“Jazz in the Global Imagination”

Another note about that Columbia jazz conference I mentioned. I’ll be anchoring a live interactive web discussion on the day of the conference, Sept. 29, 9am to 6pm EST, with an evening summation panel at 7:30pm. Login instructions will be available at jazzhouse.org, the website of the Jazz Journalists Association.

Full details on the conference, “Jazz in the Global Imagination: Music, Journalism and Culture,” are available here.

Jazz journalists have always been in the front line of listening to, analyzing, appreciating and disseminating information about new music as it emerges, and sometimes before, during states of its creation.

With new technology making both geographically and chronologically distant jazz readily available, the jazz journalist today is challenged as never before to remain curious and receptive, sensitive and articulate about an enormous range of art, and to convey comprehension to globally dispersed readership. Simultaneously, the publication conditions confronting jazz journalists — including broadcasters, photographers and new media professionals as well as writers for traditional print publications — are changing substantially, as the digital revolution proceeds. How jazz journalists engage with change is the enduring theme of our profession, as will inevitably become apparent during the panel discussions planned for “Jazz in the Global Imagination: Music, Journalism, and Culture.”

While the Jazz Journalists Association has, during the past dozen years, instituted public panel discussions among its members and unaffiliated colleagues at festivals and educational institutions throughout the U.S., and individuals among us have participated in professional gatherings at the annual International Association for Jazz Education conferences as well as abroad, we have never before had the opportunity to invite peers from Russia, China, Japan, South Africa, Turkey, greater Europe, Canada and Mexico to New York City, to explore the cultural riches of Harlem and participate in focused talk about issues that affect us all. The JJA expects “Jazz in the Global Imagination: Music, Journalism, and Culture” to be a historic event in jazz journalism, and hopes it will be one major step towards better transcultural communications and comprehension.