Best Jazz Magazine out There?

[Jazz Kid]

Which is it?

[Bev Stapleton]

As with most things it depends what you are looking for.

I'd recommend UKs 'Jazz Review' for the long historical view, 'Jazzwise' for a focus on the current and slightly 'hipper' jazz of today. But then Jazz UK can be good for a Brit-jazz focus.

I enjoy JazzTimes and Downbeat to get an idea of how things seem 'Over There' (I know they come in for a fair bit of flak but I've always found them servicable). I've seen a few Cadences which are very detailed but a bit hard on the eyes!

When overseas in Europe I'm always regretful I can't read the local jazz mags of which there seem to be many.

Not very keen on 'bests.' Decide what you are seeking in a jazz mag and then sample. You'll get one that suits.

[kenny weir]

Each to their own, but ... since discovering the various discussion forums, I have completely ceased shelling out CD prices for glossy mags. Why would I bother?

[PFunkJazz]

I'm with Kenny. While I'm online I can't see any reason to spend my good CD money on them. I'll feel that way until a magazine comes along with a deeper and more conscious grasp on broader societal and cultural contexts than any of the current titles display. I'm looking for literacy, intellectual rigour and a campaigning agenda. If I've missed it on the shelves and anyone knows where it's to be found, I'd be grateful for a steer.

[Bev Stapleton]

Perhaps you should write it, given your exacting standards!

[sal]

I personaly like all the ones I've read except for JAZZIZ. I don't like how they've been taking themes and running them throughout the entire month's issue. I don't know if they've always been like that, but it seems they've been doing that quite a bit lately. Also, a bit too much focus on smooth jazz aka crap.

Downbeat and JazzTimes are my personal favs. Its true that you can get lots of very useful info here online that you can't get in the mags, but IMO, its the same the other way around.

[D.D.]

My favorite is Signal To Noise: www.signaltonoisemagazine.org

[Andy D]

Well I like 'Jazzwise' I like it's layout and the quality of the articles and I think it has a great review section, I have bought many CD's on the basis of these reviews and have rarely been disappointed!

Regards

Andy D.

[wjd]

Jazz Times and Down Beat are great. Jazziz can be really good. I especially like Jazziz's annual issue of the critics' picks for best CDs of the year.

[EKE BBB]

I usually pick Downbeat and Jazztimes (not all the months). The former is harder to find in Madrid, but I prefer it.

But my favorite is a bimonthly Spanish magazine called Cuadernos de jazz. Many reviews (reissues, new releases, Off-jazz and some Spanish and European jazz), interesting long articles, concert reviews and interviews.

There´s another Spanish magazine called "Más que jazz!" that I ocasionally buy.

[jlhoots]

I'm down to Down Beat & Cadence.
There's a magazine called Shuffleboil that appears irregularly.
The 3 issues I've seen have been enjoyable.

[Bev Stapleton]

There was a magazine called 'Avanti' in the Uk which concentrated on the freer end and crossed over into similar territory in the classical world. Could be interesting though the articles often struck me as being overwordy - lots of literary jargon and complex sentences that when decoded didn't actually say very much. A bit emperor's new clothes. It did carry a CD which was interesting at times. I'm not sure if it's still around.

[clifton]

I subscribe to Down Beat and Jazz Times, although they tend to duplicate eachother fairly frequently. Down Beat has improved considerably in the past year. Jazziz does too much smooth jazz coverage for my taste, and Coda, from Canada, is a mere shadow of its former, 1970's self.

[Bill Barton]

Originally posted by clifton
...Coda, from Canada, is a mere shadow of its former, 1970's self.

Perhaps in terms of sheer size (i.e. number of pages) but I'd disagree when it comes to the quality of the editing, writing and (especially recently) photography.

I also like Signal to Noise, but it's certainly not a "jazz" magazine per se.

There's so much material available online now that I don't find it necessary to subscribe to any of the glossies.

Jazz Improv hasn't been mentioned yet, and it's a publication of partcular interest to musicians (lots of lead sheets, solo transcriptions, technical articles, etc.)

[Tenorman]

Originally posted by Bev Stapleton
There was a magazine called 'Avanti' in the Uk which concentrated on the freer end and crossed over into similar territory in the classical world. Could be interesting though the articles often struck me as being overwordy - lots of literary jargon and complex sentences that when decoded didn't actually say very much. A bit emperor's new clothes. It did carry a CD which was interesting at times. I'm not sure if it's still around.

Yes "Avanti" is still being published - still see it at Mole Jazz.

I think my first question would be define "Best"

In the UK I buy Jazz Journal International, Jazz Review, and Jazzwise, as well as getting JARS (Jazz At Ronnie Scotts) - qualifies as a magazine IMO and Jazz UK. OK More money than sense, but they give me an overview of the whole Jazz scene, or at least those sections in which I am interested

[Tenorman]

I have to question the independence of the UK Jazz magazines. Stacey Kent has a new CD coming out, so what happens?

Jazz Review has a four and a half page interview in the October issue. Jazzwise has a 3 page interview in the November issue. What is going on here? Is Candid saying to the magazines "interview our star or we won't advertise with you any more"? Just how many interviews have they done with her? I would need to check but my suspicious mind suggests 1 every new CD.

Am I right to be suspicious about this? I have no doubt that this will be touted as "what the readers want", to which my reply would be "when was the survey done?"

[Bev Stapleton]

You'll find exactly the same thing in the US magazines.

And 'The Guardian'!

Look at the number of Miles articles every time one of those boxes come out! 10 pages in Jazzwise. 2 page spread in 'The Guardian/'

Musician puts out new CD, does tour, makes self available for interviews...instant copy. Seems perfectly natural to lock in when interest is at its greatest.

I don't think it's anything more sinister than that.

Probably more remarkable are the articles on people I've never heard of! Finn Peters? Natalie Wiliams?

It's also worth noting the history of jazz magazines in the UK...remember all those brief appearances in the late-80s and early 90s?

If it takes a Stacey Kent or Diana Krall or Jamie Cullin cover to keep a UK jazz magazine afloat then I can live with it.

Amazingly we've got at least three at present!

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

Anyway, Jazz Review frequently does articles totally unrelated to current releases.

Now perhaps you'd have prefered Gerald Wilson on the October cover to support the article on page 12. I'm sure that would have had the copies skipping off the shelves and ensured Jazz Review's solvency!

[PFunkJazz]

Tenorman - are you right to be suspicious? I'm afraid you are. Jazzwise is a particularly frequent offender. Jazz Review doesn't do it quite so often, and as a smaller circulation, independently minded magazine is both less in thrall to the record companies and less valued by then as a vehicle for hype.

[Bev Stapleton]

I wouldn't get too paranoid about the links between jazz magazines and commerce.

I came across this whilst reading Alyn Shipton's bio of Fats Waller:

The most significant mention of Fats in the Chicago press during May and June (of 1927) is an advertisement from the Defender of June 26 for Fats Waller, "internationally famed songwriter and Victor recording artist," endorsing "Washington Belle Hair Victory." This was one of a series of advertisements placed to "ballyhoo" Waller and Ellington by the same Harrison Smith who had been advertising manager of the Lincoln when Fats began playing there. "I arranged tie-ups of them... ballyhooing a hair tonic (which they never used) and got each 10,000 window posters for drugstores. Also full page ads in the Defender which cost $800 per page per issue . . . top brass at Victor were amazed by [this] overnight exploitation."

It would apprar that even the mythological giants were not averse to exploiting those links.

[bubber]

Jazz magazines got to sell, jazz artists got to sell - nothing wrong with that.

In classical music, female violinplayers sell their music outfitted in low cut evening dresses.

Guess we have to accept that even quality music is both art and business.

[clinthopson]

I've beeen a db subscriber for probably 50 years.

It regularly pisses me off with the rockers they seem to feature much more than they derserve but I keep renewing, probably out of habit.

Their record reviews are very predictable, based on who is writing them, especially McDonough.

[Hardbop]

To each his own, just about the only thing I miss about the jazz mags is reading Crouch in "Jazztimes" and McDonough in "DB" and JT shitcanned Crouch so I guess I'm not missing all that much

About a year ago I ended my jazz subscriptions to JT, DB and "Cadence." I just felt JT, DB and "Jazziz," which is given out free in NYC jazz clubs, is that they are really shills for the major jazz record labels. All the articles and reviews -- which are never negative (see if you can find a DB review with less than 3 stars -- are puff pieces about artists with a new CD on the way.

In the case of "Cadence" I have zero interest in avant-garde and there was way too much coverage of the screachers and skronkers so I shitcanned that subscription to.

I figure I'll re-up my jazz subscriptions when I deplete the huge backlog of unread jazz tomes I've accumulated.

[PFunkJazz]

There isn't a 'best' jazz magazine. They are all mostly drivel.

This fall my social history of Blue Note 1939 - 1970 will be published, in which I devote as much space to BN staff and artists and their off-mike activities and interactions as I do to the recordings. It's a totally fascinating book, rich in fact and anecdote - and even the airheads who review for the jazz rags will have to admit it, which is something I personally am looking forward to observing!

[Jerome Wilson]

Speaking as someone who writes some of that drivel, thanks! :shrug:

I love a lot of those "screachers" and "skronkers" so I would get Cadence even if I didn't write for it. Other jazz magazines I get are Signal To Noise, Jazzwise and, hold your nose, folks, The Wire. I realize The Wire doesn't cover primarily jazz anymore but the stuff is there along with other cutting edge music and they did do an excellent interview with Alice Coltrane a year or so ago.

[jazzcritic]

Cadence serves markets the glossy rags neglect: European issues, avant-garde, and lots of independent labels. Plus Bob Rusch never yanks a review because he's worried about losing an advertising account with a record label, so there's no censorship of that sort. It's a good mag for new writers to get their feet wet and gain some experience, though the pay is no-existent to minimal trade credit (a maximum of $4 per title when I last wrote for it).

It's the only jazz magazine I still subscribe to, because the interviews are often excellent, and I always discover titles I might have not known about.

[clave]

I've written for a couple of the US-based mags in the past. ...

Here's my take: you need to read a bunch of 'em (including cross-genre mags like Latin Beat) on a regular basis in order to stay up-to-date. Still, there's very little coverage of European/African/Asian/etc. jazz recordings, and the "world" stuff most cover is often terrible. (Almost all of it pushed by the mega-corps.) Though Jazz Times does take on good indie releases from time to time...

Jazziz has a new managing editor. I think you can and should expect improvements in the future. (There was a lot of substantial material in the May issue, which was devoted to Brazil.)

i've given up my subscriptions to jazz magazines since switiching from jazz to world coverage, though I do buy occasional copies + spend time reading them in libraries.

[Chrissie Murray]

As someone who has been at the front line of jazz magazine production...
I wish the magazines would stop staring at their own navels and actually ask their readers what they, the buyers, actually want, in terms of content and presentation.
So what do you want from a jazz magazine?

[BruceH]

Long, in-depth, well written articles about jazz would be nice.

[bubber]

Chrissie, I think the first years of The Wire was some of the most interesting in the history of jazz magazines. I also think magazines should publish some controversial writing, and I think it's a pity Jazz Times recently skipped one of the few in business. Further I want to see one or two in depth reviews of important CD's in each issue (re-issues or new ones) and not only the standard "you got a limited number of words for each review" standard.

Doing interviews, I think it's interesting to get musicians talking about important and interesting matters, not like the bland and impotent interviews mostly presented in major US mags. The blindfold tests in British Jazz Review are better interviews than most interviews I've seen lately.

So get on with it, Chrissie - there's some market for a new magazine (but I don't know if it's big enough). BTW, I seem to remember your name from some (defunct?)
magazine?

Presentation: I think JazzWise is to glossy and British Jazz Review too dull, Down Beat and Jazz Times not very exciting, Cadence and Coda ...he he, but they don't pretend being anything beyond what they are. I think Norwegian Jazznytt and Danish Jazz Special have an up to date presentation with no danger of mistaking them for a home&garden journal or a magazin for the marketing business.

[Bev Stapleton]

Chrissie was editor of Jazzwise around the time it moved from being a rather thin and insecure publication to the more substantial magazine that you either like or loathe today. She also writes regularly for Jazz UK and the Ronnie Scott magazine.

[1ngram]

Does no one read Jazz journal International on this board apart from Tenorman? When I started getting interested I read Jazzwise for a year but got sick of the accent on quasi-jazz. Their freebie CDs were rubbish, mostly. Then I subbed to Jazz Review for a year but found the reviews superficial and the articles slight. JJI may be an acquired taste but when it writes about Hank Mobley or Art Blakey you get a detailed analysis, on occasion spread over two issues and when it decides to review a CD you get a detailed analysis of the CD, most of the time. I just wish there was an index on the net of all previous issues as it keeps referring to reviews of discs of ten years ago but not telling exactly whwere you can find the review. And buying each annual index woiuld cost the earth.

[bubber]

I have'nt seen JJI for some years now, but my impression was it was l little retro, focusing on US and British jazz from the sixties and backwards.

Nothing wrong with that if that's magazine policy. Personally I want to read about what's happening to day worldwide too.

[Leeway]

Does no one read Jazz journal International on this board apart from Tenorman? When I started getting interested I read Jazzwise for a year but got sick of the accent on quasi-jazz. Their freebie CDs were rubbish, mostly. Then I subbed to Jazz Review for a year but found the reviews superficial and the articles slight. JJI may be an acquired taste but when it writes about Hank Mobley or Art Blakey you get a detailed analysis, on occasion spread over two issues and when it decides to review a CD you get a detailed analysis of the CD, most of the time. I just wish there was an index on the net of all previous issues as it keeps referring to reviews of discs of ten years ago but not telling exactly whwere you can find the review. And buying each annual index woiuld cost the earth.

I have read it, and agree with you, but the problem for me is the availability of the mag, and its cost. I used to pick up superceded issues of the mag at Tower for $5.00 each; current issues were sold at $10.00. I guess most folks wouldn't pay that price, so Tower no longer carries it in my area.

[Shukhov]

Well it seems (bear in mind i am 100% newbie) that the best policy is to sample a bit of everything until you find what you like.

On that note, does anyone know where i can get any of these mags in the UK? I'm having trouble finding anything.

[Bev Stapleton]

On that note, does anyone know where i can get any of these mags in the UK? I'm having trouble finding anything.

The larger branches of Virgin and HMV and the few surviving jazz specialist shops stock Jazzwise, Jazz Review and the freebie Jazz UK (all three were on sale in Nottingham on Saturday). The larger WH Smiths carry Jazzwise.

For the US magazines your best bet is a branch of Borders.

[clave]

For the US magazines your best bet is a branch of Borders.

Not here in the US. More like Tower Records, although they've had to curtail their magazine buying due to financial problems.

Borders' flagship stores (in places like Washington, D.C.) carry tons of periodicals that never sell, including all kinds of music mags. But that's not the case at the medium-size and smaller outlets. Even in the big stores, they've stopped stocking Coda, The Wire, etc.