I’m proud of my two published books (Miles Ornette Cecil – Jazz Beyond Jazz and Future Jazz) and my unpublished ones, too; the two iterations of the encyclopedia of jazz and blues; I edited, and my collaborations with some musicians creating their own books — but right now I’m crazy enthusiastic about The Jazz Omnibus: […]
Jazz journalism online, virtual reality book party
I’m inordinately proud of the new JJANews website because it makes easily accessible the videos, podcasts, articles with photos and online-realtime activities of the Jazz Journalists Association, such as lthe March 26 public Book Bash! with authors, editors and publishers, being held on on our unique virtual reality SyncSpace.live site — plus background/office assets, in […]
Four months of jazz adaptation, resilience, response to epidemic
In early March – only four months ago – I flew between two of the largest U.S. airports, O’Hare and JFK, to visit New York City. I stayed in an East Village apt. with my daughter and a nephew crashing on her couch. We ate barbecue at a well-attended Jazz Standard performance by drummer Dafnis […]
Jazz and beyond projects with 2018 NEA funding support
Given all the noise, the National Endowment for the Arts’ $25 mil for arts, literature and education announced Feb. 7 may have been overlooked. But these funds and the projects they support, nationwide, should be noted. From more than $3 million going to initiatives strictly labeled “Music” (exclusive of “Musical Theater” or “Opera”) here’s my subjective selection of […]
NEA doubles down on beyond-jazz with 2016 Jazz Masters
The National Endowment of the Arts has doubled down on celebrating jazz beyond “jazz” — music that has exploded historic parameters or preconceptions of  “jazz” conventions — by naming as 2016 Jazz Masters the saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp — both protégés of the late, great John Coltrane — and Gary Burton, an innovator of technique and content who’s embraced pop, […]
Surprises and stalwarts in an NYC jazz weekend
Five acts, all jazz headliners, in 3 hours at the Jazz Foundation of America’s Loft Jazz Party, plus Chicago drummer-composer Mike Reed’s thrilling People, Places & Things quartet and alto saxist Darius Jones’ trio at Drom in the East Village — bountiful blues, soul, swing, groove, creativity, tradition, big names and newcomers in NYC on […]
Arts funding disparities show philanthropists’ priorities
A $30 million gift to the Metropolitan Opera – the Harlem School of the Arts closes for lack of 1/60th that amount. Pretty clear what big private funders value, and it’s not the American vernacular or immediately next generation of artists. There’s hardly anything jazzy about this post.
Experimental singer, frankly in need. Who isn’t?
Mossa Bildner, an indefatigable vocalist and performance artist, is the subject of today’s “The Neediest Cases” column in the New York Times, because having suffered as a freelancer from the economic downturn, she’s been facing eviction. “This could happen to anybody,” she told the newspaper, and though asking for help “was a strange position to […]
Safety net tears: E*Trade ends emergency funds for jazz musicians
A new hole in the safety net for jazz musicians: In an e-mail message sent February 18, Jazz Foundation of America executive director Wendy Oxenhorn reports: Our magnificent E*TRADE Emergency Housing Fund has allowed us to pay rents and mortgages all these years when elderly musicians fell ill, and when Katrina struck. Because of this fund we have […]