The Buzz: The JJA Podcast: Recent Episodes
The Jazz Journalists Association
The Jazz Journalists Association podcast Theme "Big Vic" composed by John MichaelsFeaturing Makaya McCraven Geoff Vidaland Mark Dunlap recorded by Doug Hewitt
For this episode of The Buzz, Lawrence Peryer talks with 2025 JJA Jazz Hero Ruth Griggs, longtime director of the Northampton Jazz Festival, about the trade-off facing a fifteen-year-old, mostly-free festival built for a loyal, older jazz audience: book an artist who can pull in a younger crowd, or keep playing to the room you already have.
Griggs traces the festival's history from its accidental start in 2011, when five men more interested in reviving a defunct food fair backed into a jazz festival almost as an afterthought, through its 2017 relaunch as a genuinely jazz-focused event spread across Northampton's churches, galleries, and the eight-hundred-seat Academy of Music. No food trucks, no vendors: the festival sends people into the town's own restaurants and shops instead, which Griggs credits as much as the music for its financial health.
This year's headliner, saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin, is the pressure test. Benjamin plays jazz, hip hop, R&B, and funk in the same set, and Griggs, a marketing strategist by trade, has been restructuring the festival's outreach around her: shifting weight from Facebook to Instagram, hiring an intern to research college radio stations and newspapers across Albany, New Haven, Hartford, and Worcester, and reaching out to other festivals with more diverse audiences to help promote the booking. Griggs is candid that she doesn't yet know what will work, only that the old methods won't.
Griggs also talks about what keeps out-of-town artists coming back, and why the festival's pipeline into UMass Amherst, Smith College, Amherst College, and now Northampton's public schools gets equal billing in Griggs's account of what keeps the thing alive.
(The musical excerpts heard in this episode are “So You Want to Be a Woman” by Somi featuring Lakecia Benjamin, and “RonJackRuba,” an unplanned improvisation from Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, and Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s 2021 album Skyline. A companion playlist for this episode featuring those songs and other artists mentioned is available on Spotify.)
Buzzworthy Notes
Guest & Host
Ruth Griggs — director, Northampton Jazz Festival
Lawrence Peryer — host; managing editor of The Buzz
Discussed
Northampton Jazz Festival — official site
Lakecia Benjamin — this year's headliner; saxophonist, six-time Grammy nominee
Academy of Music — Northampton's 800-seat theater, festival's largest venue
BOMBYX Center for Arts & Equity — Florence, Massachusetts venue, where Bill Charlap performed after the festival
Bill Charlap — pianist; praised the festival's hospitality after a BOMBYX performance
Miki Yamanaka — pianist; performed a solo set at last year's festival
Bonnie Johnson — WICN's Colors of Jazz host, Worcester; interviewed Yamanaka after her festival set
Springfield Jazz & Roots Festival — the single-stage model Griggs says she's studying
Max Roach and Yusef Lateef — among the jazz musicians who taught at UMass Amherst, part of the festival's regional lineage
Ron Carter — cited alongside Lakecia Benjamin as an example of the festival's range
Support for The JJA comes in part from the Jazz Foundation of America, providing emergency assistance, healthcare, and performance opportunities to performers, composers and others in need. Visit jazzfoundation.org.
This podcast is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
Support for The JJA comes in part from the Jazz Foundation of America, providing emergency assistance, healthcare, and performance opportunities to performers, composers and others in need. Visit jazzfoundation.org.
This podcast is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
For this episode of The Buzz, JJA Book Committee chair Bob Blumenthal speaks with the winners of the 2026 JJA Jazz Awards’ two Book of the Year categories: pianist Matthew Shipp, honored for Black Mystery School Pianists and Other Writings (Autonomedia), and pianist and critic Ethan Iverson, honored as the writer behind Oceans of Time: The Musical Autobiography of Billy Hart (Cymbal Press).
Shipp and Iverson are both working musicians who write, and the conversation keeps circling back to what that dual life costs and gives them. Shipp traces his path from commissioned blog pieces to a book collecting essays on David S. Ware, Paul Bley, and Wayne Shorter, plus prose poems on boxing, decadence, and the New York club scene he came up in during the 1980s. Iverson describes fifteen years on the road with Billy Hart before finally getting the older drummer on tape, reading him the manuscript twice, and watching Hart pull stories back out both times. Both men also discovered, mid-conversation, an unlikely shared history: each once worked as a dance-company music director, Shipp for a small post-Cunningham troupe in the 1980s, Iverson for the Mark Morris Dance Group decades later.
The episode also catches Shipp and Iverson comparing notes on a much more recent flashpoint: the online reaction to André 3000’s ambient flute album, which briefly made Shipp’s own criticism go viral. But the conversation’s real center is a shared argument about criticism itself. Both reject the old line that music writing is “dancing about architecture,” insisting instead that jazz criticism, done by people who actually play the music, is inseparable from the playing.
(The musical excerpts heard in this episode are “Iverson’s Odyssey” from the Billy Hart Quartet’s 2006 album Quartet and “Nu Bop,” the title track from Matthew Shipp’s 2002 album on Thirsty Ear.)
Buzzworthy Notes
Guest & Host
- Matthew Shipp — official site
- Ethan Iverson — official site and Do the Math archive
- Bob Blumenthal — JJA Book Committee chair; two-time Grammy winner for album notes
Discussed
- Black Mystery School Pianists and Other Writings — Matthew Shipp (Autonomedia, 2025); introduction by Yuko Otomo
- Oceans of Time: The Musical Autobiography of Billy Hart — Billy Hart, as told to Ethan Iverson (Cymbal Press, 2025)
- Billy Hart — NEA Jazz Master; Iverson has played in his working quartet since 2003
- David S. Ware — saxophonist; Shipp played in his quartet for sixteen years
- Paul Bley — pianist; subject of one of Shipp’s essays
- Wayne Shorter, “Night Dreamer” — the 1964 Blue Note album Bob Blumenthal cites as still holding up on repeat listening
- Steve Dalachinsky — poet; longtime friend and collaborator of Shipp’s, referenced throughout the book
- Dewey Redman — saxophonist; the first musician whose stories convinced Iverson of the value of oral history
- Nasheet Waits — drummer; source of the “start playing like I’m teaching” line Iverson cites
- Robin D. G. Kelley, Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original — the Monk biography both guests recommend; Kelley also blurbed Shipp’s book
- Thelonious Monk / Joe Turner, "In Paris" - the 1954 album both Matt and Ethan enthused over near the end of the discussion
- Arthur Taylor, Notes and Tones — 1977 collection of musician-to-musician interviews Shipp calls a formative read
- J. C. Thomas, Chasin’ the Trane — early Coltrane biography Shipp says changed his life at twelve or fourteen
- Hampton Hawes with Don Asher, Raise Up Off Me — the memoir Iverson used as his model for pacing and length while writing Oceans of Time
The 2026 JJA Jazz Awards
- Oceans of Time is Book of the Year, Biography or Autobiography
- Black Mystery School Pianists and Other Writings is Book of the Year about Jazz: History, Criticism and Culture
- Full list of 2026 winners: JJA Jazz Awards · announcement
Support for The JJA comes in part from the Jazz Foundation of America, providing emergency assistance, healthcare, and performance opportunities to performers, composers and others in need. Visit jazzfoundation.org.
This podcast is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
For this episode ofThe Buzz, JJA President Emeritus Howard Mandel speaks with Zan Stewart, the JJA's 2026 Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism honoree.
Zan Stewart spent thirty-five years covering jazz as a beat reporter writing weekly features, overnight reviews, and club listings through long-term runs at the Los Angeles Times and the Newark Star-Ledger. His liner notes to Eric Dolphy: The Complete Prestige Recordings earned an ASCAP–Deems Taylor Award. He is also a working tenor saxophonist, and the two roles were always intertwined: Stewart came to jazz journalism as an advocate with a reporter's eye and a player's ear. In this conversation, he retraces his path from a hi-fi in Ojai to the clubs of San Francisco, with a lot of music in between.
They cover his early formation in the music (his father was at the Palomar Ballroom in 1935 the night Benny Goodman kicked off the swing era), two decades at the LA Times under Leonard Feather, his move to the Star-Ledger in Newark, his 2014 debut recording The Street Is Making Music, and his current work writing liner notes after a medical battle with oral cancer and osteonecrosis that has sidelined his playing. He also describes the box of cassette tapes in his possession containing unarchived conversations with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, and McCoy Tyner, that he hopes to get out into the world.
(The musical excerpts heard in this episode are "Hampton's Pulpit" from the Hampton Hawes Quartet's 1991 reissue All Night Session and "The Street Is Making Music" from Zan Stewart's 2014 album of the same name.)
Buzzworthy Notes
Guest & Host
- Zan Stewart
- Howard Mandel
Discussed
- Leonard Feather — jazz critic, Los Angeles Times; mentor to Stewart
- Eric Dolphy: The Complete Prestige Recordings — liner notes by Zan Stewart; recipient of the ASCAP–Deems Taylor Award
- Hampton Hawes — pianist; subject of Stewart's first published interview
- Hear Me Talkin' to Ya — edited by Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff (Rinehart, 1955); a formative text for Stewart
- Sonny Rollins — official website
- Oliver Nelson, Straight Ahead — Prestige, 1961; features Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet
- Albert Dailey — pianist; performed with Stewart's early band in Santa Barbara
The 2026 JJA Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism Award
- Other nominees: Dan Ouellette, Nate Chinen, and Ben Ratliff
- Learn more about JJA Awards
Support for The JJA comes in part from the Jazz Foundation of America, providing emergency assistance, healthcare, and performance opportunities to performers, composers and others in need. Visit jazzfoundation.org.
This podcast is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
Miles Davis would have turned one hundred this year. The centennial has brought the somewhat predictable wave of reissues, retrospectives, and tributes. But which Miles keeps coming back? The suit-and-narrow-lapels Miles of the fifties. Kind of Blue as sonic wallpaper. The Second Great Quintet as the canonical high point.
In this episode, Howard Mandel - JJA president emeritus and author of Miles Ornette Cecil: Jazz Beyond Jazz - sits down with three guests who've spent serious time inside the music: bassist and author Melvin Gibbs, pianist and scholar Bob Gluck, and journalist Martin Johnson. They push past the myth and talk about what the centennial framing gets right, what it flattens, and why Miles keeps mattering even when the cultural idea of 'cool' has largely moved on without him.
Learn More About:
- Miles Davis
- Howard Mandel
- Melvin Gibbs
- Bob Gluck
- Martin Johnson
Support for The JJA comes in part from the Jazz Foundation of America, providing emergency assistance, healthcare, and performance opportunities to performers, composers and others in need. Visit jazzfoundation.org.
This podcast is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
Jazz criticism has always operated in close quarters: small rooms, tight communities, artists who become sources and sometimes friends. That proximity is part of what makes the writing worth reading. It's also what makes the ethics complicated.
This episode explores that tension. The guests have significant experience between them navigating exactly these questions, and the conversation goes to some candid places, including a few confessions that probably took some time to make.
Featuring:
- Rick Mitchell
- Hannah Edgar
- Paul de Barros
Support for The JJA comes in part from the Jazz Foundation of America, providing emergency assistance, healthcare, and performance opportunities to performers, composers and others in need. Visit jazzfoundation.org.
This podcast is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
JJA Board Member Andrew Gilbert hosts a discussion with Steve Smith (Substack “Night After Night,” former Time Out New York music editor) and Chrys Roney (editor in chief and publisher of Hot House Jazz Magazine) about the past, present, and future of jazz listings.
Inspired by Gabriel Kahane’s Atlantic essay “A Love Letter to Music Listings,” they recall how outlets like the Village Voice, the New York Times, The New Yorker, and Time Out New York once provided expansive calendars that helped audiences discover scenes, neighborhoods, and emerging artists. They describe the decline of print and mainstream media listings, the labor-intensive nature of curating accurate calendars, and how even insiders still miss shows.
The conversation contrasts journalistic authority and “crit picks” with transaction-driven event discovery platforms, discusses the need for trusted curators to sift through thousands of gigs, and explores evolving models such as nonprofit-supported listings, presenter-fed CMS tools, Instagram-based calendars, micro-subscriptions, and Hot House’s efforts to preserve its 45-year archive and develop a beta “JazzGPT” product.
Explore:
- A Love Letter to Music Listings (paywalled)
- Andrew Gilbert
- Hot House Jazz
- Steve Smith's Night After Night
A special 'thank you' to Terri Hinte for her help in making this episode happen.
Support for The JJA comes in part from the Jazz Foundation of America, providing emergency assistance, healthcare, and performance opportunities to performers, composers and others in need. Visit jazzfoundation.org.
This podcast is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
Lawrence Peryer, managing editor of The Buzz, hosts a discussion about what it takes to build a sustainable career covering jazz in 2026.
Chicago Tribune critic Hannah Edgar and Earshot Jazz editor Rayna Mathis discuss the realities of working in this field, from the fellowship programs that make full-time journalism possible to the complicated ethics of critiquing people you see at shows three nights a week. They talk about punching up versus supporting vulnerable venues, whether social media is worth the mental health cost, and why a career that keeps you up until 2 AM can still feel like a blessing.
This is not a straightforward "how-to" episode. The conversation moves beyond career advice into the actual practice and philosophy of making it work.
Learn more about:
- Hannah Edgar
- Rayna Mathis
- Lawrence Peryer
Support for The JJA comes in part from the Jazz Foundation of America, providing emergency assistance, healthcare, and performance opportunities to performers, composers and others in need. Visit jazzfoundation.org.
This podcast is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
Howard Mandel is an author, educator, journalist, and, since 1993, president of the Jazz Journalists Association. Howard's career crosses more than five decades of music journalism, from his early days writing for the Chicago Daily News to his current work as a contributor to publications worldwide.
As Howard prepares to step down from his role as JJA president at year's end, we found time to explore the story of the birth and evolution of the JJA and to talk through just some of the topics of interest to our community today.
Whether you're a longtime reader of jazz criticism or new to the conversations that shape how we understand this music, Howard's insights offer a window into our organization and the often invisible work of documenting and contextualizing America's most important cultural export.
Support for The JJA comes in part from the Jazz Foundation of America, providing emergency assistance, healthcare, and performance opportunities to performers, composers and others in need. Visit jazzfoundation.org.
This podcast is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
This conversation is hosted by JJA Board Member and Chair of our Book Committee, Bob Blumenthal. Bob, along with JJA members Fiona Ross, Todd Jenkins and Katch Cartwright, share some of their book recommendations for you to consider for those on your 2025 holiday nice list. Maybe a few of the naughty people deserve some of these, too.
The JJA’s book committee votes on Book Award nominees everyJanuary and February. The recommendations herein do not reflect any prejudgments by the committee nor should this episode be taken as any preview of what's to come with the awards.
Here is your shopping list of books and music discussed in this episode:
Books Discussed in Detail
- Writing Jazz: Conversations with Critics and Biographers by Sasha Feinstein
- Guide to Jazz in Japanby Michael Pronko
- Focus on Women in Jazz by Guy le Querrec
- The Story of Jazz by Marshall Stearns
- Jazz: Its Evolution and Essence by André Hodeir
- The Life and Writings of Ralph J. Gleason: Dispatches from the Front by Don Armstrong
- Going Back to T-Town: The Ernie Fields Territory Big Band by Carmen Fields
- Master of the Drums: Gene Krupa and the Music He Gave the World by Elizabeth J. Rosenthal
- Cross Rhythms: An Introspective into the Life and Musicality of Joe Chambers by Joe Chambers and Cristian Schorr
- Oceans of Time: The Musical Autobiography of Billy Hart by Billy Hart and Ethan Iverson
- The Jazz Barn: The Music Inn, the Berkshires, and the Place of Jazz in American Life by John Gennari
- Becoming Ella Fitzgeraldby Judith Tick
- Stomp Off, Let's Go: The Early Years of Louis Armstrong by Ricky Riccardi
- Song for Someone: The Musical Life of Kenny Wheeler by Brian Shaw and Nick Smart
- Sax Expat: The Biography of Don Byas by Con Chapman
- Black Mystery School Pianists and Other Writingsby Matthew Shipp
- Run the Song: Writing About Running, About Listeningby Ben Ratliff
Books Referenced
- Sophisticated Giant by Maxine Gordon (about Dexter Gordon)
- Gene Krupa: His Life and Times by Bruce Crowther
- Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat that Changed America by Stephanie Stein Crease
- The Swing Era by Gunther Schuller
Albums Referenced
- Friday and Saturday Night at the Blackhawk by Miles Davis (includes essay by Ralph J. Gleason)
- Dizzy on the French Rivieraby Dizzy Gillespie (includes essay by Ralph J. Gleason)
The Jazz Omnibus is on sale now at 25% off. This 600-page anthology features 21st-century photos and writings by JJA members. Details at: bit.ly/jja25
If you're a media-maker working in jazz, the JJA is offering first-time members a special rate of $50. Join a community of colleagues telling all the stories of jazz. Sign up at members.jazzjournalists.org/join
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
In fall 2023, three veteran jazz journalists, Bill Milkowski, Rick Mitchell, and Howard Mandel, sat down for a wide-ranging conversation, a portion of which is collected here to remind us all why we fell in love with music in the first place.
From first album purchases to legendary festival moments, they share the records and live performances that impacted them. Whether it's Howard's early attraction to Bill Evans, Rick's reverence for Jimi Hendrix, or Bill's memories of Blind Faith, these are the musical origin stories behind three respected voices in jazz journalism.
This episode captures what happens when writers stop analyzing and start remembering. It is all about the the music that made them who they are, and why. Yes, it's still all about the music.
Check out our playlist of the music mentioned and excerpted in this episode.
And here are the two episodes making up the discussion this episode is excerpted from:
Part I: Jazz Journalism, Then and Now, with Veteran Writer Bill Milkowski and host Rick Mitchell
Part II: Bill Milkowski with Rick Mitchell and Howard Mandel, reminiscing
The Jazz Omnibus is on sale now at 25% off. This 600-page anthology features 21st-century photos and writings by JJA members. Details at: bit.ly/jja25
If you're a media-maker working in jazz, the JJA is offering first-time members a special rate of $50. Join a community of colleagues telling all the stories of jazz. Sign up at members.jazzjournalists.org/join
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
Michelle Zeto, Geoffrey Himes, and Rob Shepherd have each built careers in music journalism and broadcasting. They discuss how genre categories shape both criticism and listening, the difference between being a savant and a polymath, and whether the post-genre world is liberating or limiting. The conversation explores the role of critics as translators, the rise of playlist culture, and why attention spans may not be as new a problem as we think.
In this episode, we explore:
- How musicians themselves often resist the "jazz" label—and what that means for writers
- Why shorter attention spans might not be the crisis we think
- The tension between consumer advisor and cultural translator
- What human curation offers that algorithms can't
- Whether broad knowledge serves critics better than deep specialization
Learn more about our guests:
- Michelle Zeto and "Jammin' Jazz"
- Geoffrey Himes and "Hard Rain and Pink Cadillacs"
- Rob Shepherd and PostGenre.org
Our host:
- Lawrence Peryer
And our organization,the Jazz Journalists Association.
Take a look at the Jazz Omnibus, the 600-page anthology of 21st century photos and writings by members of the Jazz Journalist Association, available online and wherever books are sold
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
Today we have JJA president Howard Mandel hosting a compelling discussion on political activism in jazz with three remarkable musicians who have dedicated their careers to both artistic excellence and social change.
Our first guest is Terri Lyne Carrington, the four-time Grammy-winning drummer, composer, and producer who serves as Founder and Artistic Director of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. As an NEA Jazz Master and Doris Duke Artist, Terri Lyne has spent four decades advocating for women, transgender, and nonbinary musicians while reimagining jazz's aesthetic possibilities. Her recent work includes the acclaimed album "new STANDARDS vol.1," featuring compositions by women, and a powerful reconceptualization of Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln's "We Insist!" for the modern era.
Joining her is Orbert Davis, the Emmy Award-winning trumpeter, composer, and educator who co-founded the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic. As host of "The Real Deal with Orbert Davis" on 90.9 FM WDCB, Orbert has built extraordinary cultural bridges through his "Immigrant Stories" concert series and groundbreaking collaborations with Cuban musicians. His work transforms jazz into a vehicle for international understanding and social healing.
Our third guest is Marc Ribot, the innovative guitarist whose extensive collaborations include work with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and John Zorn. Beyond his acclaimed recording career spanning over 25 albums, Marc has emerged as a fierce advocate for musicians' economic rights through his organizing work with the Content Creators Coalition and efforts to reform the American Federation of Musicians.
Together, these three artists explore what jazz activism means today—from challenging gender inequities and supporting immigrant communities to fighting for fair compensation and workers' rights. Their conversation reveals how jazz continues to serve as both artistic expression and instrument of social change.
Take a look at the Jazz Omnibus, the 600-page anthology of 21st century photos and writings by members of the Jazz Journalist Association, available online and wherever books are sold
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
Michael Ambrosino hosts this episode of The Buzz, a discussion with Josh Antonuccio, Matt Powers, and Jon Irabagon as they explore the effects of AI on journalism, music, production, education, and jazz.
Josh is an associate professor within the media production and recording industry major in the School of Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University. He's worked extensively within higher education since 2007, establishing innovative music and media industry curriculums and developing the expansion of experience-based music industry education. He is also the director of Ohio University's Music Industry Summit.
Jon is a multi-reed instrumentalist, composer, arranger, band leader, and faculty member at the University of Illinois in Chicago, where he teaches jazz saxophone and courses in jazz history. Winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition, a Rising Star Award in DownBeat magazine's alto and tenor saxophone categories, and a recipient of the Philippine Presidential Award, Jon's latest album is "Server Farm," a musical exploration of how artificial intelligence affects our lives.
Matt is a professor at the University of Washington's Department of Communication, where he's the co-director of the Department's Center for Journalism, Media and Democracy. His book, "The Journalist Predicament: Difficult Choices in a Declining Profession," explores journalism within the transformations confronting the profession. He's also the co-editor of "Rethinking Media Research for Changing Societies," exploring how researchers can make sense of the massive changes confronting politics and the media.
Take a look at the Jazz Omnibus, the 600-page anthology of 21st century photos and writings by members of the Jazz Journalist Association, available online and wherever books are sold
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
In this episode of The Buzz, JJA board member Bob Blumenthal speaks with two 2025 book award winners: Jonathan Grasse and Elijah Wald.
Jonathan Grasse teaches music at California State University, Dominguez Hills, focusing on world music, theory, and composition. He wrote the definitive English-language study of Brazilian regional music in Hearing Brazil: Music and Histories, and Minas Gerais and examined Milton Nascimento and Lô Borges's 1972 album in The Corner Club. His latest work, Jazz Revolutionary: The Life and Music of Eric Dolphy (Jawbone Press), won JJA's 2025 Biography of the Year.
Elijah Wald is a musician and author of over a dozen books, including Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues, The Dozens (about insult games in rap development), and How the Beatles Destroyed Rock and Roll: An Alternative History of Popular Music. He also wrote Dylan Goes Electric, which inspired the film A Complete Unknown. With a PhD in ethnomusicology and sociolinguistics plus a Grammy for production and liner notes, Wald's Jelly Roll Blues: Censored Songs and Hidden Histories earned JJA's 2025 Book of the Year for history, criticism, and culture.
Take a look at the Jazz Omnibus, the 600-page anthology of 21st century photos and writings by members of the Jazz Journalist Association, available online and wherever books are sold
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
Join host Michael Ambrosino as he speaks with three veteran jazz publicists—Ann Braithwaite (Braithwaite & Katz Communications), Lydia Liebman (Lydia Liebman Promotions), and Matt Merewitz (Fully Altered Media)—about the evolving nature of jazz promotion.
The group discusses how they build relationships between artists and audiences, adapt to media fragmentation, create engaging content in the age of AI, and measure success in their campaigns.
These industry insiders share candid insights about the challenges of breaking through the noise and connecting jazz artists with listeners in today's digital world, while revealing the passionate commitment that keeps them going in an increasingly complex promotional landscape.
Take a look at the Jazz Omnibus, the 600-page anthology of 21st century photos and writings by members of the Jazz Journalist Association, available online and wherever books are sold
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
The 2025 JJA Awards just dropped, and in this special episode The Buzz is breaking down the winners in some of the leading categories.
Host Lawrence Peryer is joined by guests Neil Tesser and Mark Ruffin to discuss lifetime achievements, standout performers, and why some names keep winning year after year.
Both guests bring unique perspectives - Mark from his years as a writer and radio programmer and personality, Neil from his work as a critic and broadcaster who's earned his own lifetime achievement award.
The full list of 2025 JJA Awards is available online at jjajazzawards.org.
Take a look at the Jazz Omnibus, the 600-page anthology of 21st century photos and writings by members of the Jazz Journalist Association, available online and wherever books are sold
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
Three accomplished jazz authors share their journeys from traditional publishing to successful independent careers. Join host Lawrence Peryer as Debbie Burke, Steve Cerra, and Rick Mitchell reveal the tools, economics, and creative freedom they've found in self-publishing. Learn how these writers are reshaping the jazz book world by taking control of their work - from manuscript to marketing.
Whether you are a jazz enthusiast or an aspiring author, this conversation offers valuable insights into turning passion projects into world-class publishing ventures.
Topics include: creative control vs. traditional publishing, royalty structures, marketing strategies, production challenges, and the advantages of independence in specialized fields of writing.
Take a look at the Jazz Omnibus, the 600-page anthology of 21st century photos and writings by members of the Jazz Journalist Association, available online and wherever books are sold
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
This conversation between JJA members Bob Blumenthal, Ricky Ricciardi, and Fumi Tomita explores how jazz research has evolved through digital transformation.
Ricciardi describes his journey researching Louis Armstrong's career, moving from physical archives and interviews for his first book to primarily digital resources like newspaper databases, digitized periodicals, and ancestry records for subsequent works.
Tomita discusses researching early jazz by using both traditional sources and digital archives, explaining how this allowed him to rediscover overlooked musicians and challenge established narratives.
Both authors share their detective work in reconciling conflicting historical accounts and discuss the revelations that emerged during their research—Ricciardi finding consistency in Armstrong's artistic approach throughout his career, and Tomita discovering early jazz's experimental nature and influence on free jazz.
The conversation highlights valuable resources for jazz researchers, including newspaper and periodical databases, digitized oral histories from various institutions, and Archive.org's extensive collection. The guests discuss areas needing fresh research and emphasize how digital access has democratized jazz research, allowing deeper investigation into the music's complex evolution without leaving one's home.
Take a look at the Jazz Omnibus, the 600-page anthology of 21st century photos and writings by members of the Jazz Journalist Association, available online and wherever books are sold
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
Tomas Peña, jazz journalist of breadth with unique ties to his Puerto Rican heritage, and José Massó, best known as a Boston broadcaster (and Jazz Hero) who takes a multi-media approach to full communication of the arts in life -- speak to JJA member Michael Ambrosino, producer of Los Olvidados, a radio documentary about Pan-Latin influences on jazz.
Take a look at the Jazz Omnibus, the 600-page anthology of 21st century photos and writings by members of the Jazz Journalist Association, available online and wherever books are sold
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
Will Friedwald does it all -- books on Sinatra, Nat "King" Cole, jazz vocalists and the Great American Songbook; articles in publications including the Wall Street Journal; his own broadcasting platform and Substack, Slouching Towards Birdland. He speaks as winner of the 2024 JJA Jazz Award for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism to Chicago-based writer, broadcaster and JJA board member and Neil Tesser.
Take a look at the Jazz Omnibus, the 600-page anthology of 21st century photos and writings by members of the Jazz Journalist Association, available online and wherever books are sold
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
Playing The Changes: Jazz in An African University and On the Road is the account by Catherine and Darius Brubeck (daughter-in-law and son of Dave Brubeck) of their 25-year sojourn in South Africa, where they expanded the jazz landscape, establishing a music program at University of KwaZulu-Natal. Todd S. Jenkins interviews the couple in this latest Author's Series episode of The Buzz: The Podcast of the Jazz Journalists Association.
Take a look at the Jazz Omnibus, the 600-page anthology of 21st century photos and writings by members of the Jazz Journalist Association, available online and wherever books are sold
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
The Jazz Omnibus: 21st-Century Photos and Writings by Members of the Jazz Journalists Association is a 600-page anthology published in hardcover, paperback and ebook editions by Cymbal Press. In this edition of The Buzz, Lawrence Peryer interviews the team that put it together -- editor David Adler, copy chief Terri Hinte, editorial advisor and JJA president Howard Mandel, and Cymbal Press principal Gary Stager about the intentions and processes behind creation of a volume representing two decades of experts' jazz coverage, meant to endure and enlighten for years to come.
Take a look at the Jazz Omnibus, the 600-page anthology of 21st century photos and writings by members of the Jazz Journalist Association, available online and wherever books are sold
Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.
Rayna Mathis has edited the monthly publication of Seattle's Earshot Jazz for four years; Chrys Roney became CEO and editor-in-chief of Hot House Jazz Guide, serving the New York metropolitan area, just five months ago -- and each of them enthuses about the community-serving aspects of their editorial project. Howard Mandel notes that its been rare for Black women to head jazz publications, and a gratifying development.
Pianist, composer-improviser and educator Ann Tappan lives far from the madding crowd, outsize Bozeman, Montana, maintaining an active career including international forays. Having made the scene in NYC and San Francisco, she speaks with authority about the challenges and pleasures of making art and life outside the urban milieu commonly assumed for jazz.
Essayist Farah Jasmine Griffin, whose collection In Search of a Beautiful Freedom won the JJA's 2024 Jazz Book of the Year: History, Criticism and Culture, talks about her focus on jazz and its relevance across many realms of thought, with Fiona Ross, member of the JJA's book committee and founder of Women in Jazz Media.
Music historian and author Ashley Kahn and producer Zev Feldman, "the Jazz Detective," speak with host Rick Mitchell on the journalism and historical importance of albums of historical jazz (those recorded more than 10? 20? 30? years ago?) releases, and the particular value to them of liner notes. All pay homage to the legacy of Blue Note Records/Mosaic Records producer and writer Michael Cuscuna, who died in April at the age of 75.
Dutch scholar Walter van de Leur is the author of Jazz and Death: Reception, Rituals, and Representations, a fascinating study that enlightens about the music from a unique angle. Fiona Ross, member of the Jazz Journalists Association's Book Committee, interviews Walter, touching on New Orleans funerals, Chet Baker, and the rumot that jazz itself is dead.
Aaron Cohen is co-author of Gentleman of Jazz, the autobiography of pianist Ramsey Lewis, nominated for a Book of the Year award in the 29th annual JJA Jazz Awards. He speaks with Brad Stone.
Philip Arniell is a Belfast-born photographer, long resident of Japan now living in Ireland. He discusses Tokyo Jazz Joints, his revealing photobook of a now-fading subculture, with Brad Stone, who himself visited some of these listening cafes.
Brad Stone speaks with Carmen Fields, Emmy Award-winning Boston television news anchor and author of a book about her father's long-touring jazz show, Going Back to T'Town: The Ernie Fields Territory Big Band
Con Chapman is author of "Kansas City Jazz: A Little Evil Will Do You Good," a nominee for Book of the Year in the 2024 Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards. He speaks with Bob Blumenthal, chair of the Book Awards committee and board member of the JJA.
Easily Slip Into Another World is Pulitzer Prize-winning composer/reeds and winds instrumentalist/bandleader Henry Threadgill's vivid autobiography, co-authored by Brent Hayes Edwards, a literary scholar teaching at Columbia University. Edwards is interviewed by JJA board member Bob Blumenthal, chair of the nominating committee for JJA Jazz Books of the Year.
Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat That Changed America is an in-depth look at highly influential and popular, 'til now under-celebrated bandleader, by Ms. Crease, whose prior books are lively portraits of Duke Ellington and Gil Evans. Bob Blumenthal, critic, author (Saxophone Colossus: A Portrait of Sonny Rollins) chairs the Jazz Journalists Association's Book Awards committee.
In an episode of The Buzz interviews with authors of 2024 nominees for Book of the Year Awards, Los Angeles-based Steve Isoardi, author of The Dark Tree about pianist Horace Tapscotts unique musicians/community organition UGMAA, speaks with Bob Blumenthal, JJA board member and chair of the Book Awards committee.
The overlapping interests and gulf of approaches between jazz journalism and jazz education is the topic of this episode of The Buzz: The Jazz Journalists Association podcast, featuring Seattle-based writer Paul de Barros, educator-pianist-writer Monika Herzig (formerly of Indiana University, now an academia in Vienna) and professor emeritus/biographer John Szwed. Howard Mandel, JJA president, is the host.
Host Michael Ambrosino speaks with music journalists Jordannah Elizabeth, Gene Seymour and educator-pianist-blogger Mark Lomanno about how they conceive and compile end-of-the-year Best lists.
Ed Trefizger of JazzWeek, radio maven Scott Handley formerly with NPR, and Kayonne Riley of WUCF in Orlando discuss the mission and current state of jazz radio with Rick Mitchell, JJA board member and host of the syndicated KBOO broadcast Jazz In the New Millennium
Alyn Shipton, Ken Poston and Steve Cerra -- authors, editors and publishers with recent books concerning the late, great baritone saxophonist/composer/arranger Gerry Mulligan -- speak with Rick Mitchell, JJA board member and radio program host, about their works on the complicated, compelling musician.
Veteran jazz journalists Bill Milkowski, Rick Mitchell and Howard Mandel talk about the first records they bought with their own $ -- decades back -- and how rock played a part in their early listening. Memories! The Buzz editor the Wiz said, unsolicited, "This one was very fun to listen to."
Bill Milkowski, author of books on Jaco Pastorius, Michael Brecker Keith Richards and jive as well as hundreds of articles for leading music magazines, discusses his career and how conditions facing freelancers have changed from the 1970s to today. Howard Mandel, president of the JJA, joins the episode towards its end. Rick Mitchell is host.
How does an interviewer approach their task? Ted Panken, author and journalist with extensive experience from his decades at WKCR (NYC) and Robin Lloyd, radio host doing interviews more recently on KNKX (Seattle), share tips and stories of their encounters with musicians -- those eager to talk, and those who were reluctant. Host Rick Mitchell, too, adds insights gleaned from years of print and broadcast jazz jouralism.
How is the main stream media in Jazz keeping up with the innovations Latin Jazz brings to this unique musical art form?
Master percussionist, educator and activist John Santos, along with trombonist Chris Washburne, author of the book Latin Jazz - The Other Jazz, join The Buzz to explore whether Latin Jazz is "tokenized" by the mainstream media covering Jazz. Hosted by Michael Ambrosino, Jazz journalist and producer of the audio documentary Los Olvidados, The Forgotten Ones.
Latin Jazz has always had a curious relationship with the mainstream Jazz media. Master percussionist, educator and activist John Santos, along with trombonist Chris Washburne, author of the book Latin Jazz - The Other Jazz, join The Buzz to explore whether Latin Jazz is "tokenized" by the mainstream media covering Jazz. Hosted by Michael Ambrosino, Jazz journalist and producer of the audio documentary Los Olvidados, The Forgotten Ones.
After decades as one of the world's leading jazz magazines, JazzTimes was purchased last May by The BeBop Channel, which unceremoniously cancelled all assignments. Staff and writers owed for past work are still waiting to get paid, and the publication has devolved into something unrecognizable. Host Andrew Gilbert discussed the distressing situation and the larger landscape for covering jazz in-depth with two brilliant colleagues, John Murph and James Gavin
Andrew Gilbert https://www.facebook.com/andrew.gilbert.319
James Gavin http://www.jamesgavin.com/
John Murph https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmurph/
Journalists discuss their experience with the new management of JazzTimes.
Andy Gilbert https://twitter.com/jazzscribe?s=20
James Gavin http://www.jamesgavin.com/
John Murph https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmurph/
From the JJA's March 26, 2023 online Book Bash, London-based media maven, impetus behind Women in Jazz Media and singer Fiona Ross, a member of the JJA's Book Committee, speaks with authors of two books nominated for 2023 Jazz Awards -- which later were announced winners in their categories!
- Willard Jenkins, editor of Ain't But a Few of Us: Black Music Writers Tell Their Story
- Aidan Levy, author of Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins
- drop-in by Michael Wolff, author of On That Note: A Memoir of Jazz, Tics and Survival
introduced by Howard Mandel, president of the Jazz Journalists Association.
https://fionaross.co.uk/
https://www.openskyjazz.com/about/willard-jenkins/
https://aidan-levy.com/
https://www.michaelwolff.com/
https://news.jazzjournalists.org/
From the JJA's March 26, 2023 online Book Bash, Bay Area-based radio show host and educator Brad Stone, member of the JJA's Book Committee, speaks with authors of two books nominated for 2023 Jazz Awards --
- Philip Watson of Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer: The Guitarist who Changed the Sound of American Music
- Kenny Werner, pianist and author of Becoming the Instrument: Lessons on Self-Master from Music to Life --
introduced by Howard Mandel, president of the Jazz Journalists Association.
From the JJA's March 26 2023 online Book Bash, Bob Blumenthal, a dean of the field, board member and chair of the JJA's Book Committee, moderates a panel of authors of books nominated for 2023 JJA Jazz Awards:
- Richard Koloda, author of Holy Ghost: The Life and Death of Free Jazz Pioneer Albert Ayler; https://www.freejazzblog.org/2023/04/richard-koloda-holy-ghost-life-death-of.html
- Monika Herzig and James Reddan, editors of the Routledge Companion to Jazz and Gender, https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-Jazz-and-Gender/Reddan-Herzig-Kahr/p/book/9780367534141
- Michael Wolff, On That Note: A Memoir of Jazz, Tics and Survival https://www.amazon.com/That-Note-Memoir-Jazz-Survival/dp/195647031X
Introduced by Howard Mandel, president of the Jazz Journalists Association
Host Rick Mitchell discusses Jazz Polls with journalists Geoffrey Himes and Tom Hull.
Geoffrey Himes: https://codacollection.co/authors/geoffrey-himes
Tom Hull: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Hull_(critic)
In the first of a series of conversations with journalists covering jazz, host Andrew Gilbert talks with Chicago writer Hannah Edgar, who contributes to the Chicago Tribune as part of a program funded by the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism. Edgar also writes for the Chicago Reader.
Hannah Edgar: https://hannah-edgar.com/
Andrew Gilbert: https://www.facebook.com/andrew.gilbert.319
Host Rick Mitchell talks with jazz journalists Eugene Holley Jr. and Aaron Cohen on the subject of white critics writing about black music, an issue that dates back to birth of jazz.
Eugene Holley Jr.: https://muckrack.com/eugene-holley-jr/articles
Aaron Cohen: https://muckrack.com/aaron-cohen-5
"Free jazz" as presented in a dozen films collected and presented by the Criterion Channel incorporate unusual ways of telling unusual musical stories, including portraits of Alice Coltrane and Milford Graves; Cecil Taylor, Bill Dixon, Archie Shepp and Paul Bley in Imagine the Sound, and evocative experimental films such as Dream City and Promises: Through Congress. Panelists Kevin Whitehead (author of Play The Way You Feel: The Essential Guide to Jazz Stories on Film, jazz critic on Fresh Air with Terry Gross), Gretchen Carlson (author of Improvising the Score: Rethinking Modern Film Music Through Jazz), and Don Palmer (arts journalist, former grant officer for New York State Council on the Arts) discuss these films and others with host Howard Mandel, JJA president, in the second of a two-part podcast.
Are films about "free jazz," featured in a collection on the Criterion Channel, a genre -- and if so, what are their common traits? Panelists Kevin Whitehead (author of Play The Way You Feel: The Essential Guide to Jazz Stories on Film, jazz critic on Fresh Air with Terry Gross), Gretchen Carlson (author of Improvising the Score: Rethinking Modern Film Music Through Jazz), and Don Palmer (arts journalist, former grant officer for New York State Council on the Arts) explore Space Is the Place, Les Stances á Sophie, Ornette: Made in America, The Cry of Jazz and others with host Howard Mandel, JJA president, in the first of a two-part podcast.
Jason Miles discusses his book The Extraordinary Journey of Jason Miles: A musical biography with host Susan Brink. Miles, a Grammy award winning producer, keyboardist, composer, arranger and synthesist has worked with the best: Miles Davis, Luther Vandross, Marcus Miller (who wrote the introduction), Mike and Randy Brecker, the list goes on.
https://www.jasonmilesmusic.com/
Amazon link to book: https://a.co/d/gkF2WaR
Host Susan Brink speaks with Aidan Levy, author of the first comprehensive biography of the legendary musician and composer Sonny Rollins.
"Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins" at 784 pages is comprehensive, but very readable. To learn more about Aidan Levy or purchase the book:
https://aidan-levy.com/
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/aidan-levy/saxophone-colossus/9780306902796/
Host Susan Brink speaks with author Rick Lopez, who has just self published "The Sam Rivers Sessionography: A Work In Progress". With 768 pages and over 500 illustrations, this comprehensive and meticulously researched sessionography/biography was 25 years in the making.
To purchase the book: https://www.gofundme.com/f/sam-rivers-sessionography
Sam River's obituary, written by Nate Chinen, in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/28/arts/music/sam-rivers-jazz-musician-dies-at-88.html
Arts for Art is hosting Studio Rivbea Revisited 2023, January 4 - 8, 2023 in New York City. This will be both live and streamed. For information/tickets : https://www.artsforart.org/rivbea.html
Host Rick Mitchell and Neil Tesser, discuss the differences between professional and casual listening.
Rick Mitchell is a longtime music journalist and radio programmer living in Portland Oregon.
Neil Tesser is a Grammy Award–winning American journalist, radio host, music critic, and author. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Tesser
Willard Jenkins discussed his new book "Ain't But a Few of Us: Black Music Writers Tell Their Story" with host Susan Brink. The title will be released on December 2, 2022 on Duke University Press.
Willard Jenkins is an independent arts consultant, concerts and festivals artistic director/curator, producer, writer and editor under his Open Sky banner. Willard Jenkins’ current activity includes festival, and concert series planning/development, artistic direction/curating, arts organization and artist consulting, music journalism/editing, teaching, and broadcast work. https://www.openskyjazz.com/about/willard-jenkins/
Host Rick Mitchell discusses websites with Joe Maita of Jerry Jazz Musician and Dee Dee McNeil
https://jerryjazzmusician.com/author/joe-maita/
https://tinyurl.com/bddz7rm2
Veteran journalists on the real deal working in print and internet media. Host Andrew Gilbert in a lively discussion with Mike West and Marcus J Moore
Mr. Moore has been a contributing writer with The Nation and a contributing editor with Bandcamp Daily. His coverage of soul, jazz, rap, and rock can be found at The New York Times, Pitchfork, TIME, Entertainment Weekly, GQ, The Washington Post, NPR, Rolling Stone, and The Atlantic, among other outlets. He also operates The Liner Notes newsletter, where he writes about his favorite music of all genres and eras.
Mike West is a regular contributor and review editor to JazzTimes , The Washington Post, Washington City Paper, and Down Beat. His byline has also appeared in Jazziz, Bandcamp Daily, NPR Music, and Slate, among others.
Andrew Gilbert writes about jazz, roots & international music for the San Jose Mercury News, SF Chronicle, San Francisco Classical Voice, http://Berkeleyside.com, and others.
https://www.marcusjmoore.media
https://www.michael-j-west.com
https://www.kqed.org/author/agilbert
Wayne Winborne and Ashley Kahn continue their discussion. Felix A. Grant Archivist Reuben Jackson on the ABC's of Archives.
Wayne Winborne and Ashley Khan have an animated, in-depth discussion about jazz archives with host Susan Brink. Winborne is the Executive Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University - Newark. Kahn is an author, educator, music journalist, and concert producer.
https://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/newark/visit-study/institute-jazz-studies
https://tisch.nyu.edu/about/directory/clive-davis-institute/1417614318
Host Rick Mitchell talks with Larry Blumenfeld, jazz writer for the Wall Street Journal, and Carolyn McClair, President of Carolyn McClair Public Relations and longtime festival and entertainment publicist.
Host Susan Brink talks with Richard Conde, a NYC based photographer.. He currently serves as Senior Staff Photographer for the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, and is the official photographer for the Newport, Exit 0, and Jazz Mobile jazz festivals, as well as New York's famed Birdland Jazz Club. Conde's much in-demand work which has been praised as "making the invisible visible" has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, NPR Radio, Down Beat, Jazz Times and National Geographic magazines. National Geographic recently added his work to their permanent stock collection. He has also shot many album covers, the latest for Verve Records. His camera of choice is the Nikon D5. He is currently represented by H.P Garcia gallery in New York City. www.richardcondephotos.com
Susan's second guest, Jazz Journalist Association President Howard Mandel, discusses “Seeing Jazz: JJA Photographers Master Classes,” a new monthly series, which goes live at 1 pm ET on Saturday, June 25,as Award-winning Argentine-born/New York-based Adriana Mateo discusses her work with Hrayr Attarian, chair of the JJA’s Photo of the Year committee, in an interactive Zoom session.
Registration is free for JJA members, $10 to the public.
On the latest episode of The Buzz: The JJA Podcast, host Rick Mitchell talks with longtime jazz radio programmers Linda Yohn and Cheryl K Symister-Masterson and jazz radio promo-man Mark Rini on the joys and challenges of doing what they do. The good news is, the music -- new and old -- is being played and heard.
A Look at Jazz Criticism with host Rick Mitchell. Guests: John Gennari, author of Blowin’ Hot and Cool: Jazz and Its Critics (University of Chicago Press, 2006) and a Professor of English and Critical Race and Ethic Studies at the University of Vermont and Giovanni Russonello, Jazz Critic for the NY Times.
Broadcast veterans Neil Tesser and Mark Ruffin join host Rick Mitchell for a freewheeling analysis of what the results of the 2022 JJA Jazz Awards reveal about the current state of jazz, and jazz journalism.
Mark Ruffin is the program director of Sirius XM’s Real Jazz channel. Neil Tesser is a longtime print journalist and jazz radio programmer currently heard on KSDS in San Diego in the series Jazz Across America. Rick Mitchell is the producer of the syndicated weekly radio program Jazz in the New Millennium as well as a longtime print journalist.
This podcast contains excerpts from the tracks "Comes Love" by Sheila Jordan (Comes Love: Lost Session 1960; Capri Records), and "For Art's Sake" by Kenny Garrett (Sounds from the Ancestors, Mack Avenue Records)
Jazz Journalist Association President Howard Mandel introduces The Buzz and speaks about the JJA's activities.
Jazz Hero Award Associate Producer Susan Brink and Marcia Hocker discuss the Jazz Hero Award with Host Rick Mitchell.
To Learn more about the JJA Awards, visit our website: jjajazzawards.org