“What one song best represents your expectations for 2025?” Readers respond…

What are your hopes, anxieties, expectations for 2025?  How do you see it playing out? 50 readers respond to the question, What one song best represents your expectations for 2025?

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January 2nd, 2025

Reminiscing in Tempo: “What are 4 or 5 of your all-time favorite Blue Note albums?”

. . Speak No Evil, a 1964 recording session by saxophonist Wayne Shorter (released in 1966), was among those listed by noted critics, authors and musicians as their all-time favorite Blue Note albums . __________ . “Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of … Continue reading “Reminiscing in Tempo: “What are 4 or 5 of your all-time favorite Blue Note albums?””

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June 14th, 2019

Reminiscing in Tempo: “What are some of your all-time favorite record album covers?”

Gary Giddins, Jimmy Heath, Fred Hersch, Joe Hagan, Maxine Gordon, Tim Page, Veronica Swift and Marcus Strickland are among the 25 writers, musicians, poets, educators, and photographers who responded to our question, “What are some of your favorite record album covers of all time?”

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March 12th, 2019

Reminiscing in Tempo: “What are 3 or 4 of your favorite jazz recordings of the 1940’s?”

. .   Photo William Gottlieb/Library of Congress Charlie Parker is frequently found on the lists of noted critics and musicians answering the question, “What are 3 or 4 of your favorite jazz record recordings of the 1940’s?”  This photograph by William Gottlieb was taken at Carnegie Hall in New York, c. 1947 . __________ … Continue reading “Reminiscing in Tempo: “What are 3 or 4 of your favorite jazz recordings of the 1940’s?””

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December 4th, 2018

“What are 3 or 4 of your favorite jazz record albums of the 1970’s?”

In this edition of “Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion,” noted critics and musicians list their favorite jazz record albums of the 1970’s.

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September 24th, 2014

Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion, Volume 15: What are 3 or 4 of your favorite jazz record albums of the 1960’s?

“Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of “edu-tainment.” As often as possible, Jerry Jazz Musician poses one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.

This edition asks the question “What are 3 or 4 of your favorite jazz record albums of the 1960’s?” Respondents include the musicians John McLaughlin, Vijay Iyer, Warren Wolf, Jane Ira Bloom, Don Byron, Robin Eubanks, and journalists Gary Giddins, Dan Morgenstern, Terry Teachout, Neil Tesser, John Goodman and lots more…

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April 10th, 2014

Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion, Volume Fourteen — Who was your childhood hero?

“Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of “edu-tainment.” As often as possible, Jerry Jazz Musician poses one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.

This edition’s question is “Who was your childhood hero?” Participants include Gary Burton, Pat Martino, Gary Giddins, Nat Hentoff, and others.

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January 16th, 2014

Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion/Volume Thirteen: What was the first motion picture you saw (in a theater) without your parents, and what do you recall about the experience?

“Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of “edu-tainment.” As often as possible, Jerry Jazz Musician poses one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.

What was the first motion picture you saw (in a theater) without your parents, and what do you recall about the experience? Jeff “Tain” Watts, Matthew Shipp and Pete Escovedo are among the contributors…

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September 9th, 2013

Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion/Volume Twelve: If you could have dinner with three people, who would they be?

“Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of “edu-tainment.” As often as possible, Jerry Jazz Musician poses one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.

If you could have dinner with three people, who would they be?

Featuring Gary Bartz, Esperanza Spalding, Billy Cobham, John Scofield and others…

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August 26th, 2009

Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion/Volume Eleven: What were five of your favorite record albums (or CD’s) when you were twenty years old, and what are five of your favorite CD’s today?

“Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of “edu-tainment.” As often as possible, we pose one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.

What were five of your favorite record albums (or CD’s) when you were twenty years old, and what are five of your favorite CD’s today?

Featuring Peter Erskine, Rufus Reid, Terri Lynne Carrington, Ben Ratliff, Steve Khan and others…

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March 5th, 2008

Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion/Volume Ten: What three or four songs best epitomize the era of the Civil Rights Movement?

“Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of “edu-tainment.” As often as possible, we pose one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.

What three or four songs best epitomize the era of the Civil Rights Movement?

Featuring Bruce Lundvall, Chico Hamilton, Gerald Early, Juan Williams, Arthur Kempton and others…

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December 29th, 2007

Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion/Volume Nine: What are four or five of the the most romantic tunes ever recorded?

“Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of “edu-tainment.” As often as possible, we pose one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.

What are four or five of the the most romantic tunes ever recorded?

Featuring, Famoudou Don Moye, Geri Allen, Delfeayo Marsalis, Bennie Maupin and others…

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February 4th, 2007

Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion/Volume Eight: When you were growing up, what were three or four of your parents’ favorite recordings?

“Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of “edu-tainment.” As often as possible, we pose one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.

When you were growing up, what were three or four of your parents’ favorite recordings?

Featuring Dee Dee Bridgewater, Hubert Laws, Jacky Terrasson, Jimmy Owens, Kurt Elling and others…

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November 14th, 2006

Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion/Volume Seven: What do you recall about the first live music performance you ever attended?

“Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of “edu-tainment.” As often as possible, we pose one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.

What do you recall about the first live music performance you ever attended?

Featuring Alan Broadbent, Cyrus Chestnut, Dave Frishberg, David Evanier, and others…

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September 12th, 2006

Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion/Volume Six: What are the five greatest albums (LP or CD) of all time?

“Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of “edu-tainment.” As often as possible, we pose one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.

What are the five greatest albums (LP or CD) of all time?

Featuring Ahmad Jamal, Ashley Kahn, John Pizzarelli, John Szwed, Nancy Wilson and others…

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August 9th, 2006

Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion/Volume Five: What are five books that mean a lot to you?

“Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of “edu-tainment.” As often as possible, we pose one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.

What are five books that mean a lot to you?

Featuring Ben Ratliff, David Maraniss, Diane McWhorter, Don Byron, Gary Giddins, James Gavin, Kevin Boyle and others…

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June 29th, 2006

Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion/Volume Four: What do you remember about your first experience buying a record album or CD?

“Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of “edu-tainment.” As often as possible, we pose one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.

What do you remember about your first experience buying a record album or CD?

Featuring David “Fathead” Newman, Eddie Daniels, Phil Woods, Sheila Jordan and others…

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April 21st, 2006

Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion/Volume Three: What recording session do you wish you could have witnessed?

“Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of “edu-tainment.” As often as possible, we pose one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.

What recording session do you wish you could have witnessed?

Featuring Herman Leonard, Jane Ira Bloom, Lalo Schifrin, Buddy Bregman, Ingrid Jensen, Dave Liebman and others…

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February 4th, 2006

Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion/Volume Two: What musical recording(s) changed your life?

“Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of “edu-tainment.” As often as possible, we pose one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.

What musical recording(s) changed your life?

Featuring Dianne Reeves, Francis Davis, Fred Hersch, Jim Hall, Joshua Redman, Nat Hentoff and others…

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December 3rd, 2005

Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion/Volume One: What is the greatest saxophone solo in the history of jazz?

“Reminiscing in Tempo” is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of “edu-tainment.” As often as possible, we pose one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.

What is the greatest saxophone solo in the history of jazz?

Featuring Dan Morgenstern, Ishmael Reed, James Carter, Jason Moran, Martha Bayles, Terry Teachout, Kitty Margolis and others…

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November 11th, 2005

Site Archive

Your Support is Appreciated

Jerry Jazz Musician has been commercial-free since its inception in 1999. Your generous donation helps it remain that way. Thanks very much for your kind consideration.

Click here to read about plans for the future of Jerry Jazz Musician.

In this Issue

Announcing the publication of Volume II of Kinds of Cool: An Interactive Collection of Jazz Poetry...The second edition of Kinds of Cool, an Interactive Collection of Jazz Poetry has just been published, and is now available for sale on Amazon.com. This edition is dedicated to publishing women poets from all over the world who share their personal passion for and relationship with jazz music, and the culture it interacts with. With a foreword by Allison Miller, one of the world’s most eminent jazz drummers, and photography and design by Rhonda R. Dorsett

Poetry

photo of Shelly Manne by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
21 jazz poems on the 21st of May, 2026...An ongoing series designed to share the quality of jazz poetry continuously submitted to Jerry Jazz Musician. In this edition…An array of poetic styles communicate personal reverence for and experiences with jazz music, and its cherished musicians.

The Sunday Poem

Marek Lazarski, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Sunday Poem: “Sonny Rollins” by Akua Lezli Hope

The Sunday Poem is published weekly, and strives to include the poet reading their work...

Akua Lezli Hope reads her poem at its conclusion.


Click here to read previous editions of The Sunday Poem

Interview

photo of Billie Holiday by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
Interview with Paul Alexander, author of Bitter Crop: The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday’s Last Year...The author talks about the courage and resilience of the legendary Lady Day, and his outstanding book – an inspirational and revealing portrait of an iconic American, that, like his subject, exudes compassion and creative soul.

Feature

Book Excerpt from Crossing Bar Lines: The Politics and Practices of Black Musical Space, by James Gordon Williams...In this entire chapter from his book, the author explains how the trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire expresses his political views and lived geography through his improvisational music, notably his critique of police brutality that has, as he states, “become a leitmotif throughout my albums.”

Poetry

Yves Moch, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
“Remembering Sonny Rollins” – a collection of poetry...Over the years, many poems have been published on Jerry Jazz Musician that were written in reverence of the man we refer to simply as “Sonny.” In the wake of his death, many more have been written. The unsolicited poems making up this collection is an example.

Short Fiction

Photo by Johannes Schröter, via Pexels
Short Fiction Contest-winning story #71 – “Where the Music Wasn’t Allowed,” by Jane McCarthy....The award-winning story is about a young immigrant growing up in Southern California to the sound of music seeping into his family’s home from an upstairs neighbor’s piano, shaping the boy’s understanding of memory, family, belonging, and the improvisational ethics of music.

Interview

photo by Warren Fowler
Interview with John Gennari, author of The Jazz Barn: Music Inn, the Berkshires, and the Place of Jazz in American Life...The author discusses how in the 1950s the Berkshires – historic home to the likes of Hawthorne, Melville, Wharton, Rockwell, and Tanglewood – became a crucial space for the performance, study, and mainstreaming of jazz, and eventually an epicenter of the genre’s avant-garde.

Poetry

photo by Tsutumu Takasu/via Flicker/CC BY 2.0
“Cajun Glory” – a prose poem by Robert Alan Felt

Community

Ricky Esquivel/Pexels.com
Community Bookshelf #6...“Community Bookshelf” is a twice-yearly space where writers who have been published on Jerry Jazz Musician can share news about their recently authored books and/or recordings. This edition includes information about books published within the last six months or so (September, 2025 – March, 2026)

Poetry

Six poets write eight poems (in the midst of our times)...Poets within this community of writers are feeling this moment in time, and writing about it. This collection is another example.

Short Fiction

“You Don’t Know What Love Is”- a short story by L.F. Graubard...A recovering junkie jazzman in a Starbucks time slips through the key years that fed his addiction — 1967 R&B and jazz gigs, ’69 biker bars, ’71 methadone hustles, ’79 script scams — before landing in the Narco Farm, where music, Sonny Rollins, and Secretariat crack his heart open. A fractured, noir confession about love, dope, and improbable grace.

Poetry

Peter Buitelaar, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Two Poems for Miles Davis

Feature

photo by Laura Stanley via Pexels.com.
Trading Fours, with Douglas Cole, No. 28: “Little Samba”...Trading Fours with Douglas Cole is an occasional series of the writer’s poetic interpretations of jazz recordings and film. This edition is based largely on a documentary – They Shot the Piano Player – about Tenório Junior, a Latin jazz musician who only produced one album (1964) before he “disappeared” in 1976.

Short Fiction

“From Ingenue to Earth Mother” – a short story by Lisa Grunberger...The story – a short -listed entry in the recently concluded 72nd Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction, centers on a couple who “get” each other from the beginning, but who can’t seem to make a life together.

Poetry

art by Marsha Hammel
“Learning the Alphabet of the Blues” – a poem by Mary K O’Melveny...A poem from Kinds of Cool: An Interactive Collection of Jazz Poetry, Vol. II

Short Fiction

Alejandro Aznar/via Pexels.com
“Down at the Crossroads” – a short story by David Rudd...In this story – a finalist in the recently concluded 71st Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest – a jazz composer hears a lone fiddler play a tune that enters his head and won’t leave it, like a virulent earworm, wrecking his playing, his friendships, and indeed, his life, until he finally finds a way to remove it.

Feature

photo via Wikimedia Commons
Memorable Quotes: Two, by Edward R. Murrow…

Feature

photo via Wikipedia
“Two Famous Johns” – a true jazz story by Bob Hecht...The writer remembers an evening in New York’s Half Note in 1964 when he witnessed a John Coltrane performance that was also attended by the pop singer Johnny Mathis

Poetry

Haiku: Musings – by Connie Johnson...Exploring segments of the world of jazz – in three suites of vivid haiku poetry…

Jazz History Quiz

photo of "Hot Lips" Page by William Gottlieb
Jazz History Quiz #187...This trumpeter began his career in California, where he organized a big band that had a residency in China in 1934, and, during a trip through Kansas City in 1936, was invited to join Count Basie’s orchestra, replacing “Hot Lips” Page (pictured). Who is he?

Feature

“Bohemian Spirit” – A Remembrance of 1970’s Venice Beach, by Daniel Miltz...The writer recalls 1970’s Venice Beach, where creatives chased a kind of freedom that didn’t fit inside four walls…

Feature

Boris Yaro, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
“The Bowie Summer” – a personal memory, and how art can fundamentally reshape identity, by G.D. Newton-Wade

Poetry

Poems on Charlie “Bird” Parker (inspired by a painting by Al Summ) – an ekphrastic poetry collection...A collection of 25 poems inspired by the painting of Charlie Parker by the artist Al Summ.

Feature

Albert Ayler’s Spiritual Unity – A Classic of Our Time, and for All Time – an essay by Peter Valente...On the essence of Albert Ayler’s now classic 1964 album…

A Letter from the Publisher

The gate at Buchenwald. Photo by Rhonda R Dorsett
War. Remembrance. Walls.
The High Price of Authoritarianism– by editor/publisher Joe Maita
...An essay inspired by my recent experiences witnessing the ceremonies commemorating the 80th anniversary of liberation of several World War II concentration camps in Germany.

Interview

Interview with Tad Richards, author of Listening to Prestige: Chronicling its Classic Jazz Recordings, 1949 – 1972...Richards discusses his book – a long overdue history of Prestige Records that draws readers into stories involving its visionary founder Bob Weinstock, the classic recording sessions he assembled, and the brilliant jazz musicians whose work on Prestige helped shape the direction of post-war music.

Contributing Writers

Click the image to view the writers, poets and artists whose work has been published on Jerry Jazz Musician, and find links to their work

Coming Soon

An interview with Paul Alexander, author of Bitter Crop: The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday's Last Year; New poetry collections, Jazz History Quiz, and lots of short fiction; poetry; photography; interviews; playlists; and much more in the works...

Interview Archive

Ella Fitzgerald/IISG, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Click to view the complete 25-year archive of Jerry Jazz Musician interviews, including those recently published with Judith Tick on Ella Fitzgerald (pictured),; Laura Flam and Emily Sieu Liebowitz on the Girl Groups of the 60's; Tad Richards on Small Group Swing; Stephanie Stein Crease on Chick Webb; Brent Hayes Edwards on Henry Threadgill; Richard Koloda on Albert Ayler; Glenn Mott on Stanley Crouch; Richard Carlin and Ken Bloom on Eubie Blake; Richard Brent Turner on jazz and Islam; Alyn Shipton on the art of jazz; Shawn Levy on the original queens of standup comedy; Travis Atria on the expatriate trumpeter Arthur Briggs; Kitt Shapiro on her life with her mother, Eartha Kitt; Will Friedwald on Nat King Cole; Wayne Enstice on the drummer Dottie Dodgion; the drummer Joe La Barbera on Bill Evans; Philip Clark on Dave Brubeck; Nicholas Buccola on James Baldwin and William F. Buckley; Ricky Riccardi on Louis Armstrong; Dan Morgenstern and Christian Sands on Erroll Garner; Maria Golia on Ornette Coleman.