Jazz Magazines

[GoodSpeak]

I have been a subscriber to JAZZIZ for a number of years. Not the least of which provides a CD with each magazine.

The "free" music is great stuff and I have compiled a collection dating back to the mid-80s.

Lately though, I have subcribed to JAZZ IMPROV which also includes a [far superior, IMHO] CD, great interviews [just like JAZZIZ does] AND charts. Problem is...it comes only 4 times a years whereas JAZZIZ brings me music and Jazz related reading material 12 months a year.


In your travels...what Jazz oriented magazine do you prefer and why?

Post your preferences here.


TimMc

[John B]

Signal to Noise.

It's eclecticism dovetails nicely with my own taste in music. Great writing, great range of subjects, great magazine.

[Dan G]

I still subscribe to Cadence, though I find it taking me less time to read each new issue. Though I've seen people complain that it pays too much attention to the avant-garde, I think the percentage of a/g versus mainstream has dropped in the decade or so that I've been a subscriber. I probably only read about 40 percent of the interwiews.

I also find that I don't care about reviews any more. If I hear about a disc I'm interested in, I will buy it regardless of what critics say. So I usually buy things as they come out (from info off the European Free Improv site, label sites, etc), and then read the reviews 6 months later.

With electronic forums like this, email lists, etc., I think it is becoming easier to live without print magazines. For me, I have more interest in a review by a peer I trust on here of a new release, than one written by someone I have no contact with 6 months after the disc is on my shelf.

Other than Cadence, the only other one I used to read regularly was Coda, but it has become less and less interesting over the years. There was even a point where they were running only reviews of about 50 words, which really can't say anything. Still had OK articles, but also not too indepth.

[joel]

side question on JAZZIZ.

Who is the (hot chick) Lady in cover of the July 2003 issue?

http://www.jazziz.com/graphiques/Cur...rrentCover.jpg

[Other Steve]

Originally posted by joel
side question on JAZZIZ.

Who is the (hot chick) Lady in cover of the July 2003 issue?

Vocalist Carolyn Leonhart.

I read The Wire religiously, cover to cover, and take notes on the things that sound like they'd be worth pursuing, mainly because so many notable things are available in Europe long before they come out over here. I've stopped reading Cadence for the most part because the quality of reviewing isn't what it once was. I still follow Jazziz because, having briefly been an editor there, I'm interested (perhaps morbidly so) in tracking its developments. Signal to Noise is likely the best American magazine for any kind of fringe music, from jam-band to ecstatic jazz to eai, and surely deserves props for that alone; the quality of the writing is again hit and miss, but the breadth and dedication is commendable.

But as far as purely jazz-oriented magazines go, Jazz Times is the only game in town -- and since I'm not currently writing for them, I feel no conflict in saying so. The recent Crouch imbroglio aside, the magazine's coverage is among the broadest and best balanced in the business; not an issue goes by that I don't find something of interest. And despite frequent, clumsy missteps in its march towards "relevancy" (again Crouch, but also the ill-considered "faggots" epistle that led to stern rebukes from Gary Burton, Fred Hersch and others), Jazz Times is to my mind the only jazz magazine that consistently tries to remove the music from its hermetically sealed isolation and places it in a real-world, real-issues context.

[joel]

thanks OtherSteve.

I liked the song "It Didnt Turn Out That Way" from her website....the others were nice too but a bit "pop-ish" for me.

[shrugs]

re: Signal To Noise
Wondering where the Summer issue is?
I was until I read this at their site.

Dear Reader;

We apologize for the delay in mailing the summer issue!! We were forced to dissolve our relationship with our printers of more than three years on the eve of our production date, and lost some time as we looked for an acceptable replacement. However, we're excited now to be working with Westcan Printing Group of Winnipeg, Manitoba, who'll be providing us with a higher-quality magazine at a better price, so we think the wait, while unfortunate, will in time be well worth it.

Westcan reports that magazines have been shipped to their mailing facility across the border as of the morning of July 2nd, so you can expect to receive the new issue sometime within the weeks ahead.

Again, I apologize for the delay and promise we'll resume our normal, timely schedule with the early September mailing of the fall 2003 issue.

Yours in music;
Pete Gershon
publisher / SIGNAL to NOISE

[John B]

The most recent issue of STN finally showed up on Saturday. I really like the new format.

[Vince Kargatis]

I read/subscribe, listed in order of preference, to The Wire, Signal to Noise, and Cadence. Haven't even seen an issue of another mag in quite a while (being in Greece doesn't help, of course).

Tangentially: Goody, please note the existence of the Forum Jazz in Print, to which this thread is obviously best suited. I've requested that Mone move it there, fyi. There are placeholder threads for specific discussion of all three of the ones I list above, fwiw.

[Uli]

Originally posted by Vince Kargatis

Tangentially: Goody, please note the existence of the Forum Jazz in Print, I've requested that Mone move it there, fyi.

I think moving this thread would constitute a violation of mone's promise to ingore goodie.

[Bill Barton]

It was interesting to see Jazz Improv mentioned. The sheer massiveness of this publication is quite remarkable, and it definitely has an edge over the others if you're a musician looking for technical articles, solo transcriptions, lead sheets, etc. They have also published some very fine in-depth interviews. As a former contributor, I can vouch for the fact that they have no word-count limitations for the CD review section; if one wants to write 150 words that's cool, or even 7,000 words or more (pretty rare.) The focus has always seemed middle-of-the-road to me, with little space devoted to the more experimental or avant garde edges of the music. If that's where your interests lie primarily, it's a high quality production in all aspects (the columns by Todd Coolman, Don Glasgo and Mel Martin are particularly excellent.)

The only other international magazines I read regularly in hard copy are Signal to Noise and Coda. I would agree that the latter has really blossomed under Stuart Broomer's guidance, and I appreciate the breadth of their coverage, not focusing on one era or style or approach. STN is even wider in scope, and folks who are not particularly interested in EAI, modern classical (for lack of a better term), or the other "Improvised and Experimental" musics they cover will probably find some of their articles and reviews of tangential interest.

It's been years since I've subscribed to any of the glossies. I got completely fed up with Down Beat, primarily due to the ill-tempered John McDonough rants. Jazz Times has its plus points, and has employed some fine writers over the years, but at this point I peruse the online version only (same with DB).

[jazzfiend]

My current favorite jazz mags: in order of preference

Signal To Noise
Cadence
JazzTimes

[GoodSpeak]

Originally posted by Vince Kargatis
Tangentially: Goody, please note the existence of the Forum Jazz in Print, to which this thread is obviously best suited. I've requested that Mone move it there, fyi. There are placeholder threads for specific discussion of all three of the ones I list above, fwiw.

Thanks, Vince...clearly my oversight and I appreciate your suggestion to properly place this thread.

[GoodSpeak]

Personally, I am not familiar with Signal To Noise, Cadence or The Wire.

Specifically, what is the content? Format? What style of Jazz do they report on?

***********************************************

Bill Barton,

JAZZ IMPROV is a fantastic and interesting piece of work. I only wish it arrived more often. Why only quarterly?

[Bill Barton]

Originally posted by GoodSpeak
Bill Barton,

JAZZ IMPROV is a fantastic and interesting piece of work. I only wish it arrived more often. Why only quarterly?

Well, you'd have to ask Eric Nemeyer that question, not me. But I'd wager that it might have something to do with the fact that the content is so complex, and the sheer bulk of it is so imposing. We're lucky we get it quarterly and not yearly, if you know what I mean.

[Vince Kargatis]

Originally posted by GoodSpeak
Personally, I am not familiar with Signal To Noise, Cadence or The Wire.

Specifically, what is the content? Format? What style of Jazz do they report on?

Each of the aforementioned threads contains links to the sites, which is certainly the best place to start. Cadence is basically a very simple broad-based jazz magazine and independent distributor, usually with 2 artist interviews and a slew of reviews covering trad to outside jazz. StN and The Wire are both much more deliberately "experimental-music" oriented, particularly The Wire. Visit their sites for an idea.

[steve(thelil)]

Jazz Times is erratic. Some issues have precious little good reading, The last issue, with Charlie Hunter on the cover and a great Before and After (their version of Blindfold Test) with Derek Trucks was excellent.

I still dig DownBeat. At least with Down Beat, the reviewer commits to admitting whether he LIKED the CD.

[Gary Sisco]

I used to sub to DB, JT, Cadence, STN and Wire. This week I decided not to resub to Cadence because it's too hard to read in me old age and because if I can't buy CDs at the moment, I can't justify the sub price, either.

So now I only sub to my two favorite music magazines, Signal To Noise and The Wire.

Of the glossies, I pick them up at the newstand if I see something in them that looks like it might be an interesting read. Otherwise, I haven't missed my subs. Cadence, I got so I was only reading the occasional interview, Vladmir, and fellow JCers who write reviews for them.

I'm not much for reviews anymore, other than that they sometimes alert me to records I might not have known were out. I find out more here at JC, with the advantage that I'm also pretty familiar with the tastes of a lot of the people here, and often find out faster here as well.

[GoodSpeak]

Originally posted by Bill Barton
Well, you'd have to ask Eric Nemeyer that question, not me. But I'd wager that it might have something to do with the fact that the content is so complex, and the sheer bulk of it is so imposing. We're lucky we get it quarterly and not yearly, if you know what I mean.

That would make sense...the current isssue with Joe Henderson on the cover is 224 pages in length.

And I know exactly what you mean; it must take months to compile all of it.

Great stuff, IMO.


The good news is there are plenty of back issues to order and read during the in between months. I plan to take full advantage of the offer.

[JazzAt52ndStreet]

What are some good jazz magazines? I've checked out a little of "Down Beat", I don't particularly like the format though, theres a lot of short articles that dont really good into depth with anything (with the exception of the two long interviews.) Also it's not very opinionated. I'm also interested in knowing about equipment, issues, controversies etc. Not just the artists.

Any suggestions?

Thanks-
52nd

[Nate Dorward]

Well, there's

Cadence -- quirky, but always interesting, though the focus is on interviews & reviews: there are no feature articles

Coda -- very good articles; the review section is kinda flat lately, though, & tends to be very out-of-date


I don't really read a lot of jazz magazines, though, so maybe others can recommend some. There are other glossy mags but the problems you find with Downbeat will be more or less replicated in them too.

[Bruce Lindfield]

I read JazzWise every month and never miss an issue - it's a great magazine!!

[yardbird]

Jazzwise is British, so is my favourite since a couple of years - Jazz Review. Editor is Richard Cook.
Their blindfold tests are by far the most interesting made by any mag, often going really deep (and yes, absolutely opinionated). JR frequently publishes rather long articles/interviews and also has around 20 pages of mostly well written record reviews. Subscription is a little expensive, but worth it, and they also have an alternative cheaper web subscription.

[Phil_Meloy]

Rather than overseas readers having to subscribe thay can check out back issues of Jazz UK which are displayed in PDF format on the Jazz Services web site at www.jazzservices.org.uk

[Bruce Lindfield]

"Jazz UK" is OK for listings and what's going on in the UK Jazz scene - but it's nowhere near as good as "JazzWise", in terms of journalism and covering the world Jazz scene and CD releases!!

It is free though - so I always pick up a copy - but I would always pay for JazzWise and I like being on their mailing list as well - I buy loads of stuff through their catalogues!

[jmje]

Cadence is, by far I believe, the best print magazine - tons of reviews, exhaustive coverage, solid writing, tons of typo's, no rock coverage ... I've been a subscriber for over 20 yrs & I still gobble it up every month.

[Gary Sisco]

For my tastes, there aren't any good mags focussed on jazz alone, but if you want to check out the 21st C and what's happening now, try Signal To Noise and The Wire (UK). You'll get jazz coverage and lots more.

[Nate Dorward]

Originally Posted by Rainman

For my tastes, there aren't any good mags focussed on jazz alone, but if you want to check out the 21st C and what's happening now, try Signal To Noise and The Wire (UK). You'll get jazz coverage and lots more.

Yes but the jazz coverage is very, very narrow in the latter in particular. Basically: jazz = free jazz as far as The Wire is concerned.

[Bill Barton]

If your taste swims primarily in the "mainstream" then Jazz Improv might be worth checking out. It's about as in-depth as you can get and of particular interest if you're a musician.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Rainman

For my tastes, there aren't any good mags focussed on jazz alone, but if you want to check out the 21st C and what's happening now, try Signal To Noise and The Wire (UK). You'll get jazz coverage and lots more.

Have you ever read an issue of JazzWise magazine? It is excellent about current Jazz and is focused on Jazz alone.