Howard Mandel

3 weeks ago | artsjournal.com | Howard Mandel

Twenty-five years ago the Jazz Journalists Association began to identify and celebrate activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz as members of an "A Team," soon renamed "Jazz Heroes." Today the JJA announced its 2025 slate of these Heroes, 29 people across North America who put extraordinary efforts into sustaining and expanding jazz in its various forms. So who are they? Musicians who double or triple as educators, presenters and support-group organizers.

Oct 21, 2024 | downbeat.com | Howard Mandel

By Howard Mandel   I  Oct. 22, 2024 To sustain any cultural intuition — and beyond that to refresh it — is a tall order. To keep faith with a well-established brand and its fans while re-tuning to the temper of the time and preferences of new audiences is to dare a balance in which some teetering is likely. So Darin Atwater, the Baltimore-based conductor-educator in his first curation of the Monterey Jazz Festival (Sept.

Oct 16, 2024 | artsjournal.com | Howard Mandel

I'm proud of my two published books (Miles Ornette Cecil - Jazz Beyond Jazz and Future Jazz) and my unpublished ones, too; the two iterations of the encyclopedia of jazz and blues; I edited, and my collaborations with some musicians creating their own books - but right now I'm crazy enthusiastic about The Jazz Omnibus: 21st-Century Photos and Writings by Members of the Jazz Journalists Association, published in e-book, softcover and hardbound formats by Cymbal Press, most readily available...

Jul 22, 2024 | downbeat.com | Howard Mandel

Review, From the Magazine, Sonny Rollins, Archie Shepp By Howard Mandel   I  Jul. 23, 2024 So much praise has been heaped (deservedly) on tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins’ A Night At The Village Vanguard since its initial release 45 years ago and its subsequent, ever-more-complete “definitive” reissues that more words might seem superfluous.

Jul 9, 2024 | artsjournal.com | Howard Mandel

Yesterday's Concert dropped a podcast in which I offer guidance in listening even to challenging jazz recordings such as John Coltrane's ambitious, gnarly . And semi-shameless self-promotion: Music Journalism Insider has published a comprehensive career interview with me. For Todd L.