Artist Blog
Writings by new and established artists
Featured This Month
Tatiana LadyMay Mayfield talks reflects on her experiences going back to school as a working musician including the implications around…
Anthony Branker discusses some approaches to composition when you're looking for inspiration including how Copland's approach, physicality, theory, and the…
Rufus Reid reflects on preparation in his latest endeavor with the WDR Big Band and his advice for other writers…
Managed and curated by trombonist and composer JC Sanford, the ISJAC Artist Blog is a collection of writings by some of the most visionary minds in the jazz composition and arranging community. Featuring articles by composers from all walks of the industry, the ISJAC Artist Blog is updated monthly with both new and archived pieces.
Our two most recent articles are always available on the ISJAC site, with the full archive accessible for our member community.
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The Archive
Brian Shaw: “I’LL LEAVE THAT TO YOU, MR. DETECTIVE” – SOME THOUGHTS ON KENNY WHEELER’S COMPOSITIONAL PROCESS (April 2025)
John Korsrud: Introduction to Hocketing and Kenny Wheeler's Last Work (December 2022)
John La Barbera: Basic Tools For Better Arranging (February 2019)
Dave Rivello: My Time with a Master (Jan 2020)
Danny Jonokuchi: Collaboration and Mycelium
JC Sanford: Electronic Effects as Orchestration (by a novice)
Andy Milne: The Culture of Building Community Through Composition
Jim McNeely: Pausing at 70
Yuhan Su: Reveal the Second Moon
John Yao: Points in Time
Elio Villafranca: Tres Aguas – A Retrospective
Zhengtao Pan: Scenery In My Story
Brian Shaw: “I’LL LEAVE THAT TO YOU, MR. DETECTIVE” – SOME THOUGHTS ON KENNY WHEELER’S COMPOSITIONAL PROCESS
Rachel Eckroth: Speaking in Tongues
Jon Irabagon: A Server Farm's Worth of Compositional Devices
Omar Thomas: SIXTEEN YEARS IN THE MAKING: The Realization of “Griot Songs”
John Hollenbeck: Composing a Better World
Greg Ward: Growth Through Collaboration
Tracy Yang: What It Takes to Lead a Big Band and Record an Album
Bruno Råberg: Composing for a Ten-Piece Band - tone sets, counterpoint, motivic development, form and more
Sarah Jerrom: Writing For 4 Voices - The Magpie Suite
Ryan Truesdell: Creative growth through self-imposed challenges
Neal Kirkwood: Composing With The Mind’s Eye – Translating Image Into Sound
Vanessa Perica: My First Dive into the Symphonic World
An Interview with Vijay Iyer
Patrick Cornelius: Writing My Way Out of a Small-Group Rut by Thinking Big
Ed Palermo: Trial and Error. Arranging Music The Hard Way
Michael Cain: Will music composition exist in the era of the content creator?
Lauren Elizabeth Baba: Fundamental Freedoms – To Be Free to Create Without Fear
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