Russia's First Book On American Jazz

Well, the sensational headline is a bit too sensational: technically, most of the books about jazz published in Russia so far are the books on American jazz -- but they are either compilations, or translations. What I wrote is the first-ever original book about jazz, written in Russsian language -- a book that tells stories about how the American jazz community is functioning: how the musicians get their education, how they play in clubs and at the festivals, how they make recordings, how other people then cover their music in the press and play it on the radio, conduct research on them etc.

As I already wrote here, the book, titled The Jazz Industry in America, is published by Planeta Muzyki, the St. Petersburg-based branch of Russia’s Lan publishing house. The book is based on a collection of more than 40 in-person and several more phone and email interviews with American jazz educators, club owners, festival organizers, scholars, radio presenters, record label executives, producers, sound engineers and others who create and support jazz.

On July 30, I presented the book at the American Cultural Center in Moscow; it was nice to see some fifty people in the room, to answer their intelligent and in-depth questions, and to hear several kind words from my colleagues.
On the picture: Dmitry Ukhov, the chairman of the Moscow branch of Jazz Journalist Association (right,) shares his thoughts about the book with the author (left) and the audience.

BTW if you read Russian and want to purchase the book, do not hesitate to contact me. If you prefer to leave a comment here, please also leave your contact information (preferably e-mail, or your site/blog where I can find some means of communication with you.)