RIPMJAZZ
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Jazz Information

A total of 51 typescript-produced issues of Jazz Information were published from 8 September 1939. While nominally a weekly at the start, one to two issues per month generally appeared until March of 1941 with a final issue appearing in November 1941. A non-commercial venture, as the editors in the first issue described the nascent journal, Jazz Information provided news from the jazz world, record reviews, musician portraits, and information for record collectors. While some regional focus on the New York and Chicago performance scene is notable throughout, much of the artistic focus emanated from New Orleans.

Jazz Information was the product of two notable jazz writers: Ralph J. Gleason (1917-1975) and Eugene Williams (1918-1948), along with the journalist and later conservative activist Ralph de Toledano (1916-2007) and Jean Rayburn (1918-2009). Gleason, Williams, and de Toledano were all recent graduates of Columbia University; Rayburn would marry Gleason in 1940. According to the editors’ history of Jazz Information, published in the final issue, the journal was born in the back room of the Commodore Music Shop on 52nd Street, where the editors composed, mimeographed, and mailed out the debut issue in one evening.

The focus of Jazz Information is generally hot jazz, especially those performers and recordings emanating from the New Orleans tradition. The editors sought to provide a factual, non-sensationalist approach to jazz journalism, “to publish what American hot fans wanted, a hot jazz magazine, and to give it a dignified and rigorously non-commercial approach.” [Jazz Information 2, no. 16 (November 1941): 94]. Many other writers began to regularly contribute, including Orin D. Blackstone and Walter E. Schaap; Donel O’Brien and John Steiner wrote from Chicago and George Frazier from Boston. While hot jazz remained a focus, the editors also included news from the swing and big band scenes, providing information on band personnel changes, recording sessions, and diverse record reviews.

The second volume, which began with the 26 July 1940 issue, brought a significant expansion, printing between 24 and 36 pages per issue and significantly expanding the range of content. Features on New Orleans clarinetists, early recorded jazz musicians, and then-lesser known individuals figure throughout. The final issue, at 104 numbered pages, provides a trove of record reviews and articles. As noted by the editors’ history, Jazz Information was forced to cease by other competing demands for the editors' time.

“Jazz Information, started by Ralph Gleason, Ralph de Toledano, and Gene Williams, began as a purveyor of discographical and collector’s information, leavened by vitriolic responses to Metronome’s or Down Beat’s latest outrages. A year later, with the help of Milt Gabler, the publication graduated to a more dignified typeset format.”

John Gennari, Blowin’ Hot and Cool: Jazz and Its Critics (2010)

Record Collecting