Although the conference roams between several cities from year to year, New York is the unquestioned capital of the jazz world and hence the IAJE's spiritual home. So when the conference hits Manhattan, as it did this year from January 10-13, the buzz is even louder, the rooms even more packed, and the event even more dazzling.

IAJE is big. In New York, it sprawls across two sold-out midtown hotels. The Hilton and Sheraton are just a stone's throw from 52nd Street. Once the world-famous hub of swing and bebop, this area is now a sterile stretch of office towers. But for these few days at least, a little of the old magic comes back.

It's officially the educators' party: music teachers and school bandleaders roam the halls, many with students in tow. But thousands of others show up too — famous musicians come to lead clinics, perform, or sit on panels; radio programmers and journalists come to hobnob and talk shop; jazz enthusiasts come to hear the in-house concerts and meet fellow travelers. 

The conference program is jam-packed, with up to a dozen events going on simultaneously. You can walk out of a panel discussion in one room, walk literally a few feet down the hall and find yourself in a historical research presentation, learning the finer points of string phrasing or hearing an enthusiastic high school band run through "Cherokee." After the sun sets, the hotel ballrooms offer star-studded concert lineups to compete with the city's unparalleled club scene.

Despite the distance, the Bay Area jazz scene was well represented this year. Guitarist André Bush kicked off the schedule with a clinic called "Jazz Guitar for Rockers," demonstrating ways for newcomers to crack the codes of jazz improvisation. Showing how even a simple riff like "Sweet Home Alabama" can be a launching point, he imparted a lesson suitable for any musician: just relax. "This has to be fun," he said. "It has to be cool."

KCSM on-air hosts Alisa Clancy and Chuy Varela were spotted at a series of panels on the state of jazz radio, along with many other top DJs and programmers from around the country. With XM Radio as a major sponsor of the conference, satellite radio's slowly growing influence was a burning issue for many in attendance. Opinions are mixed: some argue that any jazz exposure is good exposure, and satellite radio is unquestionably a boon to the many small markets with no jazz station of their own. But others see satellite as the audio equivalent of McDonald's — you get the same experience wherever you go, but radio needs a local touch, especially for a scene-based music like jazz. However you view this issue or other hot-button topics like digital downloads, there is little doubt that the musical landscape is changing, and jazz must adapt or be left behind.

Pianist Taylor Eigsti put on a stellar performance in the Sheraton's Metropolitan Ballroom, fronting a powerhouse group with Reuben Rogers on bass and Eric Harland at the drums. These seasoned pros pushed Eigsti hard, but the young Bay Area native soared above the fray. Eigsti launched carpet-bomb attacks on the upper range of his piano, adding stabs from a nearby synthesizer. But he leavened this pyrotechnic style with a funky touch — imagine Horace Silver on speed. From the other end of the stage, guitarist Julian Lage made it apparent why he and Eigsti have spent so much time gigging together lately. Lage is less explosive than Eigsti, but the two are clearly cut from the same cloth, both digging deep for inspiration and playing beyond their years.

At the Hilton, an overflow crowd met percussionist Michael Spiro for his clinic on finding the proper rhythmic feel in Afro-Cuban music. Bouncing back and forth between his drums and a presentation board, Spiro sketched out rhythmic patterns and identified the areas that usually trip up American musicians. "It's not a waltz!" he declared, explaining that many beginners confuse 12/8 time with the very different parameters of 6/8 or even 3/4 signatures.

The audience included a number of Bay Area musicians, among them fellow percussionist John Santos, trombonist Wayne Wallace, and vocalists Kat Parra and Alexa Weber Morales. This convergence was typical of IAJE, and it highlights one of the great strengths of the Bay Area jazz scene — the way its musicians will go out of their way to support each other.

A panel anticipating the Monterey Jazz Festival's 50th season became a sort of love-in on memory lane. The glowing tribute, thoughtfully moderated by journalist Paul de Barros, included festival director Tim Jackson, longtime booker Darlene Chan, educator/producer Herb Wong, bandleader Gerald Wilson and guitarist Jim Hall.

"It's like your life, or what you would like your life to be," Hall said of the Festival's convivial atmosphere, "all wrapped up into one great experience." Wilson agreed: "It has all this magic; you just want to be there." 

The conversation ranged from the festival's ambitious origins, through the glory years under Jimmy Lyons, across the transition to Jackson's stewardship and up to its recent resurgence as a vibrant, exciting, "must see" event. 

The air was thick with anecdotes. Chan spun tales of Dizzy Gillespie and Gerry Mulligan arriving unbooked. "They would just show up, unannounced and ready to play!" Wong, who has never missed a festival, recalled Billie Holiday's 1958 performance: "She was having a difficult time, but just her presence brought a real buzz. She had to be helped to the stage. But then she sang 11 tunes."

On the challenges of booking a diverse festival, Chan was forthright. "I feel like I haven't done my job if someone likes everything," she said. "But if you don't like what's happening on one stage, you can just walk to another one." Jackson concurred: "The Monterey audience is incredibly passionate... they're very invested in it. But they have open ears and open minds."

There was more, of course. The always lively "Pardon the Musical Disruption" debate between writer Bob Blumenthal and bassist Christian McBride came back for another year, featuring much football trash-talking and an incendiary takedown of Ron Goldstein, former head of the Verve Music Group. A unique on-stage interview of Ornette Coleman by saxophonist Greg Osby was a huge draw, but where Coleman goes, there's bound to be a bit of controversy. His curious, rambling answers left many in attendance scratching their heads, at times including Osby himself.

Performances by the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Dave Liebman, Sean Jones, and a host of others kept up a constant flow of live music. The annual NEA Jazz Masters concert featured a dynamic set by the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band with Slide Hampton, Roy Hargrove, Nancy Wilson and Roberta Gambarini, in honor of the latest recipients of the NEA Jazz Masters Award, the nation's highest jazz honor: Toshiko Akiyoshi, Curtis Fuller, Ramsey Lewis, Dan Morgenstern, Jimmy Scott, Frank Wess and Phil Woods.

A somber mood settled over the conference's conclusion, as the dual losses of saxophonist Michael Brecker and pianist Alice Coltrane became known. Many friends of each musician were in attendance, and a feeling of mutual support and sorrow pervaded the conference's final hours. Charlie Haden dedicated the late-night performance of his Liberation Music Orchestra to the deceased, giving a poignant edge to a set list that included "Going Home," "Amazing Grace" and "We Shall Overcome."

The IAJE Conference will head to Toronto, Canada in 2008, and is scheduled for Seattle in January 2009.