.The Summer, 2023 collection features poetry chosen from hundreds of recent submissions, and from a wide range of voices known – and unknown – to readers of these collections. The work is unified by the poets’ ability to capture the abundance of jazz music, and their experience with consuming it.

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A wide range of topics are found in this collection. Tributes are paid to Tony Bennett and Ahmad Jamal and to the abstract worlds of musicians like Ornette Coleman and Pharoah Sanders; the complex lives of Chet Baker and Nina Simone are considered; devotions to Ellington and Basie are revealed; and personal solace is found in the music of Tommy Flanagan and Quartet West. These are poems of peace, reflection, time, venue and humor – all with jazz at their core.

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Click here  to read the collection.

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(Featuring the art of Everett Spruill)

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Also in this Issue

In “A Collection of Short Jazz Poems,” 30 poets communicate their appreciation for jazz music in poems no longer than seven lines.

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(featuring the art of Russell duPont)

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Click here to read the collection

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Stephanie Stein Crease, author of Rhythm Man:  Chick Webb and the Beat That Changed America, talks about her book and Chick Webb, once at the center of America’s popular music, and among the most influential musicians in jazz history.  Click here to read the interview.

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Long regarded as jazz music’s most eminent baritone saxophonist, Gerry Mulligan was a central figure in “cool” jazz whose contributions to it also included his important work as a composer and arranger.  Noted jazz scholar Alyn Shipton and JJM contributing writer Bob Hecht discuss Mulligan’s unique contributions to modern jazz.   Click here to read the interview.

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An interview with Richard Koloda, author of Holy Ghost: The Life & Death of Free Jazz Pioneer Albert Ayler, in which the author discusses his biography of the avant-garde tenor saxophonist, which draws attention away from the circumstances surrounding Ayler’s death and brings it sharply back to the legacy he left behind.

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An interview with Glenn Mott, editor of Victory is Assured: The Uncollected Writings of Stanley Crouch…The editor of a newly published collection of Stanley Crouch’s essays discusses the life and work of the late jazz critic and provocateur.

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Short Fiction Contest-winning story #62:  “Mr. P.C.” by Jacob Schrodt…A saxophonist and his teenage daughter – a drummer –bond over their live club performance of John Coltrane’s “Mr. P.C,” but it doesn’t come without its challenges, and the father’s warm remembrance of her childhood.

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“Why We Write – a conversation with three Jerry Jazz Musician contributing writers”…The writers talk about influential life experiences with writing, literary figures who inspired their work, overcoming creative and economic challenges, and where they fit in today’s publishing model.

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