Beyond Category: How Three Music Writers Navigate a Genre-Fluid World

Michelle Zeto, Geoffrey Himes, and Rob Shepherd have each built careers in music journalism and broadcasting. They discuss how genre categories shape both criticism and listening, the difference between being a savant and a polymath, and whether the post-genre world is liberating or limiting. The conversation explores the role of critics as translators, the rise of playlist culture, and why attention spans may not be as new a problem as we think.

In this episode, we explore: 

• How musicians themselves often resist the "jazz" label—and what that means for writers 
• Why shorter attention spans might not be the crisis we think 
• The tension between consumer advisor and cultural translator 
• What human curation offers that algorithms can't 
• Whether broad knowledge serves critics better than deep specialization

Learn more about our guests:

• Michelle Zeto and "Jammin' Jazz" 
• Geoffrey Himes and "Hard Rain and Pink Cadillacs"
• Rob Shepherd and PostGenre.org

Our host:

• Lawrence Peryer

And our organization,the Jazz Journalists Association. 

Support for The JJA comes in part from the Jazz Foundation of America, providing emergency assistance, healthcare, and performance opportunities to performers, composers and others in need. Visit jazzfoundation.org.

This podcast is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

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For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.