The JJA’s Zoom launch party and information session about the inaugural season of JJA’s Arnold Jay Smith Intergenerational Professional Development Fellowships on Oct. 24 drew some 40 veteran and emerging jazz journalists to learn about the spring 2027 series of discussions to be led by well-know media activists for a select coterie of emerging professionals. Highlight of the Zoom launch was opening of the AJS Jazz Journalism Seminars application. Here’s a comprehensive description of the seminar/fellowship program.
As introduced by JJA board member Terri Hinte, moderated by Neil Tesser and Howard Mandel, the upcoming seminar session leaders Frank Alkyer (just-stepped-back publisher-editor-president of DownBeat), Nate Chinen (editorial director of WRTI, essayist of The Gig, ex-NYT critic, author of Playing Changes: Jazz for the New Century); Michael Jackson (interdisciplinary artist — writer, photographer, printmaker, saxophonist); Ashley Kahn (author, researcher, visiting professor at New York University), and Bill Milkowski (author, award-winning freelancer) previewed their sessions.
Bob Blumenthal, JJA board member, recalled the 1975-76′ Institutes in Jazz Criticism in which he took part, sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and the Music Critics Assn., with Dan Morgenstern, Martin Williams and David Baker as faculty.
Regrets were sent by upcoming seminar leaders Lydia Liebman, Michelle Mercer and Mark Ruffin; all have confirmed their sessions. Liebman, principal of Lydia Liebman Promotions, will be central to discussion of working with publicists, and advise on the post-session assignment: Interview a musician or local producer/presenter for an advance report. Ruffin, who will lead a seminar on “Broadcasting Basics” and writes the column My Jazz Life, recently posted “I would love to hear about any jazz d.j.’s under 40 who are building an audience, or looking for a future in jazz radio. That may sound oxymoronic because some believe there is no future in jazz radio, [but] I recall being told that 46 years ago.” Fortunately, he didn’t believe it then.
Mercer, who writes the column Call and Response and who will co-chair one with Milkowski titled “Making Book” writes: “A book calls for working with nonfiction in all its narrative fullness. This seminar explores the creative nonfiction elements that make a book work, and why writing one well means asking not just what and when, but why and how. We’ll also cover interviewing broadly enough to show that music’s big shifts were collective efforts rather than the sole work of a big name, and why the best service to your subject is elevating them with literary depth and panache.” Michelle is author of Footprints: The Life and Music of Wayne Shorter, and Will You Take Me As I Am: Joni Mitchell’s Blue Period; Bill Milkowski (Musings on Music by the Milkman) has written ten books, starting with Jaco: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius, and including as told to’s with Pat Martino, Keith Richards, and (coming in spring 2027) drummer Mike Clark.
The Arnold Jay Smith Seminars — named for the late JJA founding member, writer, publicist and educator — aim to engage a small first class of emerging and aspiring writers, photographers, broadcasters and new media producers in candid, instructive discussions regarding best journalistic practices, successful approaches to current career challenges and appreciation for the legacy of jazz and its documentation.
Topics of sessions (concisely, and subject to change) include “On Keeping Current,” “Making a Book,” “Broadcast Basics,” “Research and Public Intersections,” “Making a Living, with Photography,” “”Working with a Publicist, from Their Perspective” and “Periodical Publishing, Present and Trending.” Successful applicants to the AJS seminars, who become participants in the program, will be assigned journalistic exercises to complete between class sessions, potentially leading to publication in JJANews and/or producing segments for the JJA podcast The Buzz, or the JJA’s YouTube channel.
Besides the above mentioned “senior fellows,” author-writing coach Michelle Mercer, publicist Lydia Liebman and broadcaster-author-Grammy nominated record producer Mark Ruffin, program director Sirius XM’s Real Jazz channel, are committed to lead AJS sessions. The entire AJS program — which the JJA hopes to develop for general members’ access in archival form — is the result of five-year funding from the Jazz Foundation of America. Donations and sponsorships to enhance the AJS program are welcome, and being sought by JJA principals.
The application for admission into the Arnold Jay Smith Jazz Journalism Seminars will be posted live on October 24. Potential applicants are strongly advised to attend the October 24 Zoom launch party-info session, registration required. For further information, email President@jazzjournalists.org
