Before you get mislead, no fans or audience members were harmed in the making of this blog. But it ain’t pretty.

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This is the time of year when we look back, take stock of what was, both the highs and lows, and look forward to what the new year brings. Let’s start with the Top 5 Worst Jazz magazine Cover Stories of the Year, shall we? Read the rest of this entry »

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This past Friday, your intrepid blogger set forth to face the challenges of I-95 from DC to Philly in order to attend the Ars Nova Workshop presentation of the Ron Horton Sextet performance of Andrew Hill’s Passing Ships. Since I love the music of Andrew Hill, I was more than willing to face the three hour drive each way (it’s the return trip late at night that’s tough). On my last trip up the same route, I ran over a large metal object in the road, destroying two tires (newly installed) on the driver side of my car as well as the front left wheel. So it was with some trepidation that I set forth. Fortunately, the storm that had deluged the DC area for several days lifted on the very monring that I left, leaving cold, grey but dry weather for the trip. I was looking for great music and great cheesesteaks. I found great music…. Read the rest of this entry »

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I thought it might be fun, and perhaps even instructive, to make some head to head and round by round comparisons between our two heavyweight jazz mags, Dowbeat (DB) and Jazz Times (JT), as they compete for the hearts, souls, and dollars of jazz fans. JT clearly wants to lead the pack, as last week I received their January 2009 issue, while my copy of DB that came in the mail a few days later was only the Decemer 2008 issue. Apparently the DB group are either laggards or have undue respect for the calendar. I noticed that DB’s individual copy price is $4.99, while JT come sin at a bargain price of $4.95 an issue. I wonder what DB does with its extra 4 cents? Read the rest of this entry »

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