RIPMJAZZ
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Sounds & Fury

Six issues – three in each of 1965 and 1966 – of Sounds and Fury were published in Utica, New York by Taylor Castell and edited by Charles Fero (nos. 1-2), Castell (no. 3), and Ralph Berton (nos. 4-6). While neither editor nor publisher offers a stated editorial purpose for the creation of a new magazine, the contents of the first issue declare their intentions. In it, Charles Fero provides an editorial on the diminishment of jazz’s audience and calls for greater appeals through education. Robert Levin observes the jazz scene through the prism of growing violence in America and jazz’s role in resolving racial issues. George Endry provides an extended portrait of Gil Evans, beginning with the observation that “Sounds and Fury – this is what the World is filled with today.” The saxophonist Preston Love then offers a rich personal perspective on the entertainment industry and creative artists from the perspective of a traveling Black musician in the mid-1960s. Marge Johnson writes on the pianist Pete Johnson and Jean French solicited opinions from musicians on what they would like to see in a new jazz magazine. Portraits of Bill Dixon, Sal Nistico, Tadd Dameron, Cecil Taylor, Sy Oliver, barrelhouse boogie-woogie and the blues then appear, with Jamey Abersold on jazz education and record reviews. In short, the editorial scope was large, viewing the jazz world through a political and social lens.

Issue two focused on the Newport Jazz Festival. The third issue provided a number of artist portraits, including Jackie McLean and Claude Thornhill, along with Castell on Slug’s Saloon in New York. With Ralph Berton’s appointment as editor in the fourth issue, the editorial lens was widened, with cover stories in the next three issues on Max Roach, the pianist Martha Argerich, and dance. As noted by Berton, this editorial shift reflected a broader trend, in journalism, performance, and audience taste. Articles on classical musicians, rock-pop-folk (for instance, a three-view symposium on Bob Dylan in issue five), even Marshall and Jean Stearns on rock ‘n’ roll. Berton introduced a practice of commenting on author’s contributions, which led to the departure of Henry Woodfin and the broader editorial scope angered jazz-centric readers. In the end, for all their efforts to create a forum for longer-form, intelligent criticism and writing, Sounds and Fury could not last beyond the sixth issue.