Down Beat

While it's unlikely to lead to a major book deal, it's never bad to see a piece of yours in print. My short write-up of the El Bolsón Jazz Festival, the subject of the earlier blog entry 'The 100-word assignment' has made it into the February issue of Down Beat. What's more, the story was published on page 19. For those readers who grasp the significance of that fact, let's just say that it opens up the possibility that the Chicagoland-based jazz magazine may have an uncredited Rockville, VA-based paginator.

I don't expect the piece will ever be available on Down Beat's website (they publish excerpts of the main stories and leave the rest to paying customers), but if you're dying to see my name in a glossy, you can certainly hike down to your local bookstore and browse the magazine section. If you just want to read the content and see the accompanying picture—yes, I'm now a published photographer as well—I've posted it below:


FESTIVAL IN ARGENTINE ANDES PUTS JAZZ ON HIGH PLATEAU

Staged in a picturesque valley in the midst of Argentina’s Patagonian Andes, the seventh annual El Bolsón Jazz Festival brought some of the country's best players to this bohemian mountain town from Nov. 30—Dec. 2, 2007.

The festival, directed by local guitarist Alejandro Aranda and drummer Juan Merlo, was heavy on community spirit. Students packed the late morning clinics with some of the festival’s best known stars; fans, festival organizers, and musicians ate together at daily barbecues.

Veteran trumpeter Roberto “Fats” Fernandez, the festival’s honoree, held court for the first two nights. But younger artists like the jazz-funk pranksters of Levas Cruzadas, the guitar virtuoso Ale Demogli and the charismatic Afro-Peruvian collective Los Negros de Miércoles provided the fiery improvisations that sparked the festival to life. Every night, open-to-the-public jam sessions roared until dawn, joyfully blending straight-ahead rhythm sections, African percussion and brash young horns.

—Eric Benson