NYC WJF Jazz Talks | Introducing sphere: a journal of jazz in motion

Meet the editorial and creative team behind sphere: a journal of jazz in motion, a forthcoming publication rooted in New York and New Orleans. Launching in spring 2026, sphere seeks to revitalize the tradition of artist- and writer-run publications like The Cricket (both versions), The Grackle, The Jazz Review and LOOP, while taking a cue from zine/DIY culture and the dailies and alt-weeklies that once fostered vigorous criticism, discussion and public memory-making around Black music in cities across the country. sphere will both revive and challenge the critical paradigms of feature writing, live reviews, concert listings, album and book reviews and other literary and visual engagements with music—conceptualizing new ways of celebrating, centering, thinking with and hearing what Amiri Baraka defined as the “changing same.”