The Big Question
Jazz: Cultural Diplomacy, Art or Show Business?
by Anastasia Bogomolets
There is a firm belief among scholars that jazz and the American Jazz Ambassadors programme played an important role during the Cold War era. Extensive literature explores the significance of jazz in shaping global post-war relationships. The world has changed dramatically since then. On one hand, music, including jazz, has become increasingly commercialized; on the other, unlimited access to free streaming platforms has significantly reduced governments' ability to influence musical preferences. Do you think we are entering another historical period ...
Continue ReadingWhich Writer Or Broadcaster Has Most Influenced Your Appreciation of Jazz?
by Ian Patterson
2024 was a sad year for All About Jazz, with the sudden passing of both John Kelman and Chris May severely rocking the ship. Each of these unique writers had dedicated twenty years to All About Jazz, promoting the music with love and artful care. Between them, these two venerable jazz advocates contributed over 4,000 articles to AAJ's archive. Arguably no other writer anywhere did more to turn the spotlight on the fantastically diverse and fertile Norwegian jazz ...
Continue ReadingThe Future of Jazz Standards: Will Contemporary Jazz Leave a Lasting Legacy?
by Anastasia Bogomolets
Some of what we now call jazz standards originated on Broadway, while others were initially composed as jazz masterpieces by the genius composers of the past. These jazz standards form the backbone of the “jazz tradition." Aspiring jazz musicians typically learn a couple of hundred of these standards to build their repertoire and launch their careers. As the jazz movement continues to grow globally and incorporating more cultures, jazz itself becomes increasingly diverse, blending a variety of folk ...
Continue ReadingThe Lives Behind the Music: Do Biographies Shape Our Understanding of Jazz?
by Anastasia Bogomolets
Charlie Parker died at the age of 34. Ella Fitzgerald lived a long and remarkable life, which included her time at the Colored Orphan Asylum during her adolescence and having her legs amputated later in life, alongside tremendous career success and many bright accomplishments along the way. Duke Ellington began his career as a sign painter. When he started earning a living from music, his repertoire was, to put it mildly, limited. Nevertheless, with his entrepreneurial mindset, he ...
Continue ReadingWhy Are So Many Jazz Musicians So Bad At Selling Themselves?
by Ian Patterson
It is a head scratcher. Why do so many jazz musicians, professional jazz musicians, simply suck at selling themselves? You may recognize the type--no website, or else a sloppily designed one with an outdated bio, poor quality photos, no live dates displayed, no juicy quotations from album or gig reviews to entice potential customers, no high-quality video content ... and on it goes. How often do you come across a jazz musician's Facebook page whose last entry was ...
Continue ReadingDoes Jazz History Weigh Too Heavily on Today’s Practitioners?
by Ian Patterson
It is no outlandish claim to say that jazz is obsessed with its past--just look at the number of tribute albums, songs and concerts inspired by the music's forbearers, or at the never-ending stream of historical reissues. For many jazz musicians, navigating jazz means honoring the music's “ancestors" and playing “in the tradition." Jazz education programs generally look to the past to instruct their students. Reviewers of albums by contemporary jazz musicians, almost without exception, make ...
Continue ReadingWhat Is Your Favorite Jazz Interpretation Of The Beatles?
by Ian Patterson
When The Beatles landed at John F. Kennedy Airport on February 7, 1964, they were greeted by around three thousand fans. Two days later, when The Fab Four performed on The Ed Sullivan Show, the television audience topped 70 million. Popular music was never the same again. It was not long before jazz musicians followed the lead of countless pop acts in covering The Beatles' songs. The list is an incredibly long one and, some sixty years later, ...
Continue ReadingWhat was the most memorable jazz concert you attended?
by Chris May
If you are an AAJer, you will almost certainly have some live performances filed under magic moments. My first came in 1966 when I saw Charles Lloyd at the Juan-Les-Pins Jazz Festival in Antibes, France. At the time I knew Lloyd only through his recorded work with Chico Hamilton's group and nothing had prepared me for the new look Lloyd Quartet other than a few tabs of Owsley's finest earlier that summer. The band delivered half an hour or so ...
Continue ReadingWhich jazz records in your collection are most sentimental to you and why?
by Michael Ricci
An old friend alerted me to a Reddit discussion entitled “Which records in your collection are most sentimental to you and why?" and I thought we should repurpose (ok, steal) it for our community but add “jazz" as a qualifier. Sentimental being key, for me it's the The Chuck Mangione Quartet (Mercury, 1972)--a live set with inspired arrangements and soloing by Gerry Niewood and Chuck, with congas and an electric piano heard throughout. Only five tunes, three of which are ...
Continue ReadingWhy Is Jazz A Big Deal Everywhere… Except In The US?
by Chris May
Dateline: London, February 20, 2024. A bewildered friend in Los Angeles asks: Why is jazz so under-appreciated in the United States when it is revered everywhere else? Lest we forget, jazz was born and spent its formative years in the US and is arguably the country's most valuable contribution to world culture. But the stats show its home-turf profile dimming. Here in Britain, by contrast, jazz grows ever more popular; it is still niche but less ...
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