This month’s theme is one of overcoming adversity. We didn’t necessarily plan it that way but jazz is a music filled with drama, the personal struggles informing the musical statements. Our Cover Story is pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi, who has been a trailblazer as both a woman and an Asian-American leading bands since the ‘50s. Interview subject trumpeter Tom Harrell is known for his long career as a bandleader, sideman and composer but also for his diagnosed and welldocumented schizophrenia. A rare interview gives him the chance to speak at length about his music. And finally, saxophonist Mark Turner, this month’s Artist Feature, recently made headlines for suffering a terrible accident involving his fingers, a nightmare for any musician. But through surgery, therapy and perseverance, he is back playing. These are just three examples of musicians beating the odds; jazz is filled with thousands of stories like these. A little less intense are the stories behind our Label Spotlight and Club Profile, MoonJune Records and I-Beam respectively. MoonJune is a one-man operation, like so many jazz labels, focusing mainly on European fusion and progressive music. And I-Beam is another musician-run venue in the heart of Brooklyn, creating opportunities to play and be heard in an increasingly hostile city environment.
Additional coverage this month includes the first of our Spring/Summer festival reports, this one from Sweden: Perspectives 2009. We have a full load of CD reviews and our Event Calendar is packed full as we exit our homes after a long winter hibernation, remembering what the sun and fresh air feel like and taking in some music.
Jazz may have more than its fair share of challenges but as listeners and practitioners, supporters and enablers, we are all doing our part to keep things viable and vibrant. We wouldn’t want it too easy, right?
We’ll see you out there...
For more information contact All About Jazz.
