New members are artists manager and literary agent B.G. Dilworth of New York City, radio/tv program host/director of JazzWorkshopUSA Ron Wesley of Phoenix, Arizona, and Mac Randall, editor of JazzTimes magazine, also of NYC. Welcome and please participate!
Bob Blumenthal interviewed Boston Jazz Hero Ran Blake, pianist and educator, remotely on Zoom, with production and promotion help from member-publicist Ann Braithwaite and staff at New England Conservatory.
Bill Brownlee reported on the American Jazz Museum’s Charlie Parker Song Contest for Kansas City’s NPR affiliate KCUR.
Ken Franckling wrote about our strange new world of virtual jazz, and has been logging the more than 30 jazz-related COVID-19 deaths around the world on his Jazz Notes blog. He wrote the liner notes for Brazilian guitarist Diego Figueiredo’s forthcoming Arbors CD, Antarctica.
James Hale profiled pianist Christian Sands and talked to four of the leading US jazz programs about how they are preparing for their fall terms, both for DownBeat. For SoundStageXperience.com, he reviewed albums by Nina Simone and John Scofield.
Patrick Hinely, for the second time this year, has had his photos from Kenny Wheeler’s 1996 Angel Song recording sessions featured on the ECM Records website, most recently to accompany a tribute to Lee Konitz (including a heretofore unpublished group photo of the Frisell-Konitz-Wheeler-Holland quartet). Meanwhile, as WLUR-FM remains on hiatus, so does Hinely’s weekly program “Open Ear.”
Ralph Lampkin, Jr., worked on PR for the June 30th release of critically acclaimed singer Kristen Gustafson’s new CD Wait Until Dark, featuring well-known guitarist Fareed Haque and produced by Richard Knight. The CD features covers of classic songs such as “The Look Of Love” and “The Rain Song,” as well as the original “For One Alone.” Email LampkinMusic@Gmail.com for additional information.
Howard Mandel produced JJA Zoom events featuring LA Jazz Hero Billy Mitchell (in association with the California Jazz Foundation) and the 2020 JJA Jazz Awards Winners Live-Streaming Party, in collaboration with HotHouseGlobal. He blogged about responses by jazz stakeholders to the covid-19 lockdown, as well as a record review of Bobby Watson’s Keepin’ it Real and MONK’estra Plays John Beasley for DownBeat, and a playlist for the Jazz Institute of Chicago.
Dee Dee McNeil was honored to introduce Billy Mitchell as one of the recipients of the JJA “Jazz Hero Award” on May 28. Because of the coronavirus, the program became a virtual Zoom celebration. In April, she had two cover stories published by www.LAJazzScene.buzz: one on the loss of trumpeter Wallace Roney, and one on Henry Robinett’s Jazz Standards CD release – Vol. 1. Her https://musicalmemoirs/wordpress.com column continues to publish bi-monthly.
Paul Rauch reviewed Chris McCarthy’s new release, Still Time to Quit, and Orrin Evans’ Captain Black Big Band release, The Intangible Between, for All About Jazz. He also continued his ongoing AAJ profile series, “20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know,” in April and May featuring Gail Pettis, Christopher Icasiano, Samantha Boshnack, and Bill Anschell. He contributed two features (on Seattle’s Golden Ear Awards and Jay Thomas’s JJA “Jazz Hero” award) to the May edition of Earshot Jazz Magazine.
Mike Shanley reviewed Philip Clark’s Dave Brubeck: A Life in Time in the May issue of JazzTimes. His more recent album reviews for the magazine include Matthew Shipp’s The Piano Equation and the Kenny Barron/Dave Holland Trio’s Without Deception. In addition to more album reviews, the Shanleyonmusic blog has, sadly, been filled with tributes to deceased acquaintances like saxophonist Richie Cole and inspirations like Hal Wilner, Lee Konitz, and several others.
Sammy Stein has written a piece for the Library of Congress after they asked her to research a recording of Sweet Emma Barrett. She has also published several major pieces during lockdown about events musicians are organizing to help each other and also a piece on sexism in jazz and the value of reviewers told form the side of musicians.
W. Royal Stokes has published his ninth book, his fifth on jazz and blues, The Essential W. Royal Stokes Jazz, Blues, and Beyond Reader (Hannah Books). All of his books, including his trilogy of novels Backwards Over, are available on Amazon. Royal, sheltering in place in Elkins, West Virginia, celebrated his 90th birthday on May 27 and is now at work on his tenth book, a memoir.
Scott Thompson is currently working three new clients: Bill Warfield and the Hell’s Kitchen Funk Orchestra – Smile (for which Terri Hinte is doing publicity too) and Eva Cortés Todas las Voces featuring Christine McBride, Elio Villafranca, Eric Harland and more. Thompson also is working the Pablo Gil and Grammy winner Tony Succar with the Raices Jazz Orchestra.
Tony Zambito with JazzBuffalo.org has been curating a weekly national listing of jazz livestreams, including a weekly top 10-12 of favorite picks. Zambito also published an article regarding the results of a survey on audience willingness to attend jazz concerts, as well as articles in support of the Jazz Coalition and JJA. JazzBuffalo also seeks jazz journalists/blog writers who will like to have their articles posted/syndicated on JazzBuffalo website.
