For Part 5 in our series of dialogues with women jazz writers we turn to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul. I first met Pamela Espeland in the late 1980s while living in Minneapolis and working at Arts Midwest. At the time Pamela’s young son was a classmate of our daughter and we began conversing on our mutual passion for the music, though at the time she was an enthusiast who hadn’t yet begun writing on the subject. It was sometime after we relocated to DC in ’89 that Pamela, who was already a writer by training, added jazz reportage to her arsenal. Since then she’s been a feverish contributor on jazz in the Twin Cities community and beyond. This is her second Independent Ear contribution.

I write about jazz for my blog, bebopified.com; cover the arts (including jazz) for the Minnesota news and information website MinnPost.com; and write about jazz on occasion for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, NPR, and the Jazz Police website (jazzpolice.com). I’ve done some writing for Independent Ear. I wrote for Ted Gioa’s jazz.com when it was around. A lot of writers miss that website. I’ve done some jazz radio work with KBEM and KFAI in Minneapolis and have moderated a few pre-performance discussions with jazz musicians.

What has been your experience writing about music in general, jazz in particular and how did you get started down this road?

I’m a professional writer, and I write long hours for a living. So the very last thing I wanted to do was write about jazz. I just wanted to hear it and be around it. Jazz was my vacation from writing, my reward for getting my real work done. But then two things happened.

First, I went to a concert that moved me so profoundly I knew I’d want to revisit it, and I didn’t trust my memory. So I wrote about it. Then I asked a friend who runs a jazz website if he would publish my piece and he did. When that happened, my writing was out there, and that became the carrot that pulls the donkey along.

Second, I went to the Monterey Jazz Festival with a girlfriend and left my husband at home, which made me feel kind of guilty. I had such a great time at the festival that I wanted him to share the experience. So I wrote about it, for him. He still reads everything I write, and everything I write is, in part, a love letter to him. That may sound corny but it’s true.

Music has always been part of my life. I sang and played instruments as a child and through my teens. In my twenties, I took piano lessons, and returned to them again last year, mainly to learn the music theory I had avoided. In my freelance writing career, there was a time when I wrote a lot of music catalogs, so I picked up some terminology and also learned how to research and find answers to my questions. I built a library of books about music, heavy on jazz.

I wish I had started listening to jazz years earlier, but I didn’t. I was beginning to get really interested in jazz when a chance meeting led me to people who know a lot about jazz and were happy to share with a neophyte. Willard, I don’t have to tell you who those people were. I will always be grateful.

What was it about writing about jazz that attracted you to this pursuit initially?

Its absolute impossibility. This is the hardest writing I’ve ever attempted. Especially writing about live performance. How do you describe in words something so complex, intricate, passionate, and ephemeral? Jumping into the deep end, I started writing (or trying) about so-called free jazz early on. I love a steep learning curve. I never pretend to know something I don’t actually know, which leads to many opportunities to ask questions and engage in conversation with knowledgeable people.

Once I realized how much work this writing really is, I briefly thought about hanging it up, but the fact that so few women write about jazz (something I didn’t realize at first) kept me going. I don’t get to write as often as I would like, due to the demands of my freelance writing business and the need to earn a living. But I plan to keep writing as often and as long as I can. Jazz is my passion, and writing about it is a way to hear more of it, learn more about it, and (one hopes) generate more interest in this amazing music.

Would you describe your experiences writing about music as overall positive, and if so why or why not?

Overall positive, because I write what I want, when I want. That’s the reality of much writing today – no editors. I have often sought advice from those who know more about jazz than I do.

What’s frustrating is when I spend a long time on a CD review or an interview and it goes virtually unnoticed because I’m not writing for a jazz news site or print magazine. I wrote one of the earliest reviews of e.s.t.’s posthumous “301” http://www.bebopified.com/2012/05/last-words-of-est-301-cd-review.html – a thorough, knowledgeable review; I’ve been following this trio for years – and hardly anyone saw it. Ditto for my frank and lengthy interview with Kurt Elling earlier this year. http://www.bebopified.com/2012/02/kurt-elling-on-grammys-confidence-jazz.html

We write because we love the music, because we like to write, because we get to sit down and talk with jazz musicians – but also because we want to be read. So writing these days also involves a lot of self-promotion, which is not something I’m comfortable with.

Also frustrating is working so hard for little or no money, but everyone is talking about that and I have nothing new to add.

My most negative experiences to date have been with artists who disagree with something I’ve written. In general, I don’t write negative reviews, because I don’t have enough time to write all the good things I want to say about this music and its makers. And I’m not interested in the snotty, snarky writing that seems to attract a lot of readers. But once in a rare while, there’s something I really dislike for whatever reason. For example, a new CD by an artist whose music I usually enjoy, or a performance that goes south. In response, artists I once respected have turned into jerks, whining babies, name-calling bullies, and attack dogs. I moderate the comments on my blog, so most of the negative stuff never goes live. I don’t keep that kind of house.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a post Lyn Horton wrote for her blog, The Paradigm for Beauty. In it, she explains why she will no longer write for other jazz publications, only for her blog. http://lynhorton.blogspot.com/2012/05/renewal-starting-again-new-perspective.html

Women occupy an interesting place in the jazz pantheon; on the one hand women instrumentalists are in the distinct minority, at least as far as prominence, and on the other hand women absolutely dominate the ranks of jazz singers. What’s your sense of that imbalance?

Everyone should watch Judy Chaikin’s excellent documentary film “The Girls in the Band.” There’s a clip of Marian McPartland being interviewed by a TV host. He asks her if being a woman jazz pianist is a handicap, then says, “Now that I consider it myself, I think it’s a great advantage since you’re so decorative.” Women who play instruments aren’t especially decorative. They sweat, they assume unladylike positions, they blow out their cheeks. What we need are more men who are willing to play with women, and more women starting bands.

Would you describe yourself as a music critic or a music journalist and why?

Certainly not as a music critic. Maybe as a music journalist; I’m more comfortable with being called a journalist now that I’ve had several years of experience working for a news organization. But the term I’m most comfortable wearing is music writer. Or jazz writer. Sweet and simple.

It’s been suggested that one of the real keys to solving the critical jazz audience development issue is that those who present the music must find more creative ways to attract more women to their audiences; some wisdom suggesting that where more women go, men will surely follow. Is this an apt characterization of the jazz audience conundrum, and if so are there elements you might suggest to those who present jazz as to better attracting women audience members?

Many of the men I see at jazz shows have left their wives at home. There are some I ran into for years and got to know fairly well without ever realizing they were married. I’m not sure how to answer this question, though I will say that it’s a lot more pleasant to watch a band of well-dressed musicians than to see someone whose name I won’t mention in a dirty T-shirt, banging on the piano.

Clearly writing about music, and particularly writing about jazz, could well be characterized as “a man’s world.” Do you feel like that’s due more to the nature of the music or to some form(s) of overt exclusion from the “boy’s club”?

I don’t think this has anything to do with the nature of the music. I think it has more to do with stereotypes and discrimination, power and tradition. Most jazz musicians were and are men. There was a time when jazz was played in places respectable women couldn’t go. You can argue that journalism and publishing have been and still are men’s worlds/boys’ clubs. And what about jazz radio?

I’ve never thought of jazz in terms of men’s music/women’s music – though maybe I should, and see where that leads. Because jazz is so expressive, so full of emotion, are women better equipped to write about it than men?

How do your women friends and colleagues view you as a jazz writer?

Those inside the jazz world – as performers and audience members – think it’s great. Those outside the jazz world think I’m crazy for going out so often and staying up so late and hanging out with such scruffy characters.

Have you ever found it more difficult to pursue writing about music due to gender issues? If so please detail some of your writing challenges that may have been fairly or unfairly colored by gender.

I have not had personal experience of this – at least, not that I’ve been aware of. I don’t look for gender discrimination, and I’m not overly sensitive to it, so there are probably times when I don’t see it even when it’s there. I have written for at least one publication that has not, to my knowledge, published music writing by a woman until I came along. I knew that when I pitched them, but I didn’t make it a reason for hiring me or even mention it. I just brought them a good idea.

Any woman writer should read this article by Jillian Keenan, “How to pitch (stories) like a girl.” http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/175528/how-to-pitch-stories-like-a-girl/

What can be done to encourage more women to write about music in particular, jazz in general?

Be a friend, be a mentor, invite them to jazz shows, introduce them to jazz musicians, talk with them about music and jazz, listen to what they have to say, point them toward good writing by women writers. Be confident and positive. Treat them seriously.

What have been some of the most personally satisfying music performances you’ve either written about or simply experienced over the last year?

Vijay Iyer at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Two nights, six sets, including one with Wadada Leo Smith. The Three Cohens at the Village Vanguard. The Brian Blade Fellowship Band at Kuumbwa in Santa Cruz. Chick Corea and Bobby McFerrin at the Blue Note. The Bad Plus doing their annual Christmas show at the Dakota in Minneapolis. Kurt Elling at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. Theo Bleckmann at Macalester College in St. Paul. Bill Carrothers at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Helen Sung at Monterey. The singer Nancy Harms performing with pianist Jeremy Siskind and saxophonist Lucas Pino at Jazz Central in Minneapolis. The chamber group Accordo at Christ Church Lutheran in Minneapolis. I could go on.

Several years ago we engaged the amazing veteran multi-instrumentalist Howard Johnson (tuba-flugelhorn-bari sax-pennywhistle, etc.) as one of our Tri-C JazzFest artists-in-residence. A major component of Howard’s residency was his participation in our concert “Slight Return”. This was our recreation of the Gil Evans charts for the music of Jimi Hendrix. One of Cleveland’s stalwart musician-educators, saxophonist Howie Smith, had approached me with the idea and I became immediately excited, being a devotee of both Gil and Jimi’s music and a fanatic about the RCA recording Gil made of his arrangements of Hendrix’ songs.

Howard Johnson had worked with Gil for many years, including the Hendrix recording, and had in fact taken to singing the vocal part to “Voodoo Chile” in Gil’s subsequent performances, some of which I’d been enthralled by during Gil’s week of midnight performances at the 1988 Umbria Jazz Festival. So Howie put together an ensemble to interpret Gil’s Hendrix charts, we brought Howard in to teach and play that gig, and imported Vernon Reid as guest guitarist. The result was a major blast, one of the highlights of 17 years curating Tri-C JazzFest. I’ve subsequently played pieces from that performance on my WPFW radio show, most recently during our July 4th daylong “Jazz Festival of the Air” broadcast.

That evening at TCJF Howard also served as MC, providing the audience with background on both his work with Gil and his love of Hendrix. He told a great story about living in the East Village in the neighborhood of the legendary Fillmore East when that joint was pumping. One New Year’s Eve, from a vantage point in the street nearby the Fillmore, Howard was amazed to hear Jimi, Billy Cox and Buddy Miles rehearsing and sound checking for what turned out to be the historic “Band of the Gypsys” live concert session. His description of the wall of sound that trio created was quite visceral and our audience ate it up. Anyway… Howard Johnson is a native Ohioan, having grown up in Massillon and played in Massillon High’s marching band at that noted high school football factory. Coincidentally Howard also had family in East Cleveland, OH. One day during Howard’s residency while driving him to visit his family we were idly listening to the car sound system when up popped some soprano saxophone playing. I could see that Howard was becoming visibly annoyed by the persistent, snake-charmer level soprano playing roiling out of the speakers; if there’d been pillows handy doubtless he would have covered his ears to escape the sonic ramblings of this particular perpetrator of tuneless sound. At a certain point Howard launched into what appeared to be a familiar diatribe against what he saw as the legion of chronically out-of-tune soprano players, the “weasel horn” as he dubbed it. Ever since I’ve been sensitive to out-of-tune soprano saxophone playing and I have to agree with Howard’s assessment: more often than not the great majority of musicians who generally double on soprano – being primarily either tenor or alto sax players – do indeed play that instrument off-key, captives of the weasel horn. Seems the soprano is an especially difficult horn to tame.

In the recent DownBeat magazine issue that highlighted its 2012 annual Critic’s Poll results (full disclosure: I’m a voting participant in that Critic’s Poll), there appeared an informative piece on this year’s Rising Star award recipient on the soprano saxophone, Marcus Strickland. It seems that his soprano saxophone has grown in prominence among his 3-sax arsenal and Marcus had some very intelligent things to say about his approach to the instrument. Following up on that DB piece I posed a question to Marcus about the difficulties of taming the soprano sax, using Howard Johnson’s “weasel horn” assessment as a touchstone. Here’s what Marcus Strickland has to say about wrestling the wild soprano.

That’s the main problem with the soprano saxophone, I concur with Howard. The reason that I and several other players such as Wayne Shorter, Branford Marsalis, Sam Newsome, Tim Ries, Kenny Garrett, Steve Wilson, Lucky Thompson, etc… play the instrument rather in tune and do not sound like a weasel is because we play the instrument just as often or even more than the rest of the saxophones. Through my studies I have found that the main reason most soprano saxophonists play out of tune is because of posture and lack of practice.

Many just use their soprano on occasional gigs, and therefore do not play it as often as alto, tenor or baritone. I have a genuine love for the soprano, so I write for and record with it as much as possible. As a result, many hire me to play both tenor and soprano.

On the technical side, many saxophonists tend to squeeze as they get in the higher range of the instrument. This action yields exaggerated results especially on the soprano. The trick is to realize that the execution of the high notes is manipulated by the airstream, not the emboucher. As the emboucher relaxes the reed vibrates more freely, and simultaneously the heightened arch of the tongue causes the airstream to accelerate – hence facilitating those extremely demanding high notes. That’s why Wayne has a warm (as opposed to shrill) cry in the high register of his soprano. Air, which is what my mentors have taught me about time and time again.

In short, I’m extremely mindful of intonation on all horns and constantly work at it.

Part 4 in our series of dialogues with women jazz writers on their triumphs and challenges in the medium, and how gender may have influenced their experience, continues with a young woman in the early stages of her efforts at documenting the music in her community and beyond. Based in Detroit, one of the historic cauldrons of jazz history particularly as the birthplace of a raft of great musicians, Veronica Grandison was an early respondent to the beginning of this dialogue and we wanted to get a sense of the experience of someone relatively new to jazz journalism – and someone whose entry point was through web-based journalism, with particular interest in her story of how she became determined to write about jazz and other music.

VERONICA GRANDISON

I am currently a freelance writer for The Jazz Line, an online jazz news website. I write album and concert reviews, and also write feature articles on various jazz musicians. My work has appeared in Real Detroit Weekly, a metro Detroit entertainment publication, and Model D, an online Detroit based magazine. I also manage my own music blog called Roots, Rhythm, and Rhyme. I am in the process of starting an online magazine called ColorBlind, with two friends of mine. The magazine will be devoted to young, minority women ages 15-26, and will cover topics such as lifestyle, culture, politics, travel, and entertainment. The mission of the magazine is to present positive representations of women and celebrate their accomplishments. The magazine will be launched in Summer 2012.

What has been your experience writing about music in general jazz in particular?

My experience writing about music has been good so far. I am still in the very beginning stages of my career as a music writer, but I have received some great advice from other music critics and I am continuing to learn more about this remarkable art form. I love the idea of being able to express my opinion about music through the written word. People are always going to have opinions about topics such as music, politics, education, and so forth, but it is such an exhilarating feeling being able to share my opinion about something I am passionate about and allowing people from around the world to read my work.

What was it about writing about music that attracted you to this pursuit initially?

I have wanted to be a journalist ever since I was a sophomore in high school, and writing has been a passion of mine since I was very young. It was not until I reached college that I decided to fuse both my love for writing and music together. After taking a jazz music history course my freshman year of college, I became hooked on jazz and wanted to learn as much as I could about the music of artists such as Art Blakey, Benny Golson, Charlie Mingus, and all of these other brilliant musicians whom I had never heard of before. I wanted to inform everyone I knew about how important this music is to our culture, and how much of an impact it has had on American music itself. Once the class was over, I thought that one of the ways I could share my experience with jazz and encourage others to learn more about the music was to write about it. In addition to writing about jazz, I also find great pleasure in writing about the music that I grew up listening to like hip-hop and R&B. As a fan of music, I love the idea of being able to not only express my opinion about a particular song or musician, but being able to start social discussions that go beyond music. Society plays such an important role in shaping music and its rewarding knowing that one opinion could progress into something way beyond my expectations.

Would you describe your experiences writing about music as overall positive, and if so why or why not?

My experience writing about music has been overall positive. I have been able to connect with some great writers and learned so much about music writing from my mentor Charles Latimer, who is a jazz writer for the [Detroit-area] Metro Times. I have also been able to interview some incredible musicians that are continuing to elevate the standard of musical expression. Of course, there have been challenges along the way, mainly with me trying to make a name for myself in various music communities. When you are not well known, as in any field, that makes it more difficult to get published in magazines and journals. However, every time I see my work published, it just encourages me to continue to strive for excellence so that I can make a difference in the music journalism field.

Women occupy an interesting place in the jazz pantheon; on the one hand women instrumentalists are in the distinct minority, at least as far as prominence, and on the other hand women absolutely dominate the ranks of jazz singers. What’s your sense of that imbalance?

It is unfortunate that we have come so far as a country, both from a racial and gender related standpoint, and many female jazz instrumentalists are still not ranked on the same level as men professionally. I’m glad to see that there are a lot more female instrumentalists making a name for themselves, but when it comes to promotion and performances, sometimes the gender biases are still there. Take an artist like Esperanza Spalding for instance. She is a phenomenal bassist, but I believe it has been easier for her to claim the spotlight in jazz because of the fact that she is also a vocalist. Just like it was during the 30s, 40s, and 50s, the same is still true that it is much easier for women to get credit and take the spotlight in the jazz field if they are vocalists. But, I always think that just because many female jazz instrumentalists did not get credit during the heyday of jazz, it doesn’t mean that they were not around. For every Louis Armstrong there was a Melba Liston, and for every Count Basie, there was a Mary Lou Williams. The same thing remains true today. For every Branford Marsalis, there is a Tia Fuller, and for every Roy Haynes, there is a Terri Lynn Lyne Carrington.

Would you describe yourself as a music critic or a music journalist and why?

I see myself as both a music critic and music journalist. It is mainly a matter of what I am writing about and on what level. Coming from a news journalism background, I had gotten so used to reporting from an objective standpoint, so it took me a few years to get comfortable writing from a more biased perspective. As a music critic, I feel most effective because I do not have to sugarcoat anything and I can let my opinion speak for itself. However, I also feel that my voice can be heard as a music journalist because I can inform the public about various issues going on in the music business. I really have a lot of respect for music critics such as Amiri Baraka and Stanley Crouch, who were never afraid to voice their opinion about African American music, regardless of how unpopular their views may have been. They are critics who I aspire to be like.

Its been suggested that one of the real keys to solving the critical jazz audience development issue is that those who present the music must find creative ways to attract more women to their audiences; some wisdom suggesting that where more women go, men will follow. Is this an apt characterization of the jazz audience conundrum, and if so are there elements you might suggest to those who present jazz as to better attracting women audience members?

I don’t think it’s just mainly a matter of getting more women to attend jazz concerts, but how do we get more young people interested in the music and willing to come out to jazz concerts and festivals. I have attended plenty of concerts and seen many women there, but a majority of the women were older and either were with their husbands or were there alone.

I think the older you get, the less concerned you are with going to events with a group of people or having to be with someone when at a concert. I recently attended a jazz concert at a museum and there were more older women there than younger women and they were just as excited to be there as any other person.

I think social media has done a good job of promoting jazz events to the younger generation and it is an area that has helped to further bridge the gap between young and older jazz audiences. But, there can always be more done to encourage both women and our youth to be engaged in jazz.

I also believe that if female instrumentalists were promoted in the mainstream more often, then that could also help with attracting a larger female-based jazz audience. There have been times when I have gone to see Detroit based female jazz instrumentalists, and there have been more women in the room than men. But, if you are not really engaged in the jazz community or know female instrumentalists personally, then it is more difficult to find out when they are performing.

Clearly writing about music, and particularly writing about jazz, could well be characterized as “a man’s world.” Do you feel like that’s due more to the nature of the music or to some form(s) of overt exclusion from “the boy’s club”?

The music industry itself has always been viewed as a men’s club, and with writing it is no different. I do not necessarily believe it has a whole lot to do with the nature of the music, but mainly with who is in charge of things. Many magazines, or in particular music publications are run by men, and so that makes it more difficult for a women to move up the ranks if a man continues to hire other men in editorial and other managerial fields of the publication. In a perfect world, there would be an even balance of both men and women in management positions when it comes to the music industry or running a publication, and that would help with there being more female music writers as well as editors.

Have you ever found it more difficult to pursue writing about music due to gender issues? If so please detail some of your writing experiences that may have been fairly or unfairly colored by gender.

Thankfully, I have not yet come across any issues as a music writer where my gender has played a role in whether or not I get a writing gig. But, I can say just being a woman, and knowing that women are not in the majority when it comes to music criticism, that was somewhat of a discouraging feeling when I began to pursue a career in music journalism.

Most of the music writers whose work I read about in college and even to this day are men, and it has really taken some digging and searching to find many female music writers, particularly those who focus on jazz. So, when I read the work of writers such as Valerie Wilmer or Linda Dahl, it’s encouraging to know that they made it in spite of gender discrimination and that their struggles made it possible for me to achieve success as a music writer.

What can be done to encourage more women to write about music in particular, jazz in general?

There are a lot of female music writers out here and there is a growing number of female jazz writers. But, the reason why it’s hard to find them is because many are grouped into certain communities. If you are not active in the jazz community or read jazz magazines such as Downbeat or Jazz Times, then you wouldn’t know that many exist. I think it is important for writers, especially female writers to not be boxed into a particular category or to only associate themselves with one musical clique. I try not to label myself as only a jazz writer because I know that there are so many opportunities available in this field, and I want to take advantage of as much of it as I can. I hope that with the magazine I am starting, I will be able to give more young women the opportunity to write about music and pursue their passion in this field without having to go through a ton of steps before they have their articles published.

What have been some of the most personally satisfying music performances you’ve either written about or simply experienced over the last year?

Seeing saxophonist Benny Golson perform a few months ago was one of the highlights of my life. I have been a fan of his ever since I first heard him on Art Blakey’s Moanin album, and it was such a gratifying experience to not only see him perform classic tunes, but being able to write a review about his performance was also very rewarding. Robert Glasper is another artist who put on an incredible show this year. I thought his Black Radio album was a great collaborative effort, and it was cool to hear the entire album in a live concert setting. Some of my friends had not heard of Robert Glasper, so I was glad that my review of his concert and album encouraged them to want to listen to his music. I am really looking forward to the Detroit Jazz Festival, which takes place in a few weeks. I cannot wait to see Sonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter perform, who are both living jazz legends. I made it a mission to see a jazz legend whenever they come to town because I never know when they might come back to my city. Reviewing the festival performance of Rollins and Shorter will definitely be another highlight of my writing career as well.

As pert of my coordinator responsibilities with Arts Midwest for the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Live grant program, one of the more pleasant and revealing aspects is conducting the occasional site visit to funded activities. On the weekend of August 4-5 Opera House Arts, located in Stonington, Maine, presented its 12th annual Deer Isle Jazz Festival. The Opera House is located on Deer Isle in the town of Stonington (pop. 1500+), which is located on the coastal tip of central Maine. You get to Deer Isle, on Penobscot Bay, by flying into Bangor, Maine and driving 60+ miles down winding, multiple turns State Route 15 (follow the yellow line). On arrival, parking on the main street right across from one of the fishing docks on the bay, the renovated dark green Opera House beamed like a welcoming beacon, replete with a NEA Jazz Masters banner on its side. Inside is an acoustically-inviting 250-seat venue, with rows of vintage wooden theater seating, and a lively and inviting retail area in back; it should be noted here that the Opera House enables its patrons to partake of refreshments at their seats.

You can read our earlier Independent Ear dialogue with saxophonist Roy Nathanson on his experience in residence and performing on the festival by visiting our Archives. The second day of the festival featured the NEA Jazz Master pianist-composer-bandleader Kenny Barron. That Sunday afternoon featured Kenny in a public interview conducted by Deer Isle Jazz Festival curator (and 2012 JJA Awards Jazz Journalist of the Year) Larry Blumenfeld, followed by a remarkable Kenny Barron Trio performance in the evening. In between Larry’s interview and Kenny’s performance I cornered Opera House Arts founding executive director Linda Nelson for some background on this wonderful place. Ms. Nelson, a sharp, lively, quick to laugh woman proved quite insightful. The Opera House story is deeply instructive on the unique public benefits of arts funding, as well as the benefits of presenting what some consider a purely urban, big city phenomenon – namely jazz music – in a decidedly rural, small town setting. Larry had been telling me about this unique place for years, and he proved to be on the money!

Opera House Arts founding executive director LINDA NELSON

Linda Nelson: I’m the founding executive director of Opera House Arts, which we created to restore [Stonington Opera House] in 1999.

How does this whole jazz festival fit into your artistic schedule?

LN: It’s actually become a cornerstone of our schedule, which is really based on the quality of what we do here. We started it not knowing how it would be received and how jazz would play up here but it really quickly became something that the demand was there for it every year, and by working with Larry, and in collaboration with Haystack, we were really able to build a program that people have really responded to.

I think what they’ve responded to the most is… The improvisational aspect [of jazz] is really important for us in terms of how we think about creativity and performance; our whole thing about performance is what we do in everyday life and what we’re hoping to do here by having really excellent performances and getting people to participate in that and view it is to continually increase people’s everyday performance and how they are as citizens in our community, and therefore strengthen our community.

So the improvisational piece is how you create, how you collaborate with people, and how you listen to people is what jazz is so cool about, in terms of how the musicians play off of each other and listen to each other. Those are strengths we feel are really important to… people being in meetings, school boards and things like that. So that piece, the improvisational aspect of [jazz] – the different band members playing their parts, is really important to us; so that’s philosophically where that fits for us.

So you see a line running through what you present onstage and how people interact in everyday life?

LN: Yes, and that was kind of our belief in the beginning when we wanted to do the theater, that kind of broad notion of performance, and how that’s you & I talking here, its how we vote, how we do our jobs… its more obvious to folks like lawyers and preachers, teachers – people who really seem performative, but for everyone there’s an aspect of performance in what they do. We find that working with kids, and also working with adults, the more that we can strengthen some of those skills – especially listening, but also the ability to innovate and to improvise, it just makes stronger citizens.

Some might view a community like this as being a bit conservative, perhaps because of the vacationer aspect – it takes money to vacation or have a vacation home in a place like this… Clearly the program that you’ve established during the 12 years of this festival has been far from conservative.

LN: I hope so [laughs]. I think that what we’ve done well – and I like to quote Michael Kaiser on this (we have a partnership on this with the Kennedy Center) ; he has really said, especially with the recession and all, you don’t get anywhere by being conservative, you have to take risks, you have to keep making new stuff, otherwise people aren’t going to want to come to see you. So we’ve really kind of made a reputation of taking risks here… with the jazz but also with other things.

We had a concert a couple of months ago that kinda fell flat on its face. It was a brand new idea we were doing, and it just didn’t work spectacularly, but its not like people appreciated that we were trying to do something new with the schedule. It really is about that kind of risk-taking, and the community for the most part seems to appreciate.

Our Shakespeare piece this year had a live snake onstage and we started off with Cleopatra in the nude, which was set in our new venue, which is an 1870 former Baptist church. So there were all kinds of risks we were dealing with in terms of the community, and they all played beautifully. We were in dialogue with people, and I think people here feel like we respect them and even when we take risks there’s nothing disrespectful about what we do in those risks.

What’s your sense of the Opera House being awarded this NEA Jazz Masters Live grant for this Kenny Barron engagement?

LN: I’m the grant writer, as well as the executive director, so Larry and I worked on it together and I was just so honored that we could get somebody of Kenny’s caliber to come up and play in a 250 seat venue – at what we call ‘the end of the world’, because as you know its not that easy to get here – and all of the artists we’ve brought up… we had Charles Lloyd last year, we brought Jason Moran, and we’ve had a lot of great artists; they’ve been so giving and generous in their spirit, and its not easy for them, they’re traveling all the time. So we try to make it as easy as possible with the hospitality and everything… But the honor of being one of 12 [grant recipients] in the nation – we’re so small, we’re in a rural community, we don’t have a big catch pool and we don’t have a big theater – 250 people are going to see Kenny tonight, which is fantastic, but I think the word about that, and the trickling out from that, affects more than the 250 people that are here tonight, and I think that’s what’s important.

There’s a huge sense of pride in this community right now for what the Opera House does; they see the NEA banners on the side of the building, they read about us in the national press, and they’re kind of amazed that this humble 100-year old building is able to present this caliber of talent. This is a community which takes pride in what it does and we consider that we have the best and the most lobsters in this community and there’s just a lot of pride in the community, and the opera house is part of that – even when its bringing in someone they’ve never heard of before.

Bringing the arts to rural communities – and really into the heart of rural communities – instead of just to urban areas where people are kind of self-selecting, there’s audience there that knows about these guys; we do a lot of work to market these guys. It doesn’t seem like we’d have to because Kenny’s a Jazz Master, but up here where people don’t know that much about jazz… We actually used the NEA Jazz Masters thing a lot; we’ve told our audience ‘this is who Kenny Barron is, you come for the quality even if you don’t know his music, and be introduced to a whole new world of really amazing jazz.’

Its clear from last night’s audience for Roy Nathanson Sotto Voce that there’s a certain trust factor amongst your audience, that people will come because they’ve come to expect quality, even if they are not as familiar with an artist. I doubt if all of those people had heard of Roy Nathanson before last night.

LN: Exactly, that’s a very good point; more people have heard of Kenny than Roy, even though we had a good house for Roy. And again, even with the jazz sometimes we’ve stumbled. In fact last year we had the wonderful young pianist Matthew Shipp, who’s a real risk-taker. Roy is great for us because he engages with the audience so much, he’s so much about engagement and Matthew is a little bit less like that; so we got a little bit of flack… But they come back; they don’t say ‘well, you did that last year and I’m never coming back.’ They were all back for Roy.

Over the last year or so one of the more impressive new voices in jazz writing has been the Brooklyn-based Angelika Beener. A past contributor to The Independent Ear as part of the series of dialogues with African American music writers, Ain’t But a Few of Us, Angelika has displayed a consistently thoughtful and informative way with words on music, displaying particularly pithy insights into musicians of her generation, folks who’ve come of age during the late 20th/early 21st century. She recently provided a sparkling partner to WBGO radio ace Josh Jackson as co-hosts of the 2012 JJA Awards program at the Blue Note. Angelika graciously consented to contribute Part 3 in our current series of dialogues with women jazz writers.

ANGELIKA BEENER

Angelika Beener is the creator of Alternate Takes, a blog geared toward discussing and exploring jazz within a myriad of cultural and social contexts. She is an award-winning producer and host. Having worked for Blue Note Records, Newark Public Radio- Jazz 88.3 FM, The Hit Factory, ASCAP and consulting for independent artists and non-profit organizations, she has won awards from The New York Association of Black Journalists and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The list of jazz artists with whom Ms. Beener has worked is long, distinguished and includes Andrew Hill, Randy Weston, Marcus Strickland, Aaron Parks, Dianne Reeves, Robert Glasper, Charles Tolliver, Kenny Burrell, Ron Carter, Steve Kuhn and more. Angelika is a member of the Jazz Journalists Association, and co-hosted the 2012 Jazz Journalists Association Awards. She is a staff writer for Nextbop.com and her work has also been featured in DownBeat and on NPR Music.

What has been your experience writing about music in general, jazz in particular and how did you get started down this road?

I started writing about jazz full-time about a year ago. However, prior to that, I had been in marketing and public relations in the music industry for about twelve years, and through these experiences I got to do a lot of writing about musicians, and I think that’s how I got “the bug”. I’ve always had a love and a knack for writing and a very deep love for jazz, so the inclination to put the two together was very organic.

My experience writing about jazz has been a really good one. I feel like my voice has been fully embraced, somewhat to my surprise, given the lens through which I write.

What was it about writing about jazz that attracted you to this pursuit initially?

In my career, I was always treated as an anomaly. I didn’t really fit the mold of what a jazz enthusiast “looked” like, and I really didn’t represent what someone working in the field professionally looked like. There was a lot of marginalizing and patronizing from certain White, male counterparts over the years. The music business is very ego driven, and I was a triple threat, so to speak, being young, Black and a woman. I endured a lot, and honestly, was frustrated by the limits put on my voice. So writing not only gave me an outlet, but it allowed me a platform to discuss pertinent issues within jazz that I felt were not being written about enough. I wanted my generation to be represented in journalism; I think that is extremely important. I also wanted my generation to be written about through the lens of someone within that generation, to give some balance and perspective to the journalistic spectrum.

Would you describe your experiences writing about music as overall positive, and if so why or why not?

Absolutely, and honestly, a bit to my surprise. My voice has really been welcomed in the community of journalism as it pertains to jazz. I think I had not really realized how much of a void my my writing would fill for a lot of people who were looking for this type of coverage. And even beyond my own generation, I’ve been embraced, evidenced by things like co-hosting this year’s JJA Awards. For people within the jazz community of a different generation to be interested in my work, and valuing what I bring to the table feels good and tends to make me optimistic about where things are headed in terms of inclusiveness and diversity.

Women occupy an interesting place in the jazz pantheon; on the one hand women instrumentalists are in the distinct minority, at least as far as prominence, and on the other hand women absolutely dominate the ranks of jazz singers. What’s your sense of that imbalance?

I think we’ve come a long way as a society, but have a very long way to go in terms of equality. Generally speaking, vocalists tend to be overlooked as serious musicians and are typically stereotyped as untrained. As a side note, I believe vocalists should train just as hard as instrumentalists to be the best possible artists. However, this will never eliminate the discrimination women will face in this male-dominated art form. And I think a lot of the discrimination happens in journalism; we’ve got to be especially aware of the marginalization that takes place in this industry and be vigilant about expanding the way women are perceived.

Would you describe yourself as a music critic or a music journalist and why?

I’d describe myself as a journalist. I’m not a critic… at least not of the music. My style of journalism is to give readers a window into who these musicians are as people. I’m about discussing what informs the music as much as I’m about discussing the music itself. My style is bridging the gap between culture and what I believe is the end result, which is the music. There has been a disconnect here, which has been detrimental to the Black audience and has misrepresented our contributions, and our genius. To be a critic is fairly easy, but to explore these other areas takes more thoughtfulness, a deeper understanding of the music and an ego which has been put aside; all things a critic should embody, anyway.

Its been suggested that one of the real keys to solving the critical jazz audience development issue is that those who present the music must find more creative ways to attract more women to their audiences; some wisdom suggesting that where more women go, men will surely follow. Is this an apt characterization of the jazz audience conundrum, and if so are there elements you might suggest to those who present jazz as to better attracting women audience members?

I think this is absolutely true. I’m not making any sweeping judgements, but I think the first problem is that often times musicians seem to be playing for other musicians — forget men or women. The music is not as accessible and inclusive as it once was. So we have a male dominated genre playing to a male dominated audience, which is not going to attract a strong female presence. Frankly, the music has gotten so heady, and lacks soul, and I think women are attracted to the depth (soul) of the music, and less interested in how many time signatures and key changes one song can have. In saying this, I am not marginalizing a woman’s capacity to grasp intricate musical concepts. Nor am I saying that intricacy and soul cannot co-exist, as there are too many artists and albums across decades of jazz music which would dispute such a theory. I am saying, however, that the jazz audience is waning in general because of a general self-inflicted (if unknowing) sense of exclusivity, which comes out in the music. I think once this is rectified from a creative standpoint, we can then address how to market to women, or any demographic.

Clearly writing about music, and particularly writing about jazz, could well be characterized as “a man’s world.” Do you feel like that’s due more to the nature of the music or to some form(s) of overt exclusion from the “boy’s club”?

This is a great question. I would have say it’s a combination of the two, stemming from overt exclusion. Having experienced this myself, I know what it is like to be in this position. I believe there is an intellectual element to the music that most men believe is over most women’s heads. The fact that I have perfect pitch, can sing solos, or can spell out chord changes continues to baffle most men. Liking the music and understanding the structure of the music are two different things, and it is in the understanding that the male ego is threatened because women are still not treated as equals mentally. We are still economically discriminated against, paid less for doing the same jobs, and society as a whole has yet to value our minds as much as our behinds. Ridiculously, I think we’re not expected to understand.

How do your women friends and colleagues view you as a jazz writer?

They are hugely supportive. Even my female friends who are not jazz enthusiasts or aficionados are devoted followers of the work. They find the stories interesting regardless of familiarity with the artists. I also have to say that I have a very strong readership of Black women.

Have you ever found it more difficult to pursue writing about music due to gender issues? If so please detail some of your writing challenges that may have been fairly or unfairly colored by gender.

I have not. I think when you know what you’re doing and boldly (not egotistically, but boldly) make your presence known, you’re on the right path. It’s an issue of confidence. A horrible critic can convince readers of his theories if he’s confident enough. Confidence matched with actual skillful and thoughtful journalism can’t be denied, either. Confidence is a big component. I’ve just always known that I have thoughts and theories that are just as interesting and warranted as any man’s. I refuse to be colored by gender. The discrimination exists, but it hasn’t deterred or derailed me. If anything, it has strengthened my platform.

What can be done to encourage more women to write about music in particular, jazz in general?

Largely, I think it has to come from us, as women. We have to be each other’s biggest supporters. I remember a well known critic posing a question about the lack of women writing critically about jazz. It was another writer — a Black woman — who made it a point to note me as one of them. We have to be our own and each other’s strongest advocates. We have to nurture each other’s talent and pull each other up along the way. I think has always been the most effective way to progress.

What have been some of the most personally satisfying music performances you’ve either written about or simply experienced over the last year?

I tend to write more about the music of my generation. I think this is an exciting time for jazz, and we can credit the younger generation for a lot of it. I think musicians are striving to grow away from the pack and find their own voices, regardless of criticism and that’s the way it was when this music was being invented. Artists were fearless back then. I see that same fearlessness in many of today’s artists. There are some true trailblazers in my peer group, and they are courageously being themselves despite judgements or pressures to fit a familiar mold. It’s inspiring to witness and really exciting to write about.