Jim Brown's Jazz Page

I've been listening to jazz since my days in grade school, and it remains one of the greatest joys in my life. I'm a retired sound consultant with a degree in electrical engineering. I'm not a musician -- my musical training consiists of a lifetime of listening, a semester in my last year in college studying beginning theory of composition, a decade or providing live sound for many of the best jazz musicians in the world and recording them for broadcast, and a lot of reading about jazz and jazz musicians. I recently taught a brief class called Listening to Jazz For Pleasure to members of the Osher Life Long Learning Institute at UC Santa Cruz. In support of those who attended that class, I've prepared several sets of information to help both new and old jazz listeners take advantage of contemporary resources for listening to, and reading about, mainstream jazz. Click on the links below to view (or download) these resources as pdf documents.

Jazz On The Radio How to find jazz on the radio in Santa Cruz, and around the Bay Area, and how to find and enjoy internet radio stations that play mainstream jazz.

Enjoying Live Jazz How to find and enjoy live jazz in Santa Cruz, and around the Bay Area.

Getting Into Jazz is written for new listeners, and for those who may have listened only casually in the past.

Mainstream Jazz on Video is a listing of the worthwhile jazz DVDs I've found, as well as suggestions for how and where to buy them.

Jazz Artists and Selected Listening provides suggestions for CDs by some of my favorite jazz artists. I hope to expand this listing as I have time.

Reading About Jazz is a listing of authors and books about jazz and jazz artists that I've enjoyed.

Sound And Acoustics For Jazz Musicians is the Power Point for a tutorial lecture I presented at the Stanford Jazz Workshop for several years. The intended audience is working musicians, both new and old, with the objective of improving the performing experience for musicians and the listening experience for the audience. Thoughtful jazz listeners, especially those who are scientifically inclined, might also find some of it interesting.

Sound Reinforcement for Jazz and Other Acoustic Music These are my Power Point slides for a tutorial session held at the 2008 Fall Convention of the Audio Engineering Society in San Francisco. These are my slides -- other members of the panel presented other concepts and other elements of the problem. This presentation was aimed at Live Sound Professionals -- those whose job it is to make the music sound like the performers intend.

Comments can be sent to jimbrown at audiosystemsgroup.com I use a challenge and response email system to minimize spam. When you send me email for the first time, you will receive an email asking you to confirm your message.