Held at the Columbia University School of Journalism on New York City’s Upper West Side, the day-long symposium was part of the Columbia Harlem Festival of Global Jazz, which was sponsored by the Center for Jazz Studies, Jazzmobile Inc., and the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone. Chairing the event was George E. Lewis, Director of the Center for Jazz Studies and the
Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music at Columbia.

Thirty-three jazz writers and broadcasters from around the world were invited to participate in panel discussions:

Gwen Ansell, South Africa
Jason Berry, United States
Seda Binbasgil, Turkey
Marcela Breton, United States
Christian Broecking, Germany
Stanley Crouch, United States
Francis Davis, United States
Alain Derbez, Mexico
Alex Dutilh, France
Gary Giddins, United States
James Hale, Canada
Andy Hamilton, Great Britain
Ashante Infantry, Canada
Patrick Landolt, Switzerland
Howard Mandel, United States
Eugene Marlow, United States
Francesco Martinelli, Italy
Dan Morgenstern, United States
Cyril Moshkow, Russia
Jennifer Odell, United States
Ted Panken, United States
Alexandre Pierrepont, France
Ben Ratliff, United States
Ron Scott, United States
Bill Shoemaker, United States
Maxi Sickert, Germany
John Szwed, United States
Greg Tate, United States
George Varga, United States
Bert Vuijsje, The Netherlands
Lars Westin, Sweden
K. Leander Williams, United States
Kazue Yokoi, Japan

To expand on the Conference’s formal presentations, the JJA produced an introductory cocktail reception at Harlem’s historic Lenox Lounge (thanks to Boosey & Hawkes and pianist Robert Rodriguez’s trio), a walking tourof historic jazz sites in Harlem conducted by JJA member and Hothouse editor Paul Blair, and a brunch at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, hosted by Jazz at Lincoln Center, attended by Wynton Marsalis among others, with music by pianist Elio Villafranca’s trio.