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John Kelman
With the realization that there will always be more music coming at him than he can keep up with, John wonders why anyone would think that jazz is dead or dying.
About Me
I was born in Winnipeg, Canada and stayed there until the age of three,
when the kiddie train in McKellar Park closed up and the only reason left
for staying was the tropical climate. Relocated against my wishes to
Ottawa, where I have lived ever since, I now bask in the balmy winters,
where temperatures often reach -40C (that's -40F for you non-metric
folks), and the temperate summers, where temperatures often reach a
humid 35C (that's 95F) or more. Add the wind chill factors and humid early readings
and...well,
you don’t want to know!
Living in a government town that is known as a hot seat of jazz culture (?)
I have spent much of the past 45 years or so as a freelance guitarist
backing up numerous singer/songwriters, some good, others, well...
what do you get when you add an “e” to the word “artist”? Answer:
someone who takes themselves way too seriously.
Realizing that my CD spending habit was about to put myself, my wife, and the various
animals
that have shared our home (currently, two absolutely lovely sibling cats - the brown & white
tabby, Matty, and Russian Gray, Coco - and how two cats can look so different yet come from
the
same litter is a lesson for another day) out of house and home, I realized that the trick
was to start writing about what I'd been listening to so passionately, since my first guitar
teacher introduced me to Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian, Joe Pass, Barney Kassell,
Miles Davis and Johnny Winter, amongst so many others.
In between reviewing a crazy number of releases (especially considering I insist, unless
absolutely
impossible, upon listening to anything I write about 8-10 times before putting virtual pen to
paper), I spent between 8-10 weeks a year, beginning in 2008, traveling the world to cover
festivals and other musical events, with particular emphasis on Norway, where I spent 3-4
weeks each year. Then tragedy struck and I was hit with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (yup, the
same illness that plagues Keith Jarrett on and off). The result, since mid-2014, has been a
significant reduction in what I can do and, beyond one festival in Europe (and even that, not
every year), my travel is limited to close-by Montréal and Toronto, as the rigors of
international
travel are such that I simply can’t do it any longer. Still, I always said that if that travel had to
end I’d be grateful rather than bitter; after all, I’ve been able to see the world in ways I’d never
have been able to otherwise, and meet a great many musicians, journalists and others who
remain friends to this day.
In 2005 I was asked, by Steve Lake (of ECM) and writer Paul Griffiths, to contribute to a book
they were putting together about the label. It's a privilege to have been a part of
HorizonsTouched: The Music of ECM (Granta, 2007). With 21 contributions from writers
around the world covering the entire breadth of the label and also including bios/testimonials
from artists, graphic designers and many others, a wealth of colour and B&W photos, a
comprehensive discography and more, it's a remarkable book and I'm honoured to have
been a small part of it. I also contributed to German-only book about the same label, Die
Blaue
Klang (The Blue Sound)), as well as an introduction to my good Slovenian friend (and one of
the
best photographers in the world) Žiga Koritnik’s first book of images focusing exclusively on
music, Cloud Arrangers.
Having become intimately involved in the Norwegian scene following a “right place, right
time”
invite to the second year of the still-ongoing Punkt Live Remix festival in Kristiansand,
Norway
—still one of the most vibrant scenes at the moment, with an almost unreasonable (!) amount
of
remarkable music being made by so many people in a country with such a small population
(5
million). I've traveled the country, from Bergen to Kongsberg, Oslo to Molde, Stavanger to
Svalbard—and, of course, to Kristiansand for Punkt, perhaps the most unique music festival
on
the face of the planet. I've also covered events in Malaysia, Finland, Germany, the
Netherlands,
Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, Amsterdam, the United Kingdom, the United States and
Canada.
In addition to contributing to those book contributions and regular (but fewer now)
contributions to All About Jazz, I've contributed to Downbeat, Jazzwise, Jazznytt and Oxford
American magazines. Amongst the many liner notes and photos - did I mention I shoot my
own
shows for the most part? I’ve contributed liner notes for releases by artists including Arve
Henriksen (Rune Grammofon vinyl box, Solidification), Bill Bruford (Summerfold and
Winterfold
Collection releases for Koch, and an upcoming box set collecting the drummer’s three albums
with keyboardist Patrick Moraz, to be released soon on Summerfold Records), poet Jan Erik
Vold
(Blackbird Bye Bye, with Bill Frisell and Arild Andersen, Hot Club of Norway), Terje Rypdal
(Odyssey Live and in the Studio, ECM), Dave Liebman and Marc Copland (Impressions,
hatOLOGY), Stanley Jordan (Friends, Mack Avenue), Matteo Sabbatini (Dawning, Fresh
Sound),
Alex Sipiagin (Prints, Criss Cross), Samuel Blaser (As the Sea, hatOLOGY), Tom Harrell
(Number
Five, HighNote), Joe Chambers (Moving Pictures Orchestra, Savant), Wallace Roney
(Understanding, HighNote), Jaga Jazzist ('94-'14, Ninja Tune vinyl-only 20th anniversary box
set),
SONAR (Black Light, Cuneiform Records), John Abercrombie (The First Quartet, ECM Old &
New
Masters Edition), Peter Erskine's trio with John Taylor and Palle Danielsson (As It Was,ECM
Old &
New Masters Edition ECM), (Sharp Radway (Hymns and Things, Radway Music) and the
Mark
Wingfield, Markus Reuter, Yaron Stavi and Asaf Sirkis collaboration, The Stone House, for
MoonJune Records, for whom I’ve also written liners for Dwiki Dharmawan, Dewa Budjana
and
Machine Mass.
I’ve had photos published in ECM recordings by Terje Rypdal (Crime Scenes), Ketil Bjornstad
(La
Notte) and Tomasz Stańko (Dark Eyes), Iro Haarla (Ad Lucem), amongst others, as well as a
single
image (I challenge you to find it!) in Jaga Jazzist’s Live with Britten Sinfonia and the cover for
Jan Erik Vold’s Blackbird Bye Bye, and in numerous magazines. I've also written press sheets
for
Greta
Aagre and Eric Honoré (Jazzland
Records), the Joe Locke / Geoffrey Keezer Group (Motéma Music), Samuel Blaser (hatOLOGY),
Cryptogrammophone Records, Komeda Project (Independent), John McLaughlin (Abstract
Logix), Switzerland’s SONAR, Italy’s Deus ex Machina, expat Russian pianist Yelena Eckemoff
and
Jaga Jazzist.
One of the highlights of my life? In 2012, I was invited to curate a series at Norway's
Kongsberg
Jazz Festival, a collaboration by AAJ, Kongsberg and Music Export Norway. All About Jazz
Presents: Doing it Norway presented seven shows, over two days, that featured some of
today's
most creative Norwegian musicians in contexts both old and new. It was a very gratifying
success, both creatively and in terms of attendance.
Despite Chronic Fatigue slowing me down, I’ve begun carving, in recent years, a particular
niche
for myself in
the realm of extensive and in-depth articles, especially covering large mega box sets. You’ll
usually need a good pot of coffee to read those extended pieces, but if you’re like at
least some of the folks from who I hear, you’ll hopefully find them worthy of your time.
All of this has been a direct result of my affiliation with All About Jazz, and being able to
leverage opportunities thanks to AAJ's international reach and large readership. It's all just
a
matter of going after them by providing quality service bolstered by the strength of AAJ. You
can do it too!
Note, 2020: I am currently on temporary hiatus from contributing to AAJ as I work on my first
book, to be published by Panegyric Publishing, the book publishing arm of Panegyric
Records,
King Crimson's record label for the past decade or so, in 2021.
The book will be based on my copious writing about that band for AAJ, along with coverage
of
projects by members past and present, as well as one degree of separation. I will be
updating/improving the AAJ content, as well as writing new material - section introductions
and
connective tissue to link the various articles together into a book that can be read as a whole
or
as a compendium of discrete articles.
I'll return to contributing new content to AAJ once I've finished the book, though future
”themed” books collecting other AAJ content are also possibilities. Having published, at this
point, 2,843 articles for the site, there are many, many possibilities! You can follow my
progress
with the Crimson book by liking/following my new Facebook page (link below).
