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Todd S. Jenkins (born August 13, 1968 in Decatur, Georgia) is a jazz author and journalist based in Southern California. He is a member of the Jazz Journalists Association. [1]
Decatur is a city in, and the county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia that is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. With a population of 20,148 in the 2013 census, the municipality is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple ZIP Codes in unincorporated DeKalb County bear the Decatur name. The city is served by three MARTA rail stations. The city is located approximately 5 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta and shares its western border with Atlanta.
The Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) is an international organization of all types of media professionals who document, promulgate, or appreciate jazz. As of 2016, it has approximately 250 members, including professional journalists, students, industry associates and supporting institutions, primarily in North America but also on other continents. The mission of the association is "to promote high standards and respect for our works, to create a professional network, and to increase general interest in jazz." It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. The president of the association is jazz writer Howard Mandel.
A graduate of California State University, San Bernardino, Jenkins began his writing career in 1992, contributing to the tabloid-style monthly magazine Marge Hofacre's Jazz News in Idyllwild, California. That same year he became a board member of the American Jazz Symposium, conducting concerts and educational events in the Inland Empire region. In 1998 Jenkins began contributing record reviews and articles to All About Jazz, [2] and the following year he became a contributor to Down Beat . His writings have subsequently appeared in Signal To Noise , Route 66 Magazine , American Songwriter and Inland Empire Weekly . In 2007 he became one of the founding contributors of Jazz.com. [3]
California State University, San Bernardino,, is a public university and one of the 23 general campuses of the California State University system. The main campus sits on 441 acres (178 ha) in the University District of San Bernardino, California, United States, with a branch campus of 40 acres (16 ha) in Palm Desert, California, opened in 1986. In 2013, California State University, San Bernardino was named a 2014 Best College in the Western Region by The Princeton Review for the tenth consecutive year, ranking CSUSB among the top 25 percent of universities across the nation. In 2011, California State University, San Bernardino’s Jack H. Brown College of Business and Public Administration was recognized by European CEO Magazine as one of the top 20 schools of business in the world and one of the world's 18 most innovative business schools.
All About Jazz is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, Jazz Near You, about local concerts and events.
American Songwriter is a bimonthly magazine, established in 1984 covering every aspect of the craft and art of songwriting. It features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee.
In 2004 Jenkins completed his first book, Free Jazz and Free Improvisation: An Encyclopedia (Greenwood Press, 2 volumes), an extensive overview of the history and performance of improvised music from the 1950s into the 21st century. It was followed by I Know What I Know: The Music of Charles Mingus (Praeger, 2006), a layman listener's guide to the recordings of jazz bassist and bandleader Mingus. In 2005 Jenkins contributed the sections on 1960s jazz and 1970s blues in The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz and Blues (Watson-Guptill).
Watson-Guptill is an American publisher of instructional books in the arts. The company was founded in 1937 by Ernest Watson, Ralph Reinhold, and Arthur L. Guptill. They also published the magazine American Artist. Their headquarters are at 1745 Broadway, New York City, Random House Tower.
In addition to his books and magazine articles, Jenkins has written album liner notes for Jimmy and Stacy Rowles (Me and the Moon, AJS Recordings), Estelle Reiner (Paradise, Clear Productions), Mike Vax and Clark Terry (Creepin' With Clark, Summit Records), trumpeter Fred Forney (Into the Mist, Summit Records), and pianist Chuck Marohnic (White Men Can't Monk, Summit Records). Jenkins is also a composer of jazz and church-oriented music whose works have been performed across the United States and Europe.
Estelle Reiner was an American actress and singer, described by The New York Times as "matriarch of one of the leading families in American comedy". She was the wife of Carl Reiner and the mother of Rob Reiner.
Clark Virgil Terry Jr. was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, composer, educator, and NEA Jazz Masters inductee.
Summit Records, Inc. is an internationally distributed record label that evolved out of the large brass ensemble Summit Brass in the late 1980s. It was established by David Hickman and Ralph Sauer.