ABOUT “JAZZ LIVES”

MICHAEL STEINMAN (swingyoucats@gmail.com) first heard Louis Armstrong on records in the 1950s, a transcendent experience. (He also saw Louis and the All-Stars in 1967.)  He has been published in many jazz periodicals, although he now prefers to write without even the most gracious editorial interference.

Michael is called upon frequently to write liner notes, which have been an integral part of many compact discs on labels including Mosaic, Arbors, Nagel-Heyer, Stomp Off, NifNuf, Jazzology, Audiophile, LaLa, Azica, Little Simmy, Amber Lake, GelberMusic, Gut String Records, and several others.  He was Professor of English at Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York, from 1982 to the end of 2018.  Now, he says, he can devote himself even more fully to JAZZ LIVES.

His ancestral heroes include Bobby Hackett, Vic Dickenson, Ruby Braff, Eddie Condon, Frank Chace, Jo Jones, Pee Wee Russell, Ben Webster, Frankie Newton, Hot Lips Page, Lester Young, Dave Tough, and Big Sid Catlett.  Alas, Jim Dapogny, Larry McKenna, Joe Wilder, and Connie Jones have become Ancestors.

But he admires many living musicians (jamming for the tip jar and for dinner) just as much: Jen Hodge, T.J. Muller, Valerie Kirchhoff, Ethan Leinwand, Meryl Zimmerman, Jon-Erik Kellso, Chris Byars, Daniel Duke, Jon De Lucia, Mark Shane, Kevin Dorn, Bent Persson, Rebecca Kilgore, Marty Grosz, Dan Barrett, John Gill, Dawn Lambeth, Marc Caparone, Andy Schumm, Matt Wilson, Kirk Knuffke, Ted Brown, Bob Arthurs, Gordon Au, Melissa Collard, Ray Skjelbred, Greg Ruggiero, Danny Tobias, Joe Plowman, Barbara Rosene, Ehud Asherie, Rossano Sportiello, Janice Day, Martin Litton, Dan Levinson, Jeff Hamilton, Bryan Shaw, Dan Block, Harry Allen, Scott Robinson, Michael Kanan, Roberta Piket, Billy Mintz, Brad Linde, Jeff Barnhart, Andrew Swann, Larry Scala, Petra van Nuis, Andy Brown, Larry McKenna, Neal Miner, Hilary Gardner, Nancy Harrow, Doron Tirosh, Mike Karoub, Kris Tokarski, the Chicago Cellar Boys . . . a long list.

He is immensely proud of this blog and the community of readers it has attracted from Long Island to Istanbul, and of its nomination as one of the Best Jazz Blogs of 2009 and 2018 by the Jazz Journalists Association.  Michael thinks of himself as a jazz archivist, an identity first nurtured when he first smuggled a cassette recorder into a jazz club almost fifty-five years ago.  His videos — more than eight thousand — seen here and on YouTube — have made both musicians and jazz fans happy for eight years.  He has taken his camera into clubs, parties, festivals, and concerts from Newcastle (UK) and Westoverledingen (Ger) to North Beach, California — with many visits to New York, Colorado, Atlanta, Nashville, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Birdland, The Ear Inn, Mezzrow, Smalls, Casa Mezcal, and other happy places in between.

He only refers to himself in the third person in situations such as this blogpost. Meet him at a festival, club, or concert, he reverts to common practice — much less unsettling.  He favors bright clothing, often adorned with a Louis Armstrong pinback button, but sometimes goes undercover with more sedate garb.

2024 update: Michael moves more slowly and goes to fewer festivals, but is thrilled to be where the music is playing.  And he says, “I realized some years ago that I wanted to write the way my hero-musicians play: reverent, melodic, but willing to take risks to tell the stories.  It seems to be the only way worth attempting.”

And he is married to the best person on the planet.