Eurojazzist Randomizer #4: I wrote a brilliant jazz review. Now what?
When you are your own editor, the tricky part is that the work doesn’t end the moment you finish writing a piece. This isn’t the first time I’ve faced that reality. Back in 2009, I founded and later edited the Serbian jazz website Jazzin.rs. I was particularly active until 2014, after which I stepped back from editorial duties for a while. At the time, things were much simpler: the Facebook algorithm was favorable to new pages and to sharing links to written articles. People bookmarked their favorite websites. Jazzin.rs was the first jazz site in Serbian. In short, it was enough to polish my own or someone else’s text, format it properly in WordPress, share it on Facebook, and everything would continue to unfold more or less organically.
Today, the situation is far more complex — which is neither news nor some grand revelation. But for me, it is a new experience. Although I’ve spent years in the media as a journalist or part-time contributor, this is the first time in a long while that I’m launching a completely new publication. The moment I finish writing a piece for Eurojazzist, the real work begins: preparing the visuals, publishing the text, and then moving on to sharing, posting, tagging, hashtagging, sending messages and emails — all in the hope that it reaches as many people interested in “my” topics as possible.
The Substack algorithm is slowly starting to recognize the page, and new subscribers are appearing whom I don’t know personally and who discovered it through the platform itself — which makes me especially happy. But that’s only part of the potential audience; many gather elsewhere, and they need to be found and addressed.
Her Majesty, the Review
While it is always compelling to explore broader musical phenomena and scenes, or to report from concerts and festivals, the fundamental genre of music journalism remains the album review.
But perhaps this format is under pressure today. Just as many articles and columns question how relevant the album itself is in a world of streaming, singles, and algorithmic playlists, we might also ask who this textual form truly serves. Is it outdated? How many readers are willing to devote themselves to a single release — not only through listening, but also through reflecting on its content?
Information can be found everywhere online; we don’t need a critic for that. Few people will open a review simply to learn about an album’s content, which is available elswhere in two clicks. And if someone is looking for a recommendation from an “authority,” wouldn’t it be easier — and perhaps more agreeable — to just create a playlist or quickly run through five or six albums at once, instead of “burdening” readers with musical or contextual analysis?
Perhaps one could argue that reviews today matter more to the industry segment of the jazz scene than to fans who simply love and listen to music. Even if that is at least partially true, I don’t see it as a bad thing, nor does it mean that the jazz review is irrelevant to the wider jazz community. It simply follows a different life path.
We can reasonably assume that musicians and labels are among the first to read an album review. The author or the outlet will tag them on social media or contact them directly, hoping they will help circulate the text further. They often do — especially in jazz, where most musicians are far from mega-stars. Since we are not dealing with the pop market and million-unit sales or streams, every bit of visibility counts.
At this point, we’ve completed the first stage in the life cycle of a review. It has been read by followers of the author or the media outlet, then by those who follow the musicians or the label through their social media and communication channels. Not everyone, of course — but the steps along the way are clear.
In the next stage, reviews or excerpts become part of the press sections on musicians’ websites, or part of their pitch emails for concerts and festivals. Not every review ever written will make it there, but this is certainly a distribution channel toward highly interested readers. These emails reach hundreds of promoters, programmers, festival curators, PR managers, journalists across Europe and beyond. It’s important to note that in many cases these are not just random employees who happened to land a job as a jazz programmer; they are genuinely dedicated people who love jazz.
By the nature of their work, they must deal with hundreds of applications, and it’s very likely that they will skim through some without much interest. Still, this is a serious and important audience for jazz reviews — particularly in this format, which focuses on a specific artist and a specific, current release that will likely be presented live. These readers approach the review with a professional goal and context in mind, but that does not make their reading any less meaningful. I believe many of them are genuine jazz readers.
Once a jazz musician or band enters the program of festivals or clubs, the review completes the circle and returns to jazz fans through press releases, media announcements, social media posts, and similar channels. I’ll offer a specific example from a piece I wrote in early 2011. It was about the album Alive by Phronesis, released by Edition Records. At the time, the band wasn’t widely known in Serbia, and the label was still relatively young. I liked the album and wrote a review which, by the standards of Jazzin.rs at the time, was read by very few people. It was one of the least-read pieces of the entire year.
Several months later, the Belgrade Jazz Festival revealed its program. Among the selected bands was Phronesis. We published a news item about the lineup and included a hyperlink to my earlier review. And just like that, the readership of the piece literally tripled within a few days, continuing to grow steadily until the festival itself. A textbook example of how a review gains new life thanks to a festival appearance. The audience that regularly follows a specialized jazz website and the audience that attends major jazz festivals are not the same — but both are valuable, and at certain moments, both become readers of jazz writing.
ECM community
For years, I’ve been a member of several Facebook groups dedicated to jazz, and I recently joined a few more. When I wrote a review of the new album by Björn Meyer, I thought it might be worth sharing it in a large Facebook group where ECM fans gather. I posted the album cover, asked members what they thought, and placed a link to my Eurojazzist article in the first comment.
I’m generally skeptical about Facebook groups centered around jazz, as interaction is often minimal and random YouTube links dominate. This time, however, the situation was entirely different. The review of Convergence became my most-read Eurojazzist piece within a few hours (among only about a dozen total, but still), and analytics clearly showed that a large number of readers came from Facebook. Some even subscribed to the newsletter afterward. What was even more interesting was that it wasn’t just about likes and clicks; there was genuine interaction. People commented on the album itself, Meyer’s body of work, his bass playing, comparisons with other musicians, and so on. I can’t remember the last time I encountered such a vibrant online community engaged with jazz and related music.
When I worked as a distributor for foreign music labels in Serbia, ECM fans were often the ones who enjoyed longer conversations (we had a specialized retail shop alongside our wholesale network). Eight years after leaving that position, I still meet former regular ECM buyers at concerts and we have thoughtful, fundamental conversations about music and art. It’s risky to draw sweeping conclusions, but my experience with the ECM fan base has always been excellent — and it remains so today.
New listens
It’s only fitting to begin with Julia Hülsmann, the German pianist who has been releasing very good albums for ECM Records for years. When I first played her new album While I Was Away and heard a female vocal in Portuguese, it caught me by surprise, so I set the album aside for a moment. Later, I returned to it more attentively — in fact, three vocals alternate (in English and Portuguese), within a highly eclectic and enjoyable setup featuring a prominent string section. Highly recommended.
The first email I received at my new “official” address (nikola@eurojazzist.com) came from double bassist Esat Ekincioglu. He wanted to introduce me to his AVA Trio, an intriguing genre blend — a kind of Mediterranean avant-garde jazz ensemble. But he didn’t need to try too hard, since I had already grown fond of AVA Trio when I saw them at jazzahead! in Bremen a few years ago. It was an excellent concert built around a striking concept, further developed on their current release LUNÆ. I’ll quote a sentence from their press kit that particularly caught my attention: “an imaginary field recording from 283AD in Central Puglia; documenting the moon-ritual of a forgotten cult formed of olive oil factory workers, who worked in caves under the trullo of Cagnazzi Estate, Altamura — in which this one-of-a-kind album was recorded live.” The music indeed lives up to the strength of the concept.
A new protagonist of the Serbian music scene is musician Ilia Belorukov from Saint Petersburg. He arrived in Serbia during the large wave of Russian migration following broader mobilization for the war in Ukraine. Today, more than 100,000 new Russians live in Serbia, many of them creatives, including avant-garde musicians. Alongside his primary work in electroacoustic improvisation and experimental music, he has now recorded the album Mincminc for Inverted Spectrum Records / PMG Jazz with the trio Tachube, where he focuses more on alto saxophone and fluteophone in a somewhat more recognizable free-jazz idiom, alongside local musicians (Marko Čurčić – bass; Nemanja Tasić – drums).
Jazz Across Europe
As I write this, March 1 is approaching — a date when several European festivals traditionally announce their programs. At the same time, I’m contemplating attending this year’s jazzahead! trade fair and festival with a dual motivation: participating in the industry program, which offers opportunities to meet key figures of the European jazz scene at various levels, and attending concerts by a large number of “new” musicians whose work I have not yet explored in depth. If no unforeseen complications arise, I’ll be there after a few years’ break. jazzahead! takes place this year from April 22–25, and the full program is available on the festival’s official website.
A very interesting article. I am delighted to read that you had a good experience in the ecm records group on Facebook. I run the group. Cheers