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John Ephland
A lover of music finds the words to express it. Once in a while.
About Me
Having grown up in a family that loved music--just outside of Chicago, my dad an amateur
piano player when he wasn't straightening teeth--my parents made sure I got drum
lessons, got me to the local music store to be among all those shiny and amazing
instruments, and took me to all manner of concert and club dates, leaving my siblings with
the baby sitter.
And this before I was even out of grade school.
In addition, there was the expanded record collection my dad had, those records (mostly
jazz, big band, some classical, a dash or two of folk and ethnic) were regularly played on
what seemed like a recurring theme of always replacing the stereos (once it became
”stereo”). My dad's interest in equipment, incidentally, later surfaced in my own interest in
”components,” components I would later end up selling as part of a unique hybrid music
store I co-owned during the mid-to-late 1970s in Eugene, Oregon. That arsenal also
included musical instruments and recorded music (not to mention certain under-the-
glass-counter paraphernalia), no doubt a reincarnation of that first music store I loved so
much back in the day.
Little did I realize that my love of music and love of writing would one day collide years
later as I entered the world of music publishing, at DownBeat Magazine in 1987. A few
published pieces here and there combined with my awareness of the Chicago-based
magazine (it was my first subscription as a young lad) and my experiences as a music
retailer, I later realized, were my calling cards.
From there, it was diving into other people's writing as I got familiar with the way magazine
publishing worked and what the music industry looked like from yet another “inside”
position. In time I would begin writing in earnest and go after musicians I cherry-picked (I
was the editor, after all) to interview that I had usually enjoyed from a distance before.
Now, I was sitting across from Miles Davis, Tony Williams, Joni Mitchell, Dr. John, Woody
Allen, even.
After roughly 11 years at the magazine and witnessing (and participating in) the massive
changes that were sweeping across the industry, from tape and vinyl to CDs, DVDs, bean-
counting, downsizing, digitizing, mesmerizing is about the only word that can sum up the
net affect of all that change. Along the way, and certainly after leaving the magazine, I
learned more of what so many of my colleagues had been doing for years: I joined the
ranks of the freelance writer, first for DownBeat, but then for a string of other, sometimes
shooting-star publications, both print and online. TimeOut Chicago, Schwann Inside, Relix
and first Traps and then Drum! magazines, to name a few.
And now, having logged millions of words here and there and not a few miles in different
parts of the world, I come to All About Jazz.
The rest is history, and what is now remains to be seen. I am honored and look forward to
being a contributor along with all the other great writers who add so much to this world-
class enterprise. AAJ is clearly a major web and virtual presence that makes its mark every
day in the real world of music, music lovers and musicians, emphasizing and celebrating
(when we aren't wondering or scratching our heads) this wonderful, miraculous music we
all continue to love. We call it jazz.
Off to the races.
