Jazz Radio America
von Aaron J. Johnson
Urbana/IL 2024 (University of Illinois Press)
312 Seiten, 29,95 US-Dollar
ISBN: 978-0-252-08830-8
In Jazz Radio America Aaron J. Johnson examines the history of jazz programming on both commercial and non-commercial radio in the United States. He sheds light on the period between 1926 and 1952, when the major radio networks dominated, reaching a huge national audience, but especially on the period after that, when local or targeted stations dominated the picture. His work is about the relationship between artists, promoters, institutions, listeners and others who contribute to jazz being presented on the radio. It examines what types of jazz are broadcast and the impact of radio exposure on the work of musicians.
He describes the different types of jazz programming on non-commercial US radio and discusses why the genre is receiving less and less support from stations that are financially supported by their listeners. He explains how the counterpart to European public broadcasting, the US public radio stations founded in the early 1970s, became so successful due to the quality of their reporting and cultural programming that they had to generate more and more programming, which led them to seek out consultants who ultimately recommended that they follow the programming decisions of commercial radio.
Johnson also asks about the people behind the stations, the owners, managers and editors. Numerous public radio stations emerged in the environment of educational or cultural institutions and reflect their expectations or cultural attitude. In addition, there are stations that grew out of the community and thus often from a progressive political stance. Using concrete examples, Johnson explains the extent to which this attitude is also reflected in the program philosophy of the broadcasters. He also discusses the role and influence of jazz DJs over the years, presenters who on the one hand reported on current developments and on the other were clearly guided by their own personal preferences.
For European readers, Johnson's study would often need sort of a cultural translation assistance - the structures and tasks of public broadcasting in Germany and other Western European countries in particular are too different from those of a privately or member-funded system such as in the USA. In fact, the only fully state-funded US broadcaster, the Voice of America, is only mentioned in passing in Johnson's book, no doubt also because it mainly broadcast abroad and could hardly be heard at home.
Johnson ends with an outlook on the future. Apart from a few exceptions, jazz can no longer be heard on commercial radio. In fact, the digitalization of life has also changed the listening habits of the public, who in principle do not care what source the music they listen to comes from. Johnson writes that he knows from his own students that, in view of Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music and Tidal, hardly anyone in the younger generation still has a clear idea of what “radio” actually means. The future of jazz on the internet, he speculates, depends on how the internet develops. Basically, the web offers musicians the opportunity to reach a wider audience, even to address them directly. It remains to be seen to what extent the existing power structures in relation to music (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) will develop programs other than the existing album or playlist-based programs or whether niche genres such as jazz will be able to find their own ways to curate an exciting program.
Wolfram Knauer (January 2025)
The Jazz Omnibus. 21st-Century Photos and Writings by Members of the Jazz Journalists Association
Herausgegeben von David R. Adler (ed.):
Torrance/CA 2024 (Cymbal Press)
586 Seiten, 39,95 US-Dollar
ISBN: 978-1-955604-18-5
Essay collections are not necessarily among my favorite reads. When I pick up a book, I prefer to read a story, written from one perspective, about a specific topic. If at all, then I pick up anthologies by individual authors (Whitney Balliett, for example, or Dan Morgenstern), anthologies about a single musician (with essays on Duke Ellington or Charlie Parker, for example), anthologies in which perspectives on one specific topic are developed (there are various Oxford or Cambridge Companions, but the Darmstadt Studies in Jazz Research belong also among to these, although I would like to point out that as a former editor of this series I am somewhat biased).
That's why my first reaction to the “Jazz Omnibus" was a little defensive. Who wants to read / look at contributions from around 90 authors and photographers, each of whom stands alone and barely refers to each other? But then David R. Adler (who, by the way, will be publishing the resurrected magazine Jazz Times as editor) made the clever move of placing an outstanding essay right at the beginning: Ted Panken's feature and interview with Sonny Rollins, which introduces the saxophonist as a musician and colleague, bandleader and eye witness to an era, originally published in Down Beat This brings us straight to the concept. On behalf of the Jazz Journalists' Association, Adler had asked members of the association to submit up to three proposals for their own articles, from which the editorial team then selected one each. The only requirement was that the original publication had to have taken place in the 2000s. So none of the chapters are *new*, they are from the years 2004 to 2023, were first published in the major jazz magazines (Down Beat, Jazz Times), in daily newspapers such as the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, in books or on web blogs. Adler warns in the foreword that this is not a comprehensive look at 20th century jazz. And in his introduction, Howard Mandel points out the many topics that are not addressed here at all and immediately makes a list for possible future follow-up volumes.
Of course, I also immediately had a “list of shortcomings” in mind. From the table of contents, it quickly became clear that jazz outside the USA is hardly mentioned (apart from a chapter on teaching jazz at a Japanese high school). 14 out of 70 authors and 4 out of 19 photographers are women, which is probably a realistic reflection of the current situation in American jazz journalism. And 17 of the contributions deal with female musicians or issues of gender equality in jazz.
The editors have divided the book into six subject areas. “Legends” includes the aforementioned feature on Sonny Rollins, a conversation Michael Jackson had with Keith Jarrett in 2023, Jordannah Elizabeth's portrait of pianist Amina Claudine Myers, Nate Chinen's tribute to Sun Ra, Bob Blumenthal's liner notes for the re-release of Wayne Shorter's “Night Dreamer”, a chapter from Stephanie Stein Crease's book on Chick Webb, Bill Milkowski's article on John Zorn for the saxophonist's 60th birthday, and Doug Hall's conversation with Wynton Marsalis.
Under “Seekers” we read Andy Senior's review of a concert by Cécile McLorin Salvant, Andrea Canter's review of the album “Smash” by Patricia Barber, David Adler's portrait of the singer and bassist Meshell Ndegeocello, Debbie Burke's conversation with Jewish singer Hadar Orshalimy, Matty Bannond's feature on saxophonist Zoh Amba, Martin Johnson's review of “The Last Quiet Place” by Ingrid Laubrock, Sanford Josephson's conversation with pianist Isaiah J. Thompson, Rick Mitchell's review of Kendrick Scott's “The Sugarland 95” project, and Rob Shepherd's interview with Mary Halvorson.
Under “Scenes”, Tom Ineck reports on a jazz cruise to the Caribbean and Rahsaan Clark Morris on the multitude of concerts on a weekend in Chicago, Dan Bilawsky recalls the legendary New York club Bradley's and Con Chapman the Boston restaurant “Mother's Lunch”, David Keller documents the women in the black musicians' union in Seattle in the first half of the 20th century, Dee Dee McNeil listens to a live album by organist Shirley Scott, Jason Berry emphasizes the importance of Henry Butler for the tradition of New Orleans piano playing, Paul de Barros recalls the New Orleans Jazz Festival in the year after Hurricane Katrina, Lynn Darroch refers to the lively jazz scene in Portland, Oregon, Paul Rauch introduces the Seattle Jazz Fellowship, Howard Mandel remembers a birthday party for Ornette Coleman, and Willard Jenkins refers to African-American journalists in the jazz business in the introduction to his book on the same subject.
In “Sounds”, Hrayr Attarian reminisces about Blind Tom, Greg Masters listens to Miles Davis' “Cellar Door Sessions” from 1970 and Chuck Koton to Marcus Miller's “Live in Monte Carlo”, pianist Leslie Pintchik remembers the magic of his own gig, Marcela Breton reads Paul Haines' book “Secret Carnival Workers”, Mike Longo shares memories of his time with Dizzy Gillespie, Mike Shanley describes a visit to the ESP-Disk' label office, Greg Burk refers to the relationship between music and video games, Philip Booth talks to John Pattitucci and Jeff Berlin about the electric bass in acoustic jazz, Geoffrey Himes discovers the diversity of the bass clarinet and Ellen Johnson the vocal music of Charles Mingus, while Michael Ambrosino shares his liner notes to John Santos' album “Art of the Descarga”.
“The World” is the title of the section in which Michael Pronko reports on the jazz program at Hitorizawa High School in Kanagawa, Japan, Virginia A. Schaefer listens to Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura in concert, Larry Blumenfeld talks to Arturo O'Farrill about his father, the Cuban composer Chico O'Farrill, Mirian Arbalejo reflects on her own role as a jazz journalist in Spain, Jeff Cebulski follows the career of Romanian pianist Ramona Horvath, Ashley Kahn talks to American musicians living in Europe, Andrew Gilbert interviews Israeli musicians in New York, Vid Jeraj visits a festival in Kanjiža, Serbia, Dan Ouellette examines the activities of Shabaka Hutchings, and Don Palmer explores the music scene in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
The last section is entitled "Remembered". Art Lange listens to the box set "Albert Ayler: Holy Ghost", Peter Gerler reads Stanley Crouch's "Kansas City Lightning. The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker", Suzanne Lorge talks to Steve Swallow about Carla Bley, Ted Gioia asks whether Amy Winehouse was a jazz singer, Neil Tesser remembers Von Freeman, Deanna Witkowski writes about Mary Lou Williams' liturgical music, Eugene Marlow remembers Bill Evans, who lived next door to him in the 1960s, James Hale pays tribute to Andrew Hill, Michael J. West talks about guitarist Emily Remler, Tomás Peña introduces early violinist and singer Angelina Rivera, Mark Stryker pays tribute to Barry Harris' influence on the Detroit jazz scene, John Edward Hasse contributes his obituary of David Baker, John Murph tells the story of producer Dr. George Butler and Devra Hall Levy that of pianist Gerald Wiggins, Corey Hall visits an exhibition in honor of bassist Harrison Bankhead, and Peter Keepnews remembers George Wein.
So it really is a smorgasbord, an “omnibus” full of stories, memories, interviews and reflections. If you want to know what exactly makes up the current scene, you should either go to concerts yourself or at least leaf through the latest jazz magazines. If you want to know what the topics of the last 20 years in jazz have been, David R. Adler's “Jazz Omnibus” will help you, because this is exactly how it looks back on the last twenty years, with a selective look at the (American) magazines. Most of the authors are good writers, so the reading is thoroughly entertaining. At the end of almost 500 pages, there may still be one story, one perspective, one topic missing, but the variety of perspectives allows for a kind of curated look at American jazz journalism at the time.
Wolfram Knauer (December 2024)
Early Jazz. A Concise Introduction from Its Beginnings through 1929
Fumi Tomato
Albany 2024 (State University of New York Press)
232 Seiten, 33,95 US-$
ISBN: 978-1-4384-9637-5
Early jazz, writes Fumi Tomita in his foreword, is perhaps the most unfamiliar style in jazz history for today's listeners, but at the same time it is fascinating precisely because you can follow how the music and its aesthetic context changed, recording by recording. In his foreword, Tomita explains the concept of his book: he wanted to update Gunther Schuller's 1968 Early Jazz complementing it and adding some of the research discourse of the last 50 years. Where Schuller's interest was in interpreting early jazz as a valid modern art form, Tomita writes, his own concern is broader, taking into account both the artistic and the commercial side of the music. This approach, he implies, allows him to consider artists who otherwise are rarely in the focus of jazz historiography. Many renowned musicians had always supplemented their income with commercial gigs, which rarely were considered jazz.
Tomita structures his book into large and small chapters. The large chapters deal with "Ragtime and Traveling Shows", "The Blues", "New Orleans and Early White Bands", King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton", "The New York Scene: The Small Groups"; "Stride Piano"; "The New York Dance Band Sound: From James Reese Europe to Duke Ellington"; "Louis Armstrong"; "The Chicagoans and Bix Beiderbecke"; "Other Pioneering Soloists"; "Territory and Other Bands"; "Vocal Jazz"; "Jazz around the World". The small chapters comprise between one and three pages and attempt to highlight various aspects.
While Schuller's book was some sort of academic reappraisal of early jazz history in its entirety, including technical references to musical peculiarities or conjectures about aesthetic choices, Tomita's Early Jazz is more of a "text book", a book for students, in which the development of the genre is contextualized and diverse influences are pointed out. He does so succinctly and concisely, with references to specific recordings that can be searched for on the Internet. Instead of musical examples, as favored by Schuller, Tomita has opted for audio charts, i.e. tabular descriptions of the course of the music, which are intended to direct the reader's ear to the form or to particular musical events in the recordings. He highlights individual artists in short chapters, focussing less on biographical and more on the musical aspects of their careers. Whereas Schuller attempted to illuminate as many perspectives of the musical personality as possible, Tomita limits himself to selected pieces, one or at most two titles per musician, which he describes in detail.
Perhaps one of the more unusual sub-chapters is the one on "'Gaspipe' Clarinet", novelty clarinetists who produced strange, chirpy sounds on their instruments and who were barely recognized by most jazz writers. Novelty playing styles and novelty instruments were quite common in the early days of jazz, Tomita explains, and believes it is just as important to be aware of such aspects as, for example, the discourse on jazz as "serious" art music, as reflected in Paul Whiteman's "Experiment in Modern Music" concert. Tomita also points out the importance of female musicians, naming blues singers, well-known female artists such as Lil Hardin or Lovie Austin, but also the all-female bands that were popular at the beginning of the 20th century but barely present in the recording history of jazz. He titles a concluding chapter "Jazz around the World", but in it only refers to US musicians traveling to Europe and Asia.
All in all, Tomita's book is well suited as a "text book", as an accompaniment to a course on early jazz, for example. In the short space available, Tomita succeeds in explaining connections and drawing attention to different perspectives. An appendix or website that invites his readers to delve deeper into specific perspectives might have been a nice asset. Tomita would not have needed to compare his book to Schuller's Early Jazz ; Schuller's book, for all its shortcomings, remains a standard work on the subject. Tomita's book, however, offers more accessible explanations of the contexts of the musical development and is therefore better suited for a quick overview.
Wolfram Knauer (August 2024)
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