Time to get back to work.  The holidays are mercifully over.  I was able to use a lot of my unused leave at my real job (and just to repeat, I do not work in a record store, nor do I work for Princeton Record Exchange alas).  I took last week off from blogging and just kicked back to listen to music and read, so far as I could in between all the usual holiday hoopla.   During that time,  I managed to listen to 54 CDs and LPs (rather uncharacteristically, I decided to keep track) and read several interesting jazz books.  I’ve been wondering:  is this too much, or not enough?  A vague feeling of guilt hovers about me (probably due to my parochial school upbringing):  was this time well-spent? 

Let me review briefly what I listened to and read, and you can form your own response to the question I’ve asked myself. 

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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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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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Sated with good food, good company, and plenty of music listening, it was not easy to put on my blogger’s mantle, but then I saw the cover of the just-issued Jazz Times and, well, I was roused to blog a bit. Our pals at JT seem pretty much determined to prove my point that much of what passes for feature writing in their magazine is simple puffery, fed by the blast furnaces of PR hot air. What else can explain yet another cover story on Tony Bennet? The ostensible reason this time is Mr. Bennett’s new Christmas album with the “Basie Band.” How’s that for advancing the art of jazz? Read the rest of this entry »

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Valencia’s brand new video for “Where Did You Go?” is available now on their MySpace:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.showvids&friendID=1736005&n=1736005&MyToken=a8bb9674-06c6-4067-b527-4c8ac2fb4b45&utm_medium=columbia-email&utm_source=valencia&utm_campaign=columbia-email|valencia|20081121

-leigh silbernagel

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Well, it seems as if I have created a bit of a kerfuffle as a result of my post, “Why Our Jazz Magazines are Bad… and Bad for Jazz.” Who knew? It’s nice to know our little blogspot is getting some attention. In fact, Lee Mergner, editor of Jazz Times, on another website that I happened to come across by chance, huffed and puffed and, showing way more energy than in anything I have read by him or his staff of high-powered writers lately, tried to blow our post down. He didn’t even come close. The fact is, such an apoplectic response tells me that I have struck a nerve, and that the nerve was worth striking. One line from Lee’s blog post really caught my attention:

“For the record, I believe firmly that JazzTimes and Downbeat are much better magazines than most people in the jazz community realize.”

Lee, if “most people in the jazz community” don’t see the value in what Jazz Times and your colleagues at Downbeat put out each month, don’t you think it’s time for you to start trying to understand why they feel this way, start trying to listen to their concerns and criticisms, and start trying to make the sort of changes your magazine needs to make to again become a relevant and worthwhile voice in the jazz community? Read the rest of this entry »

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anthony hamitlon/The Point of It All/ So So Def/ Zombra Label Group

The six-time Grammy-nominated R&B-soul balladeer croons a melodic picture of life using straightforward lyrics as his mellifluous paintbrush on his junior effort The Point of It All: “Talking about relationships again… everything from making love to building love; having arguments, just life!”

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“FUSION LIVES!” trumpets the cover of August 2008 Jazz Times.  “They’re Back!” screams the August 2008 cover of Downbeat.  Two cover stories in the same month in the main jazz monthlies.  What’s going on here?  Well, for one thing, the hype machine is in Full Hot Air Mode.  For another, the PR-driven, editorially compromised character of the primary jazz mags stands nakedly revealed.  The Big Sell is on.  Are you buying? Read the rest of this entry »

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In my blog last week I commented upon the bland, pasteurized and altogether uninteresting jazz music programming I encountered on WBGO (Newark) while visiting the New York area for the Vision Festival.   I noted how I had always enjoyed listening to WBGO on previous trips to New York (I was born and grew up in New York City and still visit from time to time for special events and to visit family, so am up there a fair amount).  I thought, possibly, that the yawn inducing music on the radio might have just been the result of a contrast with the white-hot intensity of the Vision Festival, which made WBGO’s programming seem so banal.  Then I received a very polite response to my post from Cephas Bowles, WBGO’s General Manager, which shocked me! Read the rest of this entry »

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With no elitist apologies, I’m a huge fan of public radio.  

Sure, I’m happy to see that indie rock has a new home on commercial radio in many markets, replacing those ungodly “classic rock” stations, and very little makes my “Triple AAA” music heart beat harder and faster than hearing there’s a new station with that format. Read the rest of this entry »

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