Creatives – “This is our time!…A Letter from the Publisher

March 7th, 2025

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photo by Inayat Ullah via Pexels.com

 

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“Creativity takes courage.”

-Henri Matisse

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Dear Readers:

…..This isn’t intended to be a political piece, rather it is meant to engender a response to America’s current politics.  However, I can’t help but begin with these thoughts; I find what is occurring in this country to be startling – the dismantling of social and governmental institutions Americans have worked for generations to create and maintain is dark and disturbing.  The outright lies and boorish behavior coming from the White House, and the hate, the ignorance, the petty retribution, the hypocritical sycophants, the needless dismantling of relationships with foreign countries in need of our aid and with democratic countries – (our allies!) – fighting for survival, and the sheer chaos that comes from all of this is enough to profoundly concern anyone holding democratic ideals.  Given all of this negative energy, it is easy to retreat from the fight, and from the world.

…..As awful as all of this feels, I am aware that we can’t consume ourselves with events that are out of our control.  That is what our elected representatives are hired to do, and they must be held accountable for being so.  Our system of self-governance offers us a solution when they abandon their duties or abuse them – voting them out of office.  So, for now I have taken on the attitude of being appropriately informed enough to know when it is time to mobilize politically.

…..I understand the risk of being vocal about America’s current situation, including the potential of alienating readers, but being appropriately engaged  is required now from all who care about preserving democratic principles and institutions, and to do so in our most effective ways.

…..Because so many visitors to Jerry Jazz Musician are “creatives,” this message is written in hopes that it will especially connect with you.  As we know, times like these can open the door for personal creative energy to flow more freely, and that energy is needed now to combat the sinister and the ominous, and to, in the words of the honored journalist Bill Moyers, help fellow citizens “pierce the mundane to find the marvelous.”

…..For my part, I have become inspired to host salons in my home in Portland, Oregon that bring together musicians, artists, and devotees for the purpose of building community and deepening friendships, and to be reminded of the beauty and spirit residing within the people living in our own neighborhoods.  And, I will be doing more in the way of inviting writers, poets and artists to submit their work to Jerry Jazz Musician – another major collection of jazz poetry, for example, as well as an ekphrastic poetry challenge.  Other ideas are formulating.  (Stay tuned for more on that).

…..Of course, mine is a very small contribution toward building the creative energy necessary to help change people’s perspective of their world.  But it’s my way of doing so.  To confront these extraordinarily challenging times, I humbly offer these suggestions for concerned creatives to consider activating:

…..-If you are a musician, compose what you are feeling and find a “street corner” on which to share it with us – even if it feels like no one is listening.  (Many are).

…..-If you are a writer, join a writer’s group and hold readings.  Test yourself.  Examine where your writing is taking you in the face of this chaos, and discover new publications to submit to and new audiences to share your work with.  Wherever possible, be public with your endeavors – regularly share news of your efforts with family, friends, and on social media.

…..-If you are an artist, when the opportunity arises take your canvas to the public square so we can be witness to and better appreciate your creative process and soul.

…..-If you are a poet, find a community of poets in your neighborhood to meet and read with.  Encourage coffee houses and bars to hold regular poetry readings.  Read it alongside musicians if you can.  And, through your work, show journals who publish poetry you understand that, in Salman Rushdie’s words, “A poet’s work is to name the unnamable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.”

…..-If you are a fan of the arts and have room in your home or business, invite creative artists and neighbors into them as a way to build community through common interests.  Buy a painting, a framed photograph, a sculpture – and be certain they were created by a living, breathing human.

…..-Support venues in your community that host live music, theater and other community events, and take someone who can’t afford the ticket with you.  Become a member of the local arts organization whose mission you believe in.

…..-Use your local public library.

…..-Support and subscribe to publications that have journalistic integrity and whose mission is to report (and expose) the truth.  Buy a subscription to your local newspaper.

…..-Help keep the publishing and recording industries alive (flawed as they may be).  Buy books at your local bookstore and packaged recorded media from the record shop in town.  Doing so will help keep local creative businesses solvent while also generating some actual revenue for writers and musicians.

…..-Support the small local merchant who can supply our life needs with a human touch while also providing employment for your neighbor, and be mindful that the product selection and décor is an extension of the merchant’s own creative spirit and personal integrity.  (Try finding that at some dot-com merchant).

…..-If you can afford to do so, travel and mingle with creatives outside your neighborhood.  While traveling, go to museums, theater, and clubs that present music of any kind.  And leave a coin or two in the busker’s hat along your evening stroll.

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…..I get it.  There’s a lot here.  And while these actions can be important everywhere, they would be especially so in Florida and Texas and Tennessee and Ohio and Pennsylvania.  In the Carolinas and Michigan and Missouri and Wisconsin and Arizona.

…..My hope is that you will consider putting yourself out there.  Expose your art to those who may not yet comprehend its power.  Use your creativity to be a voice opposing arrogance, corruption, and hate, and to remind those around you of the complexity of this world, and the beauty within it.

…..Creatives: the voices, actions and courage of people like those who read and contribute to this publication are needed.

…..This is our time!

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Joe Maita

Editor/Publisher

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photo by Rhonda R. Dorsett

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Listen to the 1964 of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers perform trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s composition “The Core,” from the Blue Note album  Free For All,  with Hubbard (trumpet); Blakey (drums); Cedar Walton (piano); Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone); Curtis Fuller (trombone); and Reggie Workman (bass).  [Universal Music Group]

Hubbard dedicated the song to CORE  (Congress of Racial Equality) and according the Nat Hentoff’s album liner notes, “Hubbard’s admiration of that organization’s persistence and resourcefulness in its work for total, meaningful equality.”  Hubbard explains that “they’re getting at the core, at the center of the kinds of change that have to take place before this society is really open to everyone. And more than any other group, CORE is getting to youth, and that’s where the center of change is.” The piece was called that way also because Hubbard thought that the musicians “got at some of the core of jazz – the basic feelings and rhythms that are at the foundation of music.” 

 

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Click for:

The Sunday Poem

More poetry on Jerry Jazz Musician

Bluesette,” Salvatore Difalco’s winning story in the 67th Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest

Information about how to submit your poetry or short fiction

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Publisher’s Notes

Creatives – “This is our time!“…A Letter from the Publisher...A call to action to take on political turmoil through the use of our creativity as a way to help our fellow citizens “pierce the mundane to find the marvelous.”

In This Issue

Announcing the book publication of Kinds of Cool: An Interactive Collection of Jazz Poetry...The first Jerry Jazz Musician poetry anthology published in book form includes 90 poems by 47 poets from all over the world, and features the brilliant artwork of Marsha Hammel and a foreword by Jack Kerouac’s musical collaborator David Amram. The collection is “interactive” (and quite unique) because it invites readers – through the use of QR codes printed on many of the book’s pages – to link to selected readings by the poets themselves, as well as to historic audio and video recordings (via YouTube) relevant to many of the poems, offering a holistic experience with the culture of jazz.

Interview

photo Louis Armstrong House Museum
Interview with Ricky Riccardi, author of Stomp Off, Let’s Go: The Early Years of Louis Armstrong...The author discusses the third volume of his trilogy, which includes the formation of the Armstrong-led ensembles known as the Hot Five and Hot Seven that modernized music, the way artists play it, and how audiences interact with it and respond to it.

The Sunday Poem

photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress


”The Sound of Surprise,” by Dan Thompson


The Sunday Poem is published weekly, and strives to include the poet reading their work....

Dan Thompson reads his poem at its conclusion


Click here to read previous editions of The Sunday Poem

Short Fiction

Short Fiction Contest-winning story #68 — “Saharan Blues on the Seine,” by Aishatu Ado...Aminata, a displaced Malian living in Paris, is haunted by vivid memories of her homeland. Through a supernatural encounter with her grandmother, she realizes that preserving her musical heritage through performance is an act of resistance that can transform her grief into art rather than running from it.

Feature

“What one song best represents your expectations for 2025?” Readers respond...When asked to name the song that best represents their expectations for 2025, respondents often cited songs of protest and of the civil rights era, but so were songs of optimism and appreciation, including Bob Thiele and George David Weiss’ composition “What a Wonderful World,” made famous by Louis Armstrong, who first performed it live in 1959. The result is a fascinating and extensive outlook on the upcoming year.

Poetry

Sax in a Blue Suit by Samuel Dixon
21 jazz poems on the 21st of March, 2025...An ongoing series designed to share the quality of jazz poetry continuously submitted to Jerry Jazz Musician by poets sharing their relationship to the music, and with the musicians who perform it.

Interview

photo by Brian McMillen
Interview with Phillip Freeman, author of In the Brewing Luminous: The Life and Music of Cecil Taylor...The author discusses Cecil Taylor – the most eminent free jazz musician of his era, whose music marked the farthest boundary of avant-garde jazz.

Feature

photo of Rudy Van Gelder via Blue Note Records
“Rudy Van Gelder: Jazz Music’s Recording Angel” – by Joel Lewis...For over 60 years, the legendary recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder devoted himself to the language of sound. And although he recorded everything from glee clubs to classical music, he was best known for recording jazz – specifically the musicians associated with Blue Note and Prestige records. Joel Lewis writes about his impact on the sound of jazz, and what has become of his Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey studio.

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Elizabeth Hudy (based on photo by Gary Pepper)/CC BY-ND 2.0
“It’s Always April in Paris” – a poem (for April) by Jerrice J. Baptiste...Jerrice J. Baptiste’s 12-month 2025 calendar of jazz poetry winds through the year with her poetic grace while inviting us to wander through music by the likes of Hoagy Carmichael, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Sarah Vaughan, Melody Gardot and Nina Simone. She welcomes April with a poem welcoming the promise of Spring, a time that “breaks icy borders to free wild rivers.”

Playlist

“Sextets: The Joy of Six” – a playlist by Bob Hecht...The cover of the 1960 debut album by the Jazztet, co-founded by the trumpeter Art Farmer and the tenor saxophonist Benny Golson, and which always featured a trombonist and a piano-bass-drums rhythm section. Golson wrote much of the music, but “Hi-Fly” – a tune featured on Bob Hecht’s two-hour playlist devoted to sextets – was written by pianist Randy Weston, and appears on the 1960 album Big City Sounds.

Interview

Interview with Jonathon Grasse: author of Jazz Revolutionary: The Life and Music of Eric Dolphy....The multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy was a pioneer of avant-garde technique. His life cut short in 1964 at the age of 36, his brilliant career touched fellow musical artists, critics, and fans through his innovative work as a composer, sideman and bandleader. Jonathon Grasse’s Jazz Revolutionary is a significant exploration of Dolphy’s historic recorded works, and reminds readers of the complexity of his biography along the way. Grasse discusses his book in a December, 2024 interview.

Feature

Dmitry Rozhkov, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
“Thoughts on Matthew Shipp’s Improvisational Style” – an essay by Jim Feast..Short of all the musicians being mind readers, what accounts for free jazz musicians’ – in this instance those playing with the pianist Matthew Shipp – incredible ability for mutual attunement as they play?

Art

Photo of Joe Lovano by Giovanni Piesco
The Photographs of Giovanni Piesco: Joe Lovano...Beginning in 1990, the noted photographer Giovanni Piesco began taking backstage photographs of many of the great musicians who played in Amsterdam’s Bimhuis, that city’s main jazz venue which is considered one of the finest in the world. Jerry Jazz Musician will occasionally publish portraits of jazz musicians that Giovanni has taken over the years. This edition features 1999 photographs of the saxophonist Joe Lovano.

Feature

Excerpts from David Rife’s Jazz Fiction: Take Two – Vol. 11: “Chick” and “Hen” Lit...A substantial number of novels and stories with jazz music as a component of the story have been published over the years, and the scholar David J. Rife has written short essay/reviews of them. In this 11th edition, Rife writes about the “chicks” (energetic women, attractive, and open to experience) and “hens” (older women who have either buried or lost a loved one, and who seem content with their lives) who are at the center of stories with jazz within its theme.

Interview

photo by Carl Van Vechten, Library of Congress
A Black History Month Profile: The legendary author Richard Wright...In a 2002 Jerry Jazz Musician interview, Richard Wright biographer Hazel Rowley discusses the life and times of legendary author Richard Wright, whose work included the novels Native Son andBlack Boy

Feature

On the Turntable — The “Best Of the ‘Best Of’” in 2024 jazz recordings...Our annual year-end compilation of jazz albums oft mentioned by a wide range of critics as being the best of 2024

In Memoriam

photo via Pexels.com
“Departures to the Final Arms Hotel in 2024” – poetic tributes, by Terrance Underwood...2024 produced its share of losses of legendary jazz musicians. Terrance Underwood pays poetic homage to a handful who have touched his life, imagining their admittance to the Final Arms Hotel, a destination he introduces in his prelude.

Community

Stewart Butterfield, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Community Bookshelf #4...“Community Bookshelf” is a twice-yearly space where writers who have been published on Jerry Jazz Musician can share news about their recently authored books and/or recordings. This edition includes information about books published within the last six months or so (September, 2024 – March, 2025)

Feature

Trading Fours, with Douglas Cole, No. 23: “The Wave”...In this edition of an occasional series of the writer’s poetic interpretations of jazz recordings and film, Douglas’ poem is written partly as a reference to the Antonio Carlos Jobin song “Wave,” but mostly to get in the famed Japanese artist Hokusai’s idea of the wave as being a huge, threatening thing. (The poem initially sprang from listening to Cal Tjader’s “Along Came Mary”).

Interview

Interview with James Kaplan, author of 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and the Lost Empire of Cool...The esteemed writer tells a vibrant story about the jazz world before, during, and after the 1959 recording of Kind of Blue, and how the album’s three genius musicians came together, played together, and grew together (and often apart) throughout the experience.

Feature

photo of Lester Young by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
Jazz History Quiz #179...Throughout his career, this saxophonist was known as the “Vice Prez” because he sounded so similar to “Prez,” Lester Young (pictured). Who was he?

Community

Nominations for the Pushcart Prize XLIX...Announcing the six writers nominated for the Pushcart Prize v. XLIX, whose work was published in Jerry Jazz Musician during 2024.

Publisher’s Notes

photo by Rhonda Dorsett
On turning 70, and contemplating the future of Jerry Jazz Musician...

Feature

“Are Jazz-Hop Instrumentals Jazz?” – an observation (and playlist) by Anthony David Vernon...Google “what is jazz-hop?” and the AI overview describes it is “a subgenre of hip-hop that combines jazz and hip-hop music. It developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s.” In Mr. Vernon’s observation, he makes the case that it is also a subgenre of jazz.

Community

Notes on Bob Hecht’s book, Stolen Moments: A Photographer’s Personal Journey...Some thoughts on a new book of photography by frequent Jerry Jazz Musician contributing writer Bob Hecht

Art

“The Jazz Dive” – the art of Allen Mezquida...The artist's work is inspired by the counterculture music from the 1950s and 60s, resulting in art “that resonates with both eyes and ears.” It is unique and creative and worth a look…

True Jazz Stories

Columbia Records; via Wikimedia Commons
“An Evening with Michael Bloomfield” – a true blues story by David Eugene Everard...The author recounts his experience meeting and interviewing the great blues guitarist Mike Bloomfield in 1974…

Short Fiction

photo via PxHere
“The Magic” – a story by Mark Bruce...Most bands know how to make music. They learn to play together so that it sounds good and maybe even get some gigs. Most bands know that you have your chord progressions and your 4/4 beat and your verses and bridges. Some bands even have a guy (or a woman, like Chrissy Hynde) who writes songs. So what gives some bands the leg up into the Top 40?

Contributing Writers

Click the image to view the writers, poets and artists whose work has been published on Jerry Jazz Musician, and find links to their work

Coming Soon

An interview with Sascha Feinstein, author of Writing Jazz: Conversations with Critics and Biographers;, Also, a new Jazz History Quiz, and lots of short fiction; poetry; photography; interviews; playlists; and much more in the works...

Interview Archive

Ella Fitzgerald/IISG, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Click to view the complete 25-year archive of Jerry Jazz Musician interviews, including those recently published with Judith Tick on Ella Fitzgerald (pictured),; Laura Flam and Emily Sieu Liebowitz on the Girl Groups of the 60's; Tad Richards on Small Group Swing; Stephanie Stein Crease on Chick Webb; Brent Hayes Edwards on Henry Threadgill; Richard Koloda on Albert Ayler; Glenn Mott on Stanley Crouch; Richard Carlin and Ken Bloom on Eubie Blake; Richard Brent Turner on jazz and Islam; Alyn Shipton on the art of jazz; Shawn Levy on the original queens of standup comedy; Travis Atria on the expatriate trumpeter Arthur Briggs; Kitt Shapiro on her life with her mother, Eartha Kitt; Will Friedwald on Nat King Cole; Wayne Enstice on the drummer Dottie Dodgion; the drummer Joe La Barbera on Bill Evans; Philip Clark on Dave Brubeck; Nicholas Buccola on James Baldwin and William F. Buckley; Ricky Riccardi on Louis Armstrong; Dan Morgenstern and Christian Sands on Erroll Garner; Maria Golia on Ornette Coleman.