JJA Board Member Andrew Gilbert hosts a discussion with Steve Smith (Substack “Night After Night,” former Time Out New York music editor) and Chrys Roney (editor in chief and publisher of Hot House Jazz Magazine) about the past, present, and future of jazz listings.

Inspired by Gabriel Kahane’s Atlantic essay “A Love Letter to Music Listings,” they recall how outlets like the Village Voice, the New York Times, The New Yorker, and Time Out New York once provided expansive calendars that helped audiences discover scenes, neighborhoods, and emerging artists. They describe the decline of print and mainstream media listings, the labor-intensive nature of curating accurate calendars, and how even insiders still miss shows.

The conversation contrasts journalistic authority and “crit picks” with transaction-driven event discovery platforms, discusses the need for trusted curators to sift through thousands of gigs, and explores evolving models such as nonprofit-supported listings, presenter-fed CMS tools, Instagram-based calendars, micro-subscriptions, and Hot House’s efforts to preserve its 45-year archive and develop a beta “JazzGPT” product.

Explore:

• A Love Letter to Music Listings (paywalled)
• Andrew Gilbert
• Hot House Jazz
• Steve Smith's Night After Night

A special 'thank you' to Terri Hinte for her help in making this episode happen.

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For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.

Lawrence Peryer, managing editor of The Buzz, hosts a discussion about what it takes to build a sustainable career covering jazz in 2026.

Chicago Tribune critic Hannah Edgar and Earshot Jazz editor Rayna Mathis discuss the realities of working in this field, from the fellowship programs that make full-time journalism possible to the complicated ethics of critiquing people you see at shows three nights a week. They talk about punching up versus supporting vulnerable venues, whether social media is worth the mental health cost, and why a career that keeps you up until 2 AM can still feel like a blessing.

This is not a straightforward "how-to" episode. The conversation moves beyond career advice into the actual practice and philosophy of making it work.

Learn more about:

• Hannah Edgar
• Rayna Mathis
• Lawrence Peryer

Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.

For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.

Howard Mandel is an author, educator, journalist, and, since 1993, president of the Jazz Journalists Association. Howard's career crosses more than five decades of music journalism, from his early days writing for the Chicago Daily News to his current work as a contributor to publications worldwide.

As Howard prepares to step down from his role as JJA president at year's end, we found time to explore the story of the birth and evolution of the JJA and to talk through just some of the topics of interest to our community today.

Whether you're a longtime reader of jazz criticism or new to the conversations that shape how we understand this music, Howard's insights offer a window into our organization and the often invisible work of documenting and contextualizing America's most important cultural export.

Don’t miss new episodes of The Buzz. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.

For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.