Forrest Dylan Bryant will lead a conversation with historian John William Templeton at the Mechanics Institute Library in San Francisco, Tuesday November 16 at 6 p.m. The event is being held in honor of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Templeton’s novel Cakewalk is a murder mystery set amidst the birth of San Francisco jazz, and was written during NaNoWriMo in 2009. Forrest is also a NaNoWriMo veteran, having penned his first novel, Dragon in the Snow, last year.
Lyn Horton created the cover art for Blue Mountain’s Sun Drummer, a 1986 recording by Wadada Leo Smith and Ed Blackwell, released for the first time on Kabell Records.
Thomas Jacobsen provided the text and photos for a new CD by New Orleans clarinetist Jack Maheu and his quartet. The album is titled My Inspiration (Jazzology).
Wolfram Knauer, director of the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt and editor of the Jazzinstitut’s JazzNews, published the 11th volume in the book series “Darmstädter Beiträge zur Jazzforschung” (Darmstadt Contributions to Jazz Research) under the title Albert Mangelsdorff. Tension / Spannung (publisher: Wolke Verlag). The book contains essays by German and American authors on the trombonist’s career, his music as well as on contemporary developments in Europe jazz. The book is available in German only.
Kiyoshi Koyama’s Saturday night NHK-FM “Jazz Tonight” show recently featured as guests the piano greats Abdullah Ibrahim, Don Friedman and Baptiste Trotignon. They all performed a solo piano piece live at the studio. Abdullah played his well known “Blues for A Hip King,” Don played his latest composition, “Spring Song,” while Baptiste offered his own “Blue” and “Suite Part 4.”
Steve Monroe wrote his September Jazz Avenues column for Capital Community News about the new Randy Weston book African Rhythms, written with Willard Jenkins, and the new Marc Cary recording. Steve’s October Jazz Avenues column is about Rahmat Shabazz and his new recording, Hamiet Bluett’s 70th birthday bash and the Congressional Black Caucus jazz night in September. See “Midcity DC” at capitalcommunitynews.com for more.
Bobby Ramirez will unveil a new online magazine called BebopCity! which will highlight South Florida as a world-class destination for live jazz. BebopCity! will feature interviews and CD reviews as well as news updates from area presenting organizations, and JAZZY! Blogs. Jazz journalists who are interested in contributing related articles can contact Bobby Ramirez at [ritmocity at yahoo dot com].
Doug Ramsey wrote about Bill Evans for The Wall Street Journal on the 30th anniversary of the pianist’s death. He wrote liner notes for The Definitive Vince Guaraldi (Fantasy) and reissues of Chet Baker: It Could Happen To You (Riverside) and Cal Tjader-Stan Getz (Fantasy), as well as Nancy Marano’s new CD Magic (Laughing Face). At The Seasons Fall Festival, Doug introduced concerts by the Tom Harrell Quintet and the trios of Bill Mays and Martin Wind. His blog, Rifftides, recently celebrated five years on the web.
Maxi Sickert, Berlin journalist and author of Clarinet Bird (a biography of German clarinetist Rolf Kuehn), is currently researching a project on German Postwar jazz and also the current movement of Berlin Silent Music – experimental improvised sounds that include concentrated parts of silence.
Dawn Singh, Manager of the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and Lee Berk, former President of Berklee College of Music, will present Danilo Pérez with the Santa Fe Symphony in their inaugural “jazz meets the classics” concert in February 2011. Pérez will perform repertoire from his CD Across the Crystal Sea.
Bert Vuijsje wrote liner notes for the CD Sarah Vaughan: If This Isn’t Love, released by Muziek Centrum Nederland (formerly the Dutch Jazz Archive). It is the fourth CD in the series “Jazz at the Concertgebouw,” with private recordings by promoter Lou van Rees of Amsterdam jazz concerts from the ’50s and ’60s. Bert is also co-producer of the series.
