So after turkey overload during Thanksgiving and the exhausting festivity of the holiday season (made extra special by our transit strike), most of us can hope to take it easy during January. Don't count on it. Better make some time in your schedule for the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) 2006 Conference, four days of all things jazz from performances to panels to clinics to the awarding of the 2006 NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships to general schmoozing (Jan. 11th-14th, visit www.iaje.org for more information). See pgs. 28-31 of the CD reviews for a preview of some of this year's performers and participants. And as a bonus, as if New York didn't have enough concerts already, most NYC venues are hosting extra and extra special performances during that week, including double and triple bills and late night jam sessions. One particularly exciting event is the first of a series of Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts focusing on important cities in jazz history; the inaugural installment is “Detroit: Motor City" featuring a rare appearance by Yusef Lateef (On The Cover, pg. 9). Not as rare but just as special are our Interview (pg. 6) and Artist Feature (pg. 7), vocalist Annie Ross and reedman Ken Vandermark respectively.
Other coverage in this first issue of 2006 is also vaguely inspired by the IAJE: George Russell (Encore, pg. 11) was a previously awarded NEA Jazz Master; ArtistShare (Label Spotlight, pg. 8) will have heavy presence at this year's conference; and Enzo's Jazz (Club Profile, pg. 8) is a new club to appear in the most important jazz city in the world, the main reason the IAJE has decided to make NYC its permament conference home from now on.
But big events and spectacles aside, January is just another month full of endless concerts to be enjoyed. Now that we have subway service again and you have already set aside your post-New Year diet, go out and get your fill of all the music that the city has to offer.
See you at the shows...
Laurence Donohue-Greene & Andrey Henkin
For more information contact All About Jazz.
