Winter 2025 Jerry Jazz Musician Newsletter

January 12th, 2025

Jerry Jazz Musician – Winter, 2025 Newsletter

In This Issue

Announcing the book publication of Kinds of Cool: An Interactive Collection of Jazz Poetry

Dear Readers:

For several years I have published major jazz poetry collections that were solely available on the Jerry Jazz Musician website. During that time I frequently contemplated the possibility of releasing future anthologies in traditional book format. Last summer I moved toward doing so by entering into an agreement with Unsolicited Press of Portland, Oregon, who will publish two collections per year.

This series will be known as Kinds of Cool: An Interactive Collection of Jazz Poetry, and I am proud to announce that Volume 1 is now available. This 164 page anthology includes 90 poems by 47 poets from all over the world, and features the brilliant artwork of Marsha Hammel and a foreword by Jack Kerouac’s musical collaborator David Amram. The collection is “interactive” because it invites readers – through the use of QR codes printed on many of the book’s pages – to link to selected readings by the poets themselves, as well as to historic audio and video recordings (via YouTube) relevant to many of the poems. It is a very unique publishing experience.

I am often asked by readers how they can help me keep up with the expenses associated with publishing such a robust site. Your donation is of course very welcome and appreciated. Buying a copy or two of this book – and encouraging others to do so as well – would also go a long ways towards my efforts while providing you an entertaining experience with the culture of jazz!

For more information about this interactive collection of jazz poetry, please click here. Thanks for considering…

Sincerely,

Joe Maita
Editor/Publisher

More information about the book

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

When asked to name the song that best represents their expectations for 2025, respondents often cited songs of protest and of the civil rights era, but so were songs of optimism and appreciation, including Bob Thiele and George David Weiss’ composition “What a Wonderful World,” made famous by Louis Armstrong, who first performed it live in 1959. The result is a fascinating and extensive outlook on the upcoming year…

Interview with Jonathon Grasse: author of Jazz Revolutionary: The Life and Music of Eric Dolphy

The multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy was a pioneer of avant-garde technique. His life cut short in 1964 at the age of 36, his brilliant career touched fellow musical artists, critics, and fans through his innovative work as a composer, sideman and bandleader. Jonathon Grasse’s Jazz Revolutionary is a significant exploration of Dolphy’s historic recorded works, and reminds readers of the complexity of his biography along the way. Grasse discusses his book in a December, 2024 interview.
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In Memoriam: “Departures to the Final Arms Hotel in 2024” – poetic tributes, by Terrance Underwood

2024 produced its share of losses of legendary jazz musicians (including Lou Donaldson). Terrance Underwood pays poetic homage to a handful who have touched his life, imagining their admittance to the Final Arms Hotel, a destination he introduces in his prelude.

photo of Lou Donaldson by Giovanni Piesco

On the Turntable — The “Best Of the ‘Best Of’” in 2024 jazz recordings

Our annual year-end compilation of jazz albums oft-mentioned by a wide range of critics as being the best of 2024 (including 86-years-young Charles Lloyd’s The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow)

“Rudy Van Gelder: Jazz Music’s Recording Angel” – by Joel Lewis

For over 60 years, the legendary recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder devoted himself to the language of sound. And although he recorded everything from glee clubs to classical music, he was best known for recording jazz – specifically the musicians associated with Blue Note and Prestige records. Joel Lewis writes about his impact on the sound of jazz, and what has become of his Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey studio.

photo of Rudy Van Gelder by Francis Wolff © Blue Note Records

Jerrice J. Baptiste’s 2025 Jazz Poetry Calendar

Jerrice J. Baptiste’s 12-month 2025 calendar of jazz poetry winds through the upcoming year with her poetic grace while inviting us to wander through music by the likes of Hoagy Carmichael, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Sarah Vaughan, Melody Gardot and Charlie Parker.

(photo of Charlie Parker by William P. Gottileb/Library of Congress/Design by Rhonda R. Dorsett)

Short Fiction Contest-winning story #67 — “Bluesette,” by Salvatore Difalco

The author’s award-winning story is a semi-satirical mood piece about a heartbroken man in Europe listening to a recording by the harmonica player Toots Thielemans while under the influence of a mind-altering substance.

photo by Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons/blur effect added

**Excerpts from David Rife’s Jazz Fiction: Take Two – Vol. 8: “Jazz’s International Influence”**

A substantial number of novels and stories with jazz music as a component of the story have been published over the years, and the scholar David J. Rife has written short essays/reviews of them. In this eighth edition of excerpts from his book, Rife writes about jazz novels and short stories that feature stories about jazz music’s international influence..

Jazz History Quiz #177

This saxophonist’s first important jobs were during the 1940’s with Lionel Hampton (pictured), Fletcher Henderson, Louis Armstrong’s big band, and Billy Eckstine’s Orchestra. Additionally, he was a Savoy Records recording artist as a leader before being an important part of the scene on Los Angeles’ Central Avenue. Who was he?

photo of Lionel Hampton by William P. Gottlieb/Library of Congress

“Quartets – Four and No More” – a playlist by Bob Hecht

In his ongoing series, this 25-song playlist focuses on quartets, featuring legends like Miles, MJQ, Monk, Brubeck, and Sonny, but also those led by the likes of Freddie Redd, David Murray, Frank Strozier, and Pepper Adams.

photo of the Modern Jazz Quartet via Wikimedia Commons

Also in this issue…

Michael Zimecki’s “Gone Guy: Jazz’s Unsung Dodo Marmarosa“; the nominations for the Pushcart Prize, XLIX edition; new editions of The Photographs of Giovanni Piesco: True Jazz Stories; Trading Fours with Douglas Cole, and new book excerpts, poetry, In Memoriam, short fiction and playlists

Click here for the previous issue of Jerry Jazz Musician

Coming Soon to Jerry Jazz Musician

An interview with Phil Freeman, author of In the Brewing Luminous: The Life & Music of Cecil Taylor…An interview with Ricky Riccardi, author of Stomp Off, Let’s Go: The Early Years of Louis Armstrong. Also, a new Jazz History Quiz, and lots of short fiction; poetry; photography; interviews; playlists; and much more in the works…

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