Jazz Journalists Association – 2000-01 Plans Announcement

“Reaching the Greater Jazz Audience” and “Jazz Adventures in New Media” are the topics of public panel discussions to be moderated by Howard Mandel, JJA president, author of Future Jazz (Oxford University Press) and longtime freelance writer/editor for Down Beat, Jazziz, TowerPulse!, The Wire (London), and Musical America. Jazz journalists including Yoshi Kato (JJA bay area chapter head), Don Heckman (LA Times), Bill Minor (Unzipped Souls/Nat’lWriters Union contract advisor), Bill Moody (Bird Lives!), Derk Richardson (SF Bay Guardian), David Rubien (SonicNet), Wayne Saroyan (JazzWest.com), Beth Peerless (Monterey Herald, San Jose Mercury News) and Michael Zwerin (Int’l Herald Tribune) are among confirmed panelists for sessions to be held mid-afternoon on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 3 pm and on Tuesday, October 31 at 3 pm in the Embarcadero Center headquarters of SFJazz.

The JJA will conduct a members meeting during the festival, be feted with a San Francisco-style wine tasting prior to concerts on Friday evening, October 27, and be hosted by the SFJazz Organization at a luncheon at one of San Francisco’s fine hotels on Oct. 29. JJA authors will also read and sign their books on Monday, October 30 at the Union Square Virgin Megastore, one of the corporate partners supportive of SFJazz.

For the second consecutive year, the IAJE Conference will host the Jazz Journalists Association Hands-On Workshop, a two-day clinic featuring JJA members offering one-on-one editorial consultations with emerging jazz journalists. On Saturday, January 13, the JJA will host a Critic’s Town Meeting open to all convention registrants and JJA members.

The JJA’s fall 2000 national meeting capped a long season of activity which included the Newport, Rhode Island symposium, and the announcement/ presentation for the fourth consecutive year of the JJA Jazz Awards, in an event held at the Knitting Factory (NYC) June 25. Next year’s JJA Jazz Awards event will also be held in NYC during “June Is Jazz Month.”

Honoring jazz musicians and jazz journalists for the fourth year in a row, the JJA’s Jazz Awards represent a two-ballot process, with the nearly 300 members of the Association (writers, photographers, broadcasters and other media professionals) polled first for nominees and secondly for winners in 37 categories reflecting excellence and accomplishment in the 12 months May 1, 1999 to May 1, 2000.

For complete results from this year’s Awards, visit the JJA’s web site, www.Jazzhouse.org.