation of Dick Katz at Jazzetc.net.
John R. Tumpak’s cover story on Johnny Hodges was published in the May 2010 issue of LA Jazz Scene. On May 12 John delivered a presentation on Ella Fitzgerald at the Brand Library Arts Center in Glendale, California. The Pasadena Community Television Network covered the talk.
Became a member of JJA from Japan few weeks ago.
Ken Dryden will be writing liner notes for a new Mark Whitfield CD to be released by Michael Dease's D Clef label in 2011. He is also at work on liner notes for the CD ÜTAKÉ: The Name of the Wind.