On turning 70, and contemplating the future of Jerry Jazz Musician
Embracing a new stage in life, and where I hope to go next with Jerry Jazz Musician
...June 18th, 2024
publisher’s notes
An excerpt from Emily Jon Tobias’ MONARCH: Stories, and a reflection on our friendship
An excerpt from the author’s debut MONARCH: Stories, which has been described by Kirkus as “a gutsy, grungy collection centering troubled souls,” and “more than a collection of stories, Tobias’ debut is a selection of gritty, emotional character studies…brimming with pure Americana.”
...June 3rd, 2024
Calling all poets!
News about a Jerry Jazz Musician printed jazz poetry anthology, and information about submitting your poetry for consideration
...May 24th, 2024
A very brief three-dot update…
Where I’ve been, and an update on what is coming up on Jerry Jazz Musician
...April 8th, 2024
A brief holiday greeting…
A personal memory, and a time for loving all others this season…
...December 22nd, 2023
Publisher’s Notes…a 3-dot update
News about upcoming publishing dates, collections, and recent posts…
...December 1st, 2023
A thought or two about Tony Bennett
. . Fotograaf Onbekend / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Tony Bennett, 1966 . ___ . …..We’ve lost a ton of iconic celebrities lately – stars of all ages and from many creative worlds. Among them: Tina Turner, David Crosby, Cormac McCarthy, Alan Arkin, David Bowie, Ahmad Jamal, Wayne Shorter, Sidney Poitier, Gordon Lightfoot, … Continue reading “A thought or two about Tony Bennett”
...July 25th, 2023
What’s going on at Jerry Jazz Musician? A brief three dot update…
News about recent and upcoming features to be published on Jerry Jazz Musician
...July 21st, 2023
“C’est Si Bon” – at trip’s end, a D-Day experience, and an abundance of gratitude
A visit to the Normandy American Cemetery at the conclusion of a European vacation leads to a feeling of abundant gratitude
...June 6th, 2023
A friendship made in Verona
The experience of meeting the poet Barbara Gaiardoni and her life partner Andrea Vanacore during my trip to Verona, Italy is shared…
...May 19th, 2023
Beyond Category…Two Vienna jazz clubs
Two completely different experiences in Vienna jazz clubs demonstrates how impresarios of the music, like the musicians themselves, see the music as being “beyond category.”
...May 7th, 2023
In Prague, things just sort of worked out
An account of two jazz club experiences during a recent trip to Prague
...May 3rd, 2023
A Letter From the Publisher…My pursuit of the exterior
. . The chalkboard in my kitchen . . ___ . . …..I live a mostly interior life. The work of editing and publishing Jerry Jazz Musician is done within my interior because it involves lots of reading, researching, listening, observing and communicating. (All stuff I love, by the way). This work is physically … Continue reading “A Letter From the Publisher…My pursuit of the exterior“
...April 22nd, 2023
“A personal loss, and a self-restoration” – by editor/publisher Joe Maita
The editor/publisher of Jerry Jazz Musician reflects on a major life change, and what lies ahead
...July 25th, 2022
A Letter From the Publisher — A brief year-end note
Some thoughts about the challenges of 2021, and hopes for 2022…
...December 29th, 2021
Reflecting on departing an office space of 20 years, and rediscovering Carla Bley
With the aid of good fortune and health, life has a way of going on, even when external forces distract and alarm. Amid yet another flurry of extreme presidential chaos and the unending nightmare of COVID, I recently closed down the office space I have worked out of since 2000.
...December 2nd, 2020
The “Three Dot Update”…An occasional flurry of news and information, Vol. 3
Updates and news about content recently and soon-to-be published.
...November 23rd, 2020
On a challenging summer in Portland, the passing of Stanley Crouch, and upcoming opportunities for writers
I have to admit, Portland has kicked my ass this summer.
Two fires continue to rage here. I’m sure you’ve heard about this city’s Black Lives Matter demonstrations that have also sparked pesky vandalism by dozens of mostly White activists. While their activities seem banal enough – a dumpster fire here, a picnic table on fire there – this behavior shamefully threatens to commandeer BLM’s objectives and gives life to a cynical and evergreen pre-election message stoking White suburban fear. The vandalism tests the patience of even the most tolerant and hopeful of local citizens.
Now mix in the fires of climate change – hot, powerful winds fanning flames on a drought-laden state – and the result is living in, for now, the epicenter of the world’s worst air quality.
...September 17th, 2020
Greetings from Portland!
Commentary concerning the current protests taking place in my city, Portland, Oregon.
...July 28th, 2020
A road trip during the time of COVID
…..I recently went on a two week road trip.
…..A few months ago such a casual bit of news would have aroused only the slightest interest. Select friends would display a polite enthusiasm, a question or two about the destination or accommodations would be raised, and perhaps a handful of pictures would even be endured.
...July 18th, 2020
The “Three Dot Update”…An occasional flurry of news and information, Vol. 2
Miscellaneous news and notes to share…
...May 9th, 2020
Life (and living) in the era of isolation and social distancing
I am writing to share some of the ways I am coping with the current alarming situation, to fill readers in on a few things that are going on with Jerry Jazz Musician, and to invite you to share your own thoughts during this time.
...April 6th, 2020
The “Three Dot Update”…An occasional flurry of news and information, Vol. 1
Miscellaneous news and notes to share…
...January 28th, 2020
A New Year’s message, and an invitation
Greetings, and Happy New Year, Folks:
…..Two things happen today. We bring in a new year, and with it a new decade.
…..There is great hope for the decade. We have to hold that long-term hope, right?
...January 1st, 2020
Where I’ve Been
February and early March have been consumed by my work as Board Chair of PDX Jazz (Portland, Oregon), the presenting organization of the PDX Jazz Festival, which this year took place Feb. 15 – 25. Immediately following the Festival, I spent some time out on the road with a dear friend, exploring the clubs and museums of Kansas City and the surrounding prairie. Some highlights of the Festival events and
...March 12th, 2018
Happy Birthday to George Cables — the pianist Art Pepper called “Mr. Beautiful”
George Cables is 69 years old today. The great bebop pianist — who played with Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper (who called him “Mr. Beautiful”), Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, and countless others — continues to be an important contributor to jazz, but especially so during the 1970’s, when bebop was not the easiest musical genre to find on recordings of the time. When I was breaking into the record business in the late 1970’s, his Contemporary Records recording Cables Vision was a fixture on my turntable — a record that featured Hubbard on trumpet, Ernie Watts on sax, Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, and Peter Erskine on drums. To this day it sounds fresh and invigorating and irresistible.
...November 14th, 2013
On the Influence of Albert Murray
One of my more interesting experiences as publisher of Jerry Jazz Musician was producing a series of interviews that focused on the work of the novelist Ralph Ellison. Invisible Man was a favorite novel of mine as a young man, but it wasn’t until I reread it in the 1990’s before I began to understand the enormity of its cultural significance. At that time, Ellison’s second (and unfinished) novel Juneteenth was being published, and a variety of books on Ellison were released at the same time – among them Living with Music, a collection of Ellison’s writings on jazz music edited by Columbia University scholar Robert O’Meally, and Trading Twelves: The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray.
...October 2nd, 2013
When Charlie Parker Played for Igor Stravinsky
Ever since Patrick Jarenwattananon of the NPR Classical Music blog Deceptive Cadence published a story called “Why Jazz Musicians Love ‘The Rite of Spring'” in May, there has been a lot of traffic on the Jerry Jazz Musician page devoted to the meeting of Charlie Parker and Igor Stravinsky. NPR linked their readers to our “Great Encounters” page called “When Charlie Parker played for Igor Stravinsky,” where Jazz Modernism author, the late jazz scholar Alfred Appel, tells the story of how “Stravinsky roared with delight
...September 27th, 2013
John Goodman on Charles Mingus — An Interview Fragment
I recently published an interview with John Goodman, author of Mingus Speaks, a terrific book of interviews Goodman conducted with Mingus in the early ’70’s.
The following is an interview fragment…
...September 25th, 2013
Fats Navarro’s 90th Birthday
“As an influence, Navarro was important almost immediately after he first made his presence felt in the mid-1940s Billy Eckstine band. Kenny Dorham was affected early in his career and you could hear Fats in Red Rodney too. Then, of course, came Clifford Brown and through him Navarro has indirectly influenced so many of the young trumpeters playing today.”
...September 24th, 2013
Roger Singer: A Seriously Good Jazz Poet
For years, we have been publishing work by poets from all over the world who are dedicated to putting into words their relationship with jazz music. Our most prolific poet is Roger Singer, a living, breathing example of fire and love and brilliance. His contribution to the art of jazz is here – all 26 pages of it – in full glory, waiting for interested readers to discover.
Here is a new poem of his, just published today…
...September 20th, 2013
On the Passing of Jazz Photographer Lee Tanner
There is no disputing the fact that the power of jazz lies within the music itself. Giants of the art like Armstrong, Duke, Basie, Dizzy, Bird, Monk, Miles and Coltrane ushered us into this music with a display of genius so great that an entire lifetime isn’t ample space to fully absorb all their passion.
...September 16th, 2013
A Letter from the Publisher/Introducing Jazz Fiction writer Arya Jenkins
For 11 years, Jerry Jazz Musician has sponsored 33 Short Fiction Contests resulting in 30 different contest winners. During that time, I estimate that I have read and considered over 3,000 short stories.
The stories vary in content and quality, of course, and it has been my goal to publish the best story regardless of its theme. This has at times led to confusion by some writers over the years who believe that, since Jerry Jazz Musician’s focus is on jazz history – and in particular within the confines and culture of mid-20th Century America – the winning story should always be about jazz or a character within that setting.
...September 12th, 2013
In This Issue
(featuring the art of Paul Lovering)
Publisher’s Notes
The Sunday Poem
Click here to read previous editions of The Sunday Poem
Feature
Poetry
Interview
In Memoriam
Poetry
Art
Feature
Short Fiction
Click here to read more short fiction published on Jerry Jazz Musician
Interview
Playlist
Feature
Trading Fours with Douglas Cole
Click here to read previous editions of Trading Fours with Douglas Cole
In Memoriam
Book Excerpt
Click here to read more book excerpts published on Jerry Jazz Musician
Jazz History Quiz #173
Community
Contributing Writers
Coming Soon
Interview Archive
