Nate Chinen and broadcaster Greg Bryant, co-hosts of the two-time JJA Best Podcast “Jazz United”, have reunited for The Late Set, from WRTI. Their first two episodes (featuring Orrin Evans and Joshua Redman respectively) dropped in late October; find them at thelateset.org. Chinen is still writing regularly at WRTI and on his Substack, The Gig, which now has more than 2,500 subscribers.
Sascha Feinstein, the founding editor of Brilliant Corners: A Journal of Jazz & Literature, notes that copies of the latest issue are still available. In addition to jazz-related poetry, fiction, and personal essays, the issue includes a lengthy interview with Laurie Pepper. Brilliant Corners, a print journal, is published twice a year.
Sanford Josephson interviewed alto saxophonist Erena Terakubo for the cover story in the October issue of Jersey Jazz Magazine. Terakubo led a sextet on Oct. 17 at NY’s The Django and is appearing in tenor saxophonist Chad LB’s quintet on Nov. 3 at Jazz@ThePoint in Somers Point, NJ. Josephson also interviewed bassist Liany Mateo for the magazine’s Rising Star feature.
Howard Mandel posted on his Substack Mandel’s Media Diet his 1978 DownBeat feature on great composer-performer-activist Carla Bley; wrote liner notes to It’s Now: Reut Regev’s R*time Plays Doug Hammond (coming from ESP Disk), and reviewed Adam Birbaum’s Preludes for DownBeat. He’s conferred on the upcoming anthology of JJA members’ writings and photos, The Buzz podcast and Seeing Jazz photography master classes. He also celebrated the life of JJA 2020 Chicago Jazz Hero Harriet Choice (a Jazz Institute of Chicago founder and Chicago Tribune columnist) at a memorial event, and is planning another life celebration — for the late Chicago Jazz Hero Jim deJong (2003) at the Jazz Showcase, November 15.
Dan Ouellette has had a busy month with the publishing of his DownBeat cover story on Luciana Souza. For his Jazz and Beyond Intel column, he profiled Marvin Sewell in September and JD Allen in October. He also profiled JD for the local Express News Group weeklies as an intro to his headline appearance at the Hamptons International Jazz Festival. Ouellette did a live DownBeat Blindfold Test with Bill O’Connell there.
Thomas Peña published an interview with reed player, composer, arranger, and bandleader Jay Rodriguez on the release of Muthaflower.
Scott Thompson PR has been working pianist and vocal debutante Jim Clayton’s album with Herlin Riley and Amina Scott, Look Out. He is working two releases from pianist Marcus Persiani, In-Motion (with his trio) and The Proper Time (featuring George Coleman, Wayne Escoffrey, Joe Magnarelli and more). Thompson is also working the Charles Pillow Large Ensemble’s Electric Miles 2.
Michael J. West wrote obituaries for Richard Davis and Charles Gayle for DownBeat, where he continues to serve as reviews editor. He also attended the second week of the Enjoy Jazz Festival in the Rhine-Neckar Triangle (Mannhein, Heidelberg, and Ludwigshafen) of southwest Germany. A DownBeat review is forthcoming.
Linda Yohn interviewed Dee Dee Bridgewater, Alexa Tarantino, Papo Vazquez, and Joan Belgrave over Labor Day weekend, for the Detroit Jazz Festival livestream – viewed by nearly 1.5 million viewers worldwide. She hosted various stages at the festival. In late September, Linda “Zoom” interviewed Endea Owens regarding Endea’s return to Detroit for a DSO Paradise Jazz Series concert with the “Cookout” band.
