Stop Smiling Goes Jazz

Stop Smiling, a Chicago based magazine for high minded lowlifes (their tagline, not mine), has just released a Jazz issue, and it's well worth your attention for a number of reasons.

First, and perhaps foremost, is the great writing contained within: there are interviews with Ornette Coleman, Bobby Hutcherson, Avreeayl Ra, Robert Barry, Jeff Parker, Ron Carter, and Olu Dara amongst others. There is music writing by musicians: Josh Abrams interviews Avreeayl Ra and Robert Barry, Damon Locks interviews Jeff Parker, Patricia Barber writes about Nina Simone, and Peter Brotzmann writes about Eric Dolphy in an extended tribute to the man and his music.

Second, there are three beautiful black and white covers to choose from (or collect all three, if you're into that kind of thing): Ornette Coleman, Bobby Hutcherson, and Eric Dolphy. Click here to check them out.

Third, this is not a strictly music magazine, but they have the presence of consciousness to devote an issue to the art form of jazz (the covers feature the tagline: Start Appreciating America's Greatest Art Form), a principled act of advocacy on their part. They always cover music, but this is a whole issue; their support of jazz was clear to me last year when I attended a show they put on with Fred Anderson and Hamid Drake, reviewed here.

I love a good magazine. Don't you?

If I've managed to pique your curiosity, you can purchase the magazines online here, or find them in your local spots here. If you buy it online, you also have an option to purchase a Limited Edition 7" Peter Brotzmann single, if you're into that kind of thing.

Pick up a copy, peruse, and support publications that help support and promote the arts.