Lose some, gain some

ASCAP’s longstanding Deems Taylor Awards recognizing excellence in music journalism has been suspended; no-charge online listening station Accujazz.com wants to be “the future of jazz radio.” Seismic shifts in the music media landscape continue.

I’m a proud two-time winner of the Deems Taylor Award,Â named for a late ASCAP board memberÂ and president who was also a composer, music journalist, broadcaster. The Awards wereÂ last presented in a 41st annual iteration on December 9 2008 to nine book authors including Alex Ross (forÂ The Rest Is Noise), and John Kruth (forÂ To Live’s To Fly: The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt), Howard Pollack (forÂ George Gershwin: His Life and Works)Â and Oliver Sacks (forÂ Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain) as well as seven writers of articles, Philadelphia public radio station WRTI, a website created by Oxford University Press’ Norm Hirshy, and a posthumous award to Fred Rogers of the tv showÂ Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. The prizesÂ came with modest financial gifts ($250 to $1000, according to the ASCAP website — in ’85 and ’94 I received handsome plaques, no cash), but their true value is in giving some greater profile to media on music that are all too often taken for granted. According to Esther SanSaurus, who oversees the Awards, they have been suspended due to economy-related cutbacks affecting many ASCAP programs.Â

Without the Deems Taylor Awards, the Jazz Journalists Association’s Jazz AwardsÂ (2009 announcement at a gala event on June 16 at the Jazz Standard, NYC) and the NARAS Grammies for album liner notes seem to be the only American-based honors still available for journalists; in the UK, Record of the DayÂ last fall announced 23 winners in its Awards for Music Journalism and PR. We hope ASCAP resumes its Awards initiative.

On the brighter side, Accujazz.com is a bright website run by Lucas Gillian from offices in Chicago, offering a couple dozen channels of selected jazz programming. The channels are distinguished by style (“modern mainstream,” “old school,” “big band” “Latin jazz” etc.), by instruments (“piano jazz,” “vocal jazz,” “trumpet jazz,” etc.), composer (so far only Ellington and Monk, but their works are performed by many artists), region (New Orleans alone, to date), decade (“pre-1940,” “50s” “60s”). I spent an afternoon listening to the “avant garde” station and was pleased to hear selections by Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Joe Lovano with Judi Silvano singing — overall a worthy mix, though few surprises.Â

Accujazz also features a blogroll (gotta get jbj on there), a shout-chat box, and it’s soliciting advertising.Â Good sound, clean execution, no audio ads mucking up the listening experience — best of luck, Accujazz.Â But would success spoil the future for jazz radio stations and deejays doing the job now? Â Â

howardmandel.com
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