Gentleman of Jazz is the image that reading this book and recalling the original piano trio of the late NEA Jazz Master pianist Ramsey Lewis will most assuredly yield. Essentially an “as told to” autobiography written by Chicago-based music writer Aaron Cohen, this is a revealing read recalling the somewhat underrated odyssey of one of Chicago’s finest and most consistent jazz contributors. And in a book field where jazz greats’ memoirs remain in short supply (plenty of biographies; less so with autobiographies and memoirs), clearly some questions were in order for Aaron Cohen. What was the g ..read more

The Landfill Chronicles: Unearthing Legends of Modern Music by Dan Ouellette (publisher: Cymbal Press) When veteran jazz journalist and Ron Carter biographer Dan Ouellette’s current book The Landfill Chronicles was released (and read the book for Dan’s intro on how he came about that rather cheeky title) I knew given his experience in the field and the focus on his vast artist interviewing history that there would be some real pearls in the volume, and I was not disappointed. After all this is a writer who has not only set his recorder down in front of myriad artists at home, backstage, or so ..read more

For part 4 of our ongoing series of dialogues with jazz radio programmers/show hosts we hear from Brad Stone, who broadcasts jazz programming out of a streaming platform from just south of the San Francisco Bay Area. And we hear from my former WPFW colleague Keanna Faircloth, who is more recently formerly of WBGO, and who has recently launched a new, limited time jazz radio broadcasting series with a promise of future series. BRAD STONE: With 45 years of radio experience, at several different stations and under different circumstances, how to program great jazz radio can vary quite a bit depe ..read more

Our ongoing series of virtual conversations with jazz broadcasters on why Great Jazz Radio Still Matters, we hear from disparate parts of the country – from New Orleans, Chicago and Los Angeles. Middleton O’Malley – known to his friends as Middie – was one of my broadcast colleagues at the legendary community radio station and upholder of all things New Orleans music – WWOZ. When Suzan & I arrived in New Orleans a short stint while she was a visiting professor at Loyola University, zeroing in my radio interests I was constantly impressed at not only Middie’s sonorous voice, but also his mu ..read more

My recent, extremely rewarding and gratifying experience with the NEA Jazz Masters as recipient of the 2024 NEA Jazz Masters A.B. Spellman award for Jazz Advocacy has provided plenty of room for reflection, including some precious opportunities to participate in retrospective interviews. Among those reflections was my 50+ years as a jazz radio programmer. That odyssey began as an undergraduate at Kent State University when my dear friend Michael Brown bequeathed his weekly WKSU radio show “Exploration Jazz” to my care. From there I had radio opportunities at WABQ and for a very brief moment at ..read more

Among the many travels I was afforded while working with NEA Jazz Master pianist-composer-bandleader Randy Weston (African Rhythms, 2010 Duke University Press) was an extremely pleasant journey to Annecy, France, a lovely alpine town hard by Lake Annecy and the Swiss border where Randy had resided for a time. It was on that trip that I also met the man who had produced several of Randy’s late career records for the Universal Music Group, Jean-Phillipe Allard. More recently Jean-Phillipe has launched his own Artworks imprint. What exactly is the role of a record producer and how does one arrive ..read more

One of my earliest off the bandstand encounters with trumpeter, composer, bandleader, educator and curator Ahmed Abdullah came when I conducted a series of oral history interviews for the Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn. Working with my colleague Jennifer Scott, our task was to build Weeksville’s considerable archives with a specific focus on past and present history of jazz in Central Brooklyn. At the time Ahmed was part of the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium orbit, along with such good people as the late Jitu Weusi, public school educator and one of the guiding forces behind the leg ..read more

Are you familiar with the Music Workers Alliance and their efforts on behalf of music practitioners? For insights we turned to the extraordinarily diverse bassist Jerome Harris. Diverse discography? Besides his four releases as a leader, Jerome has recorded with such artists as Ray Anderson, Jack DeJohnette, Marty Ehrlich, Oliver Lake, Michael Gregory Jackson, David Krakauer, Bob Moses, Amina Claudine Myers, Sonny Rollins, Bobby Previte, Bob Stewart, Bill Frisell, Jay Hoggard, Julius Hemphill Big Band, Jeanne Lee, Roy Nathanson, Jaki Byard and a raft of others. Given that it appears the genes ..read more

DC Jazz Festival and Howard University recently celebrated the rich legacy Professor Fred Irby established at Howard University. On the cusp of his retirement after 50 years directing the Howard University Jazz Ensemble and the jazz program first established by NEA Jazz Master Donald Byrd and Dr. Arthur Dawkins, bassist-educator Carroll Dashiell,Jr. has been appointed the Chairman of the Howard University Music Department, tasked with the next step in the exceptional legacy of jazz at HU. Serendipity is rich with this appointment of a NW DC native, HU jazz alum, touring and recording jazz arti ..read more

The alluring city of Perugia is the capital of the central Italian region of Umbria. Located approximately equidistance between Rome and Florence, Perugia covers a high hilltop with magnificent views of the verdant valleys below from numerous vantage points. In 1973 a group of intrepid jazz fans founded Umbria Jazz, much in the manner of grassroots jazz enthusiast formations and volunteerism-generated efforts down through the history of jazz music’s inherent fan base. Now 50 years later Umbria Jazz has established a rich tradition as one of the signature events in the jazz festival firmament ..read more