We”re pretty sure it’s the heat suppressing the number of updates JJA members have sent in — because we’re as busy as ever, presenting Jazz Awards to Heroes, musicians and media-makers widely as well as filing stories, Zooming for “Seeing Jazz” music photography master classes, producing The Buzz: The JJA Podcast, and posting articles here at JJANews (among other platforms). New members: Vilma Dobilaite, a photo-journalist of Valencia, Spain; Terrell Holmes, a historian-reviewer-interviewer in Long Island City, NYC, and Kay Shackelford, of Charlotte, NC, who’s interested in “Jazz and Digimoder ..read more

I remember my first visit to the United States well. The year was 2018. My colleagues and I had just returned from the funeral of trumpeter Igor Bourco, one of the most important Russian jazz musicians, the creator of one of the oldest ensembles of traditional jazz, “Uralskiy Dixieland” and founder of the Chelyabinsk International Jazz Festival, “What a Wonderful World,” when I received an invitation to visit America to participate in the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program. Sadness and joy often go hand in hand. Bourco had played a significant role in my life. Many yea ..read more

 Each new descent into Montenegro brings me emotional fulfillments similar to those generated by great music. That makes the exhausting journey with my own car worth it: two days (with a one-night stopover in Belgrade), from the Romanian 2,000 year-old city of Cluj to the heart of Montenegro. Nevertheless, my admiration for this country is not only due to its incomparable natural beauty, but perhaps most of all to its impressive capacity to function as a state worthy of civilized living standards. This, although its population (according to 2019 data)  is only around 622,140 inhabita ..read more

Jazz Journalists Association members love April as Jazz Appreciation Month culminating in International Jazz Day. We hail newly inducted NEA Jazz Masters, laud and present 2024 Jazz Heroes, nominate and vote for JJA Jazz Awards (as well as in the DownBeat critics poll), attend the spring fests and prepare for the coming summer’s. So much to look forward for! We’re please several journos have taken advantage of the JJA’s discounted first-time membership deal, so we welcome: You’ll re reading more about them in the future. Speaking of reading, check out the series of eight Authors Interviews on ..read more

The Jazz Journalists Association has announced winners of its 29th annual JJA Jazz Awards for excellence in music and music journalism. Among top tier honors in the more than 40 categories of Awards presented  are: Excluding Lifetime and Career Achievement honors, the Awards are conferred on the basis of work done in calendar year 2023. The complete list of winners and nominees, as well as previously announced JJA Jazz Heroes, are posted at www.JJAJazzAwards.org. The JJA, a non-profit organization advancing the interests of writers, photographers, broadcasters and new media professionals ..read more

Announcement of the winners of the 2024 JJA Jazz Awards, the Jazz Journalists Association’s 29th annual celebration of excellence in music and music media, has been delayed from previously scheduled May 8 to next Monday, May 13. Sorry for the suspense — transient illness threw publication offtrack — fine now — please be patient! And anticipate the honors in more than 40 categories of jazz activities. See all the nominees here ..read more

Insults couldn’t pierce the thick skin of musicians like Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong or Count Basie, long accustomed to bigoted slurs and crude critique. But when reviewers blithely demeaned them as uncultured clowns, or savage beasts, something snapped Armstrong “might have come straight from some African jungle and then, after being taken to a slop tailor’s for a ready made dress-suit, been put straight on the stage and told to ‘sing,’” Hannen Swaffer, one of Britain’s best-known drama critics, wrote in the Daily Herald in 1932. A competing London rag, the Daily Express, described Satchm ..read more

That’s JJAJazzAwards.org ..read more

Michael Cuscuna, known best as a record producer associated with Blue Note Records and co-founder of Mosaic Records, has died. A sophisticated man, devoted to creating new works by a wide range of artistically inspired musicians as well as making available comprehensive editions of historic recordings, Cuscuna was a friend to many jazz journalists, valuing high standards of documentation for his albums. The JJA extends condolences to his family, friends and colleagues, appreciating his contributions to jazz. Recommended: Cuscuna’s “from the Archives” interview with Jerry Jazz Musician ..read more

The Jazz Journalists Association proudly announces its slate of 2024 Jazz Heroes, people who go beyond their job titles to have have significant impact in their local communities by supporting jazz music, musicians and musical culture. Thirty-three “activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz are hailed by supporters from their local communities, with JJA help nto disseminate news of the honors broadly. Read their bios and dig the diversity of efforts to present, promote and support music now, from the borderland of Baja California, Mexico – San Diego to the Lowlands of South ..read more