Author Sanford Josephson Talks About His Dual Life

Writers are advised to write what you know and write what you love. West Orange-based author Sanford Josephson knows and loves jazz.

Josephson, 68, also knows how to speak with jazz artists. Over the years, he has talked with scores of leading musicians, drawing out personal stories, reflections and observations. His early interviews covered Hoagy Carmichael, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, George Shearing, Gerry Mulligan and Dave Brubeck, among others.

These and more have been collected in "Jazz Notes, Interviews Across the Generations," published by Praeger Books in 2009.

The book has two personalities. It is both a popular read and a reference book in more than 130 libraries nationwide.

"Jazz Notes" has a dual personality in another sense: Josephson has updated his early interviews by speaking with contemporary musicians with  connections to one of these giants of the genre.

Among the living commentators are musicians famous in their own right, such as pianists Mary McPartland and Bill Charlap, who lives in the township. South Orange resident John Lee, the bassist and director of the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni Band talked about his old band leader.

Patch spoke with Josephson in advance of his 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. appearance at the South Orange/Maplewood Adult School Book Fair Sept. 11, at the Livingston Mall Barnes & Noble.

Josephson teaches a jazz appreciation class for the school. Registration is open now for his Nov. 16 discussion about composer, arranger, sometime actor and baritone saxophone great Gerry Mulligan.  

Q. Can you give an example of how the contemporary comments work?

A. Pianist Bill Charlap is interviewed in three chapters — on Hoagy Carmichael, Gerry Mulligan and Dick Hyman. Charlap recorded an album of Carmichael music in 2002 and had played with Mulligan. Charlap said that 'Mulligan would have been just as happy on Broadway (42nd Street) as he was on 52nd Street (Swing Street).  Mulligan's music was as equally influenced by Charlie Parker as it was by Richard Rodgers or George Gershwin.' Charlap added, 'So, we got each other in that way.'

Q. You currently are the director of marketing and public relations for the nonprofit Matheny Center. You have simultaneously held many, demanding non-musical positions while writing your freelance jazz pieces. How did you make everything work?

A. Actually, my one of my first jobs led to my interest in jazz. Although I listened to jazz occasionally when studying journalism at the University of Missouri, I became passionate about the music when I lived in Japan from 1965-1967. I was in public information for the American Red Cross at their Far Eastern Area headquarters, about 45 minutes from Tokyo. I saw such artists as Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Torme in person. In the '70s, I was the editor of a trade newspaper called The Daily News Record, which covered the men's fashion industry, and I would sneak jazz in whenever I could, such as when the Buddy Rich band wore Pierre Cardin sweaters to the opening of Buddy's Place. It gave me an excuse to interview Buddy Rich.

Q. Why do you love the music?

A. Jazz is uplifting; it's relaxing; it makes me feel good. If I had to pick one characteristic, I think it would be its spontaneity. Even in a carefully arranged piece, you never know what surprises jazz musicians are going to come up with. I marvel at how musicians who have never played together, meet and one hour later play as if they have been playing together all their lives.