Jazz Journal is a British jazz magazine established in 1946 by Sinclair Traill. It was originally published in London under the title Pick Up, which Traill founded as a locus for serious jazz criticism in Britain. In May 1948, Traill, using his own money, relaunched it as Jazz Journal. Traill, for the rest of his life, served as its editor-in-chief. Jazz Journal is Britain's longest enduring jazz magazine.
Ownership overview
In April 1977, Billboard Limited - then the publisher of Music Week and The Artist - acquired publishing rights to Jazz Journal from the magazine's owner, Novello & Company, Ltd. Cardfront Publishers Limited, a division of Billboard Limited, became the publisher; Mike Hennessey became director; Traill continued as editor-in-chief; and the publication was renamed Jazz Journal International. JJI was presumed to have ceased publication in January 2009, after the death on 23 January 2009 of the publisher's wife and associate editor, Janet Cook. Eddie Cook, who had been publisher and editor-in-chief of JJI since 1978, wrote to JJI readers that, following the death of his wife, publication of the magazine would cease, and that the magazine was seeking a new owner. In April 2009, JJI'sholding company, which at the time was Jazz Journal Publishing, absorbed a rival magazine, Jazz Review. Jazz Review, originally a monthly, had been published every two months and was owned by Direct Music Limited of Edinburgh, Scotland, who wished to end their publishing interests. Jazz Journal was absorbed into JJI and first published as such in May 2009 under Mark Gilbert - the last editor of Jazz Review, stepping in as editor of the new Jazz Journal. Gilbert had earlier served as deputy editor of JJI. The December 2018 issue was the last print edition of Jazz Journal before the magazine moved entirely online from 19 January 2019, at https://jazzjournal.co.uk. A publisher statement explaining the move said: "The new Jazz Journal website continues the tradition of the print edition and will develop over time an archive holding material from the last seven decades of publication. Initially, at least, it will be a free to view service. "As well as enabling JJ to communicate to a wider readership, the online format, in comparison to the print edition, allows for faster publication of news and reviews, links to relevant sources, social media interaction and ready site search for favourite players, recordings, compositions, articles, etcetera. It is expected that the archive, combined with new material and functionality across desktop, tablet and mobile, will create an unparalleled resource for jazz fans, students and researchers. "With the same team of writers, Jazz Journal expects to maintain a lot of the old character in the new format".
