RIPMJAZZ
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Jazz & Pop

Previously titled as simply Jazz, the renamed journal Jazz & Pop reflected the critical and audience turn from jazz to pop music, including rock ‘n’ roll, folk, blues, rhythm and blues (R&B), and soul. Editor Pauline Rivelli described the choice of the word “pop” as being reflective of how many musicians described their music; she dismissed the term “rock ‘n’ roll” as a mere “cliche.” Regardless, this turn coincided with a broadened editorial policy at other major jazz magazines, such as Down Beat and Melody Maker and the rise of serious rock ‘n’ roll journals such as Crawdaddy!. Indeed, the second issue of Jazz & Pop reflects these changing winds: remembrances for John Coltrane, who died in July 1967, published alongside articles on Bob Dylan and Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Most major musicians and groups of the period were discussed in the pages of Jazz & Pop. 

Editors

Unusual in music journalism, especially in the jazz and rock ‘n’ roll scene, Jazz & Pop was directed and edited by women throughout its run. Pauline Rivelli, who became editor of Jazz in 1964, served as editor of Jazz & Pop until April 1969, when she assumed the role of publisher and Patricia Kennely became editor. Kennely, active as a writer and assistant editor for the magazine since 1968, interviewed Jim Morrison of The Doors for an article published in the March 1969 issue. Kennely would later marry Morrison in a Celtic wedding and left Jazz & Pop in 1971. She was succeeded by Janice Coughlan, formerly a member of Teachers for East Africa. After the cessation of Jazz & Pop, Rivelli and Coughlan would become editors of the magazines Planet and Words and Music.

Contributors and Columns

Jazz & Pop drew upon a group of regular writers. Ralph Gleason, founding editor of Rolling Stone in November 1967, contributed a wide-ranging monthly column titled “Like a Rolling Stone,” much on the new youth generation and something of a manifesto for Gleason’s new journal. Gleason often juxtaposed figures such as John Lennon and Benny Goodman; Jefferson Airplane and Albert Ayler; or Miles Davis, Norman Mailer, and Johnny Cash; all reflecting the diversity of musical genres in the late 1960s. Nat Hentoff contributed the “Soundings” column, much on jazz, race, and related topics. The historian Frank Kofsky wrote “The Scene” column on rock ‘n’ roll and pop music with a questioning, Marxist edge. Patricia Kennely contributed “Pop Talk” on a range of popular music genres and artists. Interviews of a wide range of musicians – John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Iggy Pop, Jean Luc Ponty, James Taylor, B. B. King, Bill Evans, Steppenwolf, just to name a few – appear throughout, often multiple interviews per issue. Dave Brubeck contributed a regular “Education in Jazz” column.

Other contributors included Helen Dance, George Hoefer, Mort Maizlish, Bill Libby, John E. Szwed, Charles Suber, Don Heckman, Michael Cuscuna, Frank Zappa’s brother C. R. Zappa, Joachim E. Berendt, John Sinclair, and Charles Edward Smith. Karlheinz Stockhausen wrote on electronic music and the young generation. Record reviews were handled by a rotating group of reviewers who also contributed to the annual polls, in which the choices tended to cause controversy. The wide range of published letters to the editor – the rock critic Robert Christgau and producer Bob Thiele were regular contributors – demonstrated the wide readership of the magazine.


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