David R. Adler relocated with his family to Wakefield, UK, just south of Leeds, in mid-July. He continues to write liner notes and other materials for musicians around the world. He plans to seek out local musicians, gussy up his practice space, and get back to playing the six guitars he had shipped overseas. He will soon begin the process of applying for Qualified Teacher Status in the UK, with the aim of teaching music in an area school.
Matty Bannond interviewed Ronnie Foster and reviewed the Zoh Amba album Bhakti for the September issue of The New York City Jazz Record. He also wrote about new releases by Lisbeth Quartett and Taxi Consilium for Free Jazz Collective during August.
Nate Chinen, after more than five years at WBGO, has taken a new position as Editorial Director at WRTI, the noncommercial jazz and classical station in Philadelphia. There he will work alongside associate general manager Josh Jackson as well as broadcaster Greg Bryant, his former co-host on the JJA Award-winning podcast Jazz United. Nate will continue to contribute to NPR, on the air and at NPR Music.
Rob Evanoff is pleased to introduce North American listeners to Maja Jaku, a terrific jazz singer-songwriter-educator based in Vienna. Her brand new album Soul Searching (ATS Records) features Thomas Kugi (tenor sax), Sasa Mutic (piano), Dusan Simovic (electric bass), Joris Dudli (drums) and Jim Rotondi (trumpet), who did all the brass arrangements. On the album’s centerpiece, a smoky eight-minute rumination on Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child,” Jaku and crew truly shine through.
Ken Franckling wrote about and photographed the 2022 edition of the Newport Jazz Festival in late July for OffBeat magazine and for his Jazz Notes blog. It was his 41st consecutive Newport Jazz Festival, dating to 1981 when George Wein brought the storied event back after a 10-year hiatus. He also previewed saxophonist Joel Frahm’s appearance at Small’s Jazz Club in the August issue of Hot House.
Doug Hall finally returned to Newport Jazz Festival this summer after missing three years partly due to Covid outbreak and travel restrictions. An exciting variety of young talent and an anchor of established stars were on stage with welcoming crowds – sold-out all three days. He reviewed the event for WICN. He also wrote a long-form piece profiling child-prodigy, jazz saxophonist and performer Grace Kelly, currently touring on her latest release, All that I Need.
Howard Mandel wrote about Chicago musicians and their scene for the Enjoy Jazz festival in Mannheim, Germany and (with Kent Richmond) about Louis Armstrong and Lil Hardin for the Jazz Institute of Chicago newsletter JazzGram; reviewed albums by Ben Sidran and Frank Kimbrough for DownBeat; adjudicated the 7VJC international competition; was a contestant on the Jazzology quiz show; edited and posted Lauren Deutsch’s JJA Photographer’s Master Class, and produced the JJA’s JazzBash!
Steve Monroe’s Jazz Avenues D.C. editions for Twitter and Facebook for July/August included promos for artists including Christie Dashiell, Nasar Abadey, Benito Gonzalez All-Star Quartet, Muneer Nasser, Obasi Akoto, Joey DeFrancesco and Elijah Jamal Balbed, with promos and reviews of new albums by Mark Sherman, Todd Marcus Jazz Orchestra, Janel Leppin’s “Ensemble Volcanic Ash,” Roberto Magris and Charles Rahmat Woods.
Danica Pantovic attended, photographed and reviewed for JJANews.org the 42nd Saalfelden Jazz Festival, embedded in Salzburg, Austria’s dreamlike mountainous region. Musicians, driven by the urge to share their thoughts, sensibility, freely, with soulmates not necessarily of the same musical dialect but of the same language — the sound of music — had come to one of the best Austrian and European festivals (ORF) of creative music, in a quest for sound, silence and freedom of expression where time is shaped by rhythm, harmony.
Gary S. Stager has announced publication on his imprint Cymbal Press of Ruminations & Reflections – The Musical Journey of Dave Liebman and Richie Beirach, written by those longtime friends and colleagues with Kurt Renker. The book is available immediately in softcover, hardcover, and Kindle editions; Stager is offering colleagues a pdf edition for review.
Scott Thompson is working with singer Patrina Morris featuring Brian Jackson “Up So Close”, Graham Doby’s “Weathered Crown”, Christopher James’ “A Rose in the Canyon,” UK’s Aaron Liddard’s “Nylon Man,” saxophonist Lynn Riley “Head To The Sky,” vocalist Roberta Brenza featuring Sheila Jordon “It’s My Turn to Color Now”, and Tony Hightower’s new “Legacy.”
Michael J. West previewed the DC Jazz Festival in the Washington Post through a profile of its artist in residence, pianist Orrin Evans.
