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Article Best of Jazz Commentary Editors’ Picks Review

JAN Best of 2023

JAN Editor Christopher Burnett’s favorite albums of 2023 list, with audio embeds, and reasons why.

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Article Best of Jazz Commentary Editors’ Picks Opinion Editorial

Why Charlie Parker Remains Significant

Musings In Cb (ARTICLE) “Why Charlie Parker Remains Significant” I read that the Miles Davis masterpiece album “SEVEN STEPS TO HEAVEN” turned 60 years old on July 16 of this year. And it validates that all thoughtfully done professional music truly has no expiration dates. Regardless of any music genre labels applied to it. Another […]

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Article Commentary Opinion Editorial

JAZZ MARKETING: It’s not as bad as it seems

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR ARTISTS IN THE TWENTIES Article by Christopher Burnett A quarter-century ago using the Internet was still relatively new to most of the music industry. Most major jazz artists didn’t need to use it at all. And my searches for many of them online back then validated that they indeed didn’t. The old gatekeeper […]

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Article Commentary Editors’ Picks Interview Next Generation

JAN SERIES: Next Generation Perspectives

Article by Joshua Rivera and Jackson HarrisonCompiled and Edited by Christopher Burnett Jazz Artistry Now poses two questions in our “Next Generation Perspectives” series to jazz artists who are current Fellows as well as Alumni of the Kansas City Area Youth Jazz program. We believe that it is important to hear from our youngest musicians. […]

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Article Commentary Editors’ Picks

Great Jazz Communities Inherently Have Great Jazz Infrastructures

By Christopher Burnett It was dark when we crossed the blue bridge over the Missouri River and pulled into the City of Leavenworth, officially known as “The First City of Kansas” and also hometown to such music industry luminaries as Melissa Etheridge and the phenomenal LA-based woodwind artist Gary Foster. I am a native of […]

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Article Artist Contributor Commentary

My first gig in NYC

Less than a year later when I began playing with Betty Carter, this was something she addressed to me – being able to put aside all else that’s on your mind during a show and to simply serve the music. Learning to tap into that place, and the self-observation entailed, is a lifelong waking meditation for a performing artist.

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Article Commentary Editors’ Picks

Could Live Jazz Learn From Professional Sports Teams in 2020?

(Yes, but exclude the recorded crowd noise during games.) Professional sports like football and major league baseball offer modern infrastructures for presenting products to all audiences.

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Article Commentary Editors’ Picks

COMMENTARY 2020: Charlie Parker Centennial

Charlie “Bird” Parker was born in Kansas City, Kansas in 1920 and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri – his artistic innovations would ultimately lead him to worldwide musical acclaim. This undisputed and universal acknowledgement as an innovator and musical genius continues to the present. QUOTE “A father of bebop, he has continued to influence generations […]

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Article Artist Contributor Commentary

Freddie Hubbard – A Preface On How We Met

“You sound good, I heard you playing that ‘One Finger Snap’. You know that the melody you’re playing after the first four bars was mine, right? Herbie wrote out the first four bars of the melody and after that, he just had the chords on my part and told me to play my own melody. What you’re playing is what I played on the record, but I just came up with it that one time. Now they have it written that way in the fake-books, hahaha!”

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Commentary Editors’ Picks

Commentary 12.19.19

2020 IS THE CHARLIE PARKER CENTENNIAL There are already quite a number of musical projects commemorating the fact that 2020 is the centennial year of the birth of CHARLIE PARKER (who was born on August 29, 1920 in Kansas City, Kansas). One particular recording project by Bobby Watson, Vincent Herring, and Gary Bartz (“Bird at […]