Artist Blog
Writings by new and established artists
Featured This Month
Deanna Witkowski: Walking a Labyrinth with Mary Lou Williams
Deanna Witkowski discusses Mary Lou Williams as a major inspiration through her work liturgically, in the community, and as a musician.
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Ben Kono: Voyages – Staying On Point With A Message
Ben Kono discusses how activism can be used as a unifying compositional theme through his works "Don't Blink" and "Voyages."
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Jihye Lee: Originality comes from who you are
Jihye Lee reflects on her career path from pop to jazz and how creativity is a reflection of life.
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Paul Read: Spotlight on Phil Nimmons
Paul Read shines a spotlight on Canada's pioneering Composer, Arranger, Clarinet Player, Band Leader, and Educator Phil Nimmons in this multi-media post (including a 40+ min interview, audio…
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Fred Hersch: A Composition Exercise to Try Today
Fred Hersch shares an exercise involving a hat, a kitchen timer, and a pencil that you should try today.
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Rick Lawn: Remembering Manny Albam
Rick Lawn remembers his mentor, composer and educator Manny Albam.
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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.
Not a member yet? Join today!
The Archive
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Danny Jonokuchi: Collaboration and Mycelium
Danny Jonokuchi reflects on the process of artistic expansion and how it led to the collaboration for his work Mycelium.
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JC Sanford: Electronic Effects as Orchestration (by a novice)
Editor’s note: At various times throughout my tenure as ISJAC blog curator, and scheduled blogging artist fell through late in the game for any…
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Yuhan Su: Reveal the Second Moon
Yuhan Su discusses works from her upcoming album using electronics, the theme of duality in orchestration, and bringing cultural dualities into musical form.
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John Yao: Points in Time
John Yao talks about the emotional side of arranging your own music, balancing between character and change, and his latest project.
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Elio Villafranca: Tres Aguas – A Retrospective
Working through a brief history of Cuban big band writing, Elio Villafranca discusses the influence of traditional cuban rhythms and more on his writing.
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Zhengtao Pan: Scenery In My Story
Zhengtao Pan: Scenery In My Story Counterpoint writing in modern large jazz ensemble music I recently released my debut jazz orchestra album, “Scenery…
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Brian Shaw: “I’LL LEAVE THAT TO YOU, MR. DETECTIVE” – SOME THOUGHTS ON KENNY WHEELER’S COMPOSITIONAL PROCESS
Brian Shaw discusses Kenny Wheeler’s compositional techniques and history and how that might have inspired writing techniques and his sound.
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Rachel Eckroth: Speaking in Tongues
Last month, a two year collaboration finally came to fruition. My long time friend and colleague, John Hadfield, a phenomenal drummer and percussionist reached…
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Jon Irabagon: A Server Farm’s Worth of Compositional Devices
Jon Irabagon discusses his upcoming album based around AI and talks through his piece Routers and with focus on form and flow.