John Abbott and Bob Blumenthal will be discussing and signing copies of their new book Saxophone Colossus: A Portrait of Sonny Rollins (Abrams) at the Tribeca Barnes & Noble, 97 Warren Street in Manhattan, on Tuesday, September 14 at 7 p.m. Sonny Rollins has graciously agreed to participate.
Larry Appelbaum reviewed jazz festivals in Vancouver and Molde, Norway for JazzTimes. In addition, he interviewed Helen Merrill, Terri Lyne Carrington and Sonny Rollins for upcoming Before & After pieces in the magazine. He also conducted video interviews with Dafnis Prieto and Uri Caine for the Library of Congress website.
Nancy Barell’s 142nd Edition of “Jazz Spotlight On Sinatra” is currently playing on Live365.com, and is now ranked 19th out of over 400 jazz stations on the website. She has been broadcasting for five and a half years, going strong and enjoying it greatly.
Skip Bolen has completely updated his music photography website, www.SkipBolenStudio.com. Now included are his color photographs from the 2009 and 2010 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and many new black-and-white photos of jazz musicians such as Dave Brubeck, Cassandra Wilson, Nicholas Payton, Christian Scott and many more. Skip’s website also features photographs of New Orleans: one year after Hurricane Katrina, Mardi Gras and documentation of New Orleans cemeteries.
Felix Contreras is taking a break from the jazz beat to work on a new project for National Public Radio. He’s now the co-producer and co-host of a new podcast dedicated to Latin Alternative music called Alt.Latino. In the meantime he’s still keeping an eye and ear on all things jazz — last week he reported and produced an appreciation of photographer Herman Leonard for the network’s newsmagazine All Things Considered.
Tim DuRoche is now the host of “The New Thing,” a weekly, hour-long show on KMHD, 89.1 FM in Portland, Oregon — looking avant-garde jazz and creative music from the ’60s onward. Other recent projects include a recording with bassist Dominic Duval and pianist Dana Reason; gigs with Perry Robinson, Marco Eneidi, Didier Petit and Gust Burns; and composing a score for Tere Mathern Dance, produced by White Bird Dance in Portland.
Alex Dutilh has started a blog, in French, on the France Musique website. The blog offers coverage of the Montreal and Marciac festivals, concert reviews and other jazz news.
Gary Giddins spent part of the summer at the MacDowell Colony, where he also had the honor of introducing Sonny Rollins as the first jazz artist to receive the MacDowell Medal, presented by Robert McNeil on August 15. Gary chaired the committee that selected him (it also included Carmen Moore, Dan Morgenstern and Valerie Capers). Sonny, who coincidentally may be the only jazz musician to record a MacDowell composition (“To a Wild Rose”), gave a short and eloquent acceptance speech to a crowd of about 1600, concluding with his wish that “the whole world were like you.”
Thomas Jacobsen‘s review of the CD Body and Soul by drummer Trevor Richards’ New Orleans Trio (featuring vocalist Denise Gordon) appeared in the September issue of the IAJRC Journal. His review of Tom Nolan’s new biography of Artie Shaw ran in the September issue of The Clarinet. Tom’s new website, www.neworleansnotes.com, is now fully operational; in addition to current New Orleans news (with photographs), it includes a selection of previously published articles by the author.
Sanford Josephson‘s book, Jazz Notes: Interviews Across the Generations (Praeger/ABC-Clio), will be featured at the South Orange Maplewood Adult School Book Fair. Details: Saturday, September 11, 1 p.m., at the Barnes & Noble in the Livingston, New Jersey Mall.
Kiyoshi Koyama recently taped a special called “Sonny Rollins@80” on his two-hour weekly program Jazz Tonight on NHK-FM. The program includes a tune (“Patanjali”) from his latest live performance from Zellerback Auditorium, Berkeley, California. Kiyoshi also wrote a story on Sonny’s upcoming October tour of Japan in the newly established magazine JazzJapan, published on August 31.
Doug Ramsey‘s Rifftides (www.dougramsey.com) was voted blog of the year by the Jazz Journalists Association.
Marco Valente is working on the next Auand Records release, a late July recording session in Bari by Mr. Rencore (a trio from Livorno, Italy) featuring Tim Berne. The mix is scheduled in early September.
Chuck Vecoli, staff writer for the e-magazine Jazzreview.com, has been busy this summer reviewing new CDs released by some fantastic new artists, including Jamie Ousley. He will also be covering the Chicago Jazz Festival September 3-5 and the Kettle Moraine Jazz Festival September 10-11. Chuck continues to conduct research on “The Third Exodus,” his project on the emigration of American jazz players to Europe and Asia. While doing this, he continues his study of jazz guitar, with the goal of learning 100 standards by heart.
