Quite stunned and saddened by the shocking news that Twin Cities arts reporter Pamela Espeland has passed away. I didn’t know Pamela well, but she covered the Bad Plus whenever we played in Minneapolis. Over the years we exchanged a few enjoyable moments of marveling at our favorite musicians together. Her beat was not just jazz, or even just music, but the Arts writ large, and I’m sure she covered it all well — yet I believe she did really have a soft spot for jazz, an attribute not shared by most general arts journalists. 

I just saw Pamela last week at Crooners for the gig with Marcy, we spoke for ten or fifteen minutes. As always, she was very encouraging and positive. If I’d known it was the last time I would see her I would have tried to thank her more properly.

On one occasion I was somewhat of a genuine news story on my own, and she wrote about it for Bebopified.