Matty Bannond spent a week in New York City (from Berlin, where he’s based) during December and wrote reviews of concerts by Christian McBride, Patricia Brennan, Sara Serpa and Daniel Carter. He also interviewed Caroline Davis and reported from a concert by Nduduzo Makhathini. His work appeared in The New York City Jazz Record, Hot House Jazz Guide, Jazz Journal, Free Jazz Collective and All About Jazz during the last month of 2024. Overall, he had more than fifty articles published this year.
Stephanie Stein Crease’s Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat that Changed America is the winner of Best History in the category Best Historical Research on Recorded Jazz in the 2024 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence.
Devra Hall Levy’s 2011 interview of Ron Carter for The Smithsonian Oral Jazz History project has been published in its entirety by Ron Carter (2024). Ron Carter: The Smithsonian Interview is beautifully illustrated with photos, history timeline, music, links to musical and video examples, and more.
Doug Hall has written a long-form profile for WICN PR on the musical life of legendary trumpeter Clark Terry. He also continues his podcast “Talk About Jazz with Doug Hall” with current guest Ángela Varo, Andalusian violinist, educator, multi-instrumentalist, improviser, arranger, producer, and composer from Baena, Córdoba.
Geoffrey Himes’ book In-Law Country: How Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash and Their Circle Fashioned a New Kind of Country Music, 1968-1985, was published by the Country Music Hall of Fame on December 10. He contributed a story on the bass clarinet in jazz to JJA’s The Jazz Omnibus: 21st-Century Photos and Writings and two poems to the book Speaking for Everyone: An Anthology of “We” Poems. His book of poems and a book about Willie Nelson are scheduled for 2025.
C. Andrew Hovan has been actively providing liner notes for SteepleChase Records as producer Nils Winther seeks to add notes to albums that had never had them before. In this vein, Hovan’s most recent project was writing notes for Dexter Gordon’s Lullaby for a Monster, which will be getting a new vinyl reissue. Hovan also penned the notes for Jim Snidero’s upcoming tribute album to Charlie Parker, Bird Feathers, due in early 2025.
Willard Jenkins is the writer of No Regrets: The Music and Spirit of Billie Holiday, an in-depth 13-episode radio and livestreaming series celebrating Billie Holiday’s extraordinary musical legacy. The program explores her early life, groundbreaking singing style, and the powerful impact of the unforgettable song “Strange Fruit” on the Civil Rights movement. Produced by award-winning Steve Robinson, No Regrets is narrated by Rhonda Hamilton. All episodes are available to stream and can be accessed at savagecontent.com.
Howard Mandel reviewed Cecil Taylor’s restored quintet recordings along with an Oscar Peterson set from 1961 in a historical column, Ambrose Akinmusire’s honey from a winter stone . . .for DownBeat, voted in the El Intruso poll, was interviewed by Gary Zidek on WCDB.org about The Jazz Omnibus (among other things), posted The Buzz about Black women leading jazz journalism as well as columns about Barre Phillips and free jazz, and AI on his Substack platform.
Lawrence Peryer is co-publishing a new website covering music, culture and ideas. TheTonearm.com is heavy on but not limited to jazz, creative, and experimental music and is seeking paid contributors of interviews, profiles, and analysis covering music, visual art, the written word, entrepreneurship in the arts, and others using their creativity to make the world a more interesting place.
Luciano Rossetti is happy for the work of the last few months: photos of the Vision Festival in New York; Musica sulle Bocche Festival in the north of Sardinia; Isole Che Parlano Festival in the north of Sardinia; Jazz and Wine of Peace Festival in Cormons; Unlimited Music in Wels (Austria); but in particular for the exhibition “Dual Rhythms” with Jimmy Katz in the Macof, Brescia.
Wilbert Sostre published his second book, Jazz in Puerto Rico: The Interviews, in November. The book is a compilation of interviews by journalist Wilbert Sostre of Jazz musicians, producers and radio personalities in Puerto Rico over the past 15 years. Sostre’s first book, Boricua Jazz: Puerto Rico Jazz History, is already in it’s second edition (also in English) and currently he is working on a third edition.
Scott Thompson is working with NYC-based eclectic guitarist Stephen Bryant RED123 on his new release New Town and Canadian guitarist Strat Andriotis on his release Exits. He continues to promote the hard swingin’ 19-piece Robin Simone Hollywood Orchestra. Thompson recently added The Furgos fronted by vocalist Jeanette Furgo. Flautist Andrea Brachfeld returned to his roster with a single featuring Bill O’Connell “Walking The Bar”. On Brachfeld, Hubert Laws said “Her marvelous tone and technique are astonishing… She is definitely among those who deserves recognition not only among her peers, but the public in general.”
