Jane Ira Bloom, soprano saxophonist extraordinaire, performed for the first time in duo with percussionist Brian Shankar Adler at LA Arts, 168 Lisbon Street in Lewiston, Maine on Saturday, July 29, at 4 p.m.
Nedici Dragoslav kept pretty busy the last 2 months, shooting three Romanian festivals (JazzX Festival, Timisoara; Garana Jazz Festival; and Opena Air Blues Festival, Brezoi) and a concert by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. He cover these events for Jazzin.rs as well as some local papers and his own personal projects.
Patrick Hinely wrote an appreciation of Carla Bley’s Escalator Over the Hill and a remembrance of poet/lyricist Pete Brown for Cadence. In ongoing service to his fellow photographers, to give credit where credit is due, he continues to add credit lines to as many as possible of the otherwise unattributed photos of jazz artists and historical imagery that permeate Facebook, an etiquette which the original posters, including some who know better, have failed to follow.
C. Andrew Hovan was once again honored to be a voting critic for DownBeat magazine’s 71st Annual Critics Poll. In addition, his captures of Terri Lyne Carringon and Alice Coltrane are featured in the August issue, along with the poll results. Drummer-percussionist Hovan’s Double Take project made its debut at Cleveland’s Treelawn Social Club at the end of July, featuring Tommy Lehman and Mark Russo performing the music of Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw.
Vid Jeraj reported from the Konfrontationen Festival in Nickelsdorf, Austria, in July (to see his work, scroll all the way down on the linked page.)
Sanford Josephson will present “A Look at Black History Through Jazz” at the Bernards Township, NJ, Public Library on September 21. This will be a repeat of a presentation Josephson gave in February 2023 at the Woodbridge, NJ, Library.
Howard Mandel spoke about Butch Morris and Conduction on a panel titled “The Extra Dimension of Reinvention” at The Kitchen (NYC), reviewed Dorothy Ashby’s historic boxed set and Sam Eastmon’s album of John Zorn’s Bagatelles for DownBeat, wrote of Don Cherry’s Cafe Montmarte recordings for The Wire, and penned liner notes for a vinyl reissue of Luther Thomas and the Human Art Ensemble’s Funky Donkey.
Virgil Mihaiu published a volume of essays, Jazz Contextele Mele (My Jazz Contexts) through Junimea publishing house; gave a lecture, ” Jazz as Universal Language,” at Montenegro’s Jazz Appreciation Month celebrations; emceed the Jazz in Church Festival at Bucharest Lutheran Church; lectured at the 120th anniversary of avant-garde artist Victor Brauner at Baal Shem Tov Synagogue in Piatra Neamț, Romania; and wrote articles on jazz topics in major Romanian cultural magazines (Steaua, Romania literara, Cultura, etc.) and in JJA News.
Al Perlman is now doing a two-hour weekly radio show on WTBR-FM in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The show is “Jazz Collector Live,” featuring jazz vinyl primarily from the 1950s and 1960s, with a good deal of chatter about the music thrown in. You can download podcasts of the show at WTBR-FM or JazzCollector.com.
Michael J. West previewed Kamasi Washington’s concert in D.C. for the Washington Post, only to have the concert (and indeed the entire tour) canceled the day after the piece published. Oh, well; it published anyway.
Leander Young recorded/released the 130th episode of his podcast “Improv Exchange,” a deep-dive interview show with upcoming, established and veteran jazz musicians from all over the world, where all the hard questions and problems in the jazz world are discussed.
