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Jazz
![]() ![]() ![]() Definitions of jazz are hotly debated, and you can add your voice to the many debates raging on Usenet. It's generally recognized as one of the most indigenously American art forms, rooted in the blues that grew out of the Mississippi Delta. Jazz evolved wildly into many distinctive strains, reaching into every other music style, and even within the realm the record stores label "jazz," it's hard to pin down. Web sites, not surprisingly, run a similar gamut. Record companies use them to promote merchandise, and some of them do it very skillfully. But this is an area where the devoted fan can do even better, mixing music and images with biography and opinion.
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Plan to spend an hour or more browsing Jazz Online. A hard-to-read home page opens into a virtual plethora of record industry-related information that isn't label-loyal. Jazz here is celebrated as a living entity, with a special emphasis on young, contemporary performers. JazzTimes magazine houses its on-line version here, and you'll see a fantastic array of labels, including Verve Interactive, Blue Note, the JVC Music Jazz Cafe, ECM, and RCA. Each label displays information about an album or two, a cover shot, and, if you're lucky, a sound or video file. Warner Bros.' JazzSpace featured a live broadcast by tenor sax player Joshua Redman in October 1995. Menu sequences are sometimes as difficult to follow as an Anthony Braxton tune, and the site needs to be updated much more regularly, but this is a very ambitious site doing an otherwise good job of living up to its promise.
JazzNet looks sleek and unfolds well. It's an umbrella for, among other things, the interactive version of Jazz Now magazine (a fascinating interview with San Francisco pianist/singer Scotty Wright ran a couple of months ago), the catalog of DaCapo Press Jazz and Blues and the classic reissues from V.S.O.P. Records (complete with audio excerpts and online ordering), news from the Concord and Monterey Jazz Festivals, and a section titled Remembering Miles. The Tucson Jazz Society Newsletter covers events in the Southwest, and News from Fantasy Records keeps you up-to-date with one of the better jazz labels. Look for a good set of jazz-related links, too.
Boppers called them "moldy figs," and you can find those fans and players of traditional jazz at The Wolverine Antique Music Society. The site of this Oregon-based society, whose members collect and preserve 78-rpm recordings, holds a vast number of essays. Some verge on the academic, but they're all well-written and informative. And where else on the Web will you find topics as diverse as "Paul Whiteman's Recording Remembrances," "The Austin High Gang & 1920s Chicago Jazz," and "Nazi Germany's Official Position on Jazz"? You won't see many in-line graphics, but look for GIF files of old labels and album covers. Great selection of sound bytes here, too.
When Satchmo blew his first solos with King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, jazz changed forever. The Louis Armstrong Home Page pays reverent homage to the great trumpet player, even if those seminal early years are neglected in favor of Louis' later "Mack the Knife" period. Enthusiast William Terpening put together a set of image-rich pages, with expansive descriptions of his favorite recordings, illuminated by audio files. Look for a lengthy biography that verges on the hagiographic and a good set of links.
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Radio stations support and often provoke significant jazz stylings. The WNUR-FM JazzWeb, the electronic offshoot of Northwestern University's radio station, is in its formative stages but promises to be a helpful resource someday. You'll see bios, discographies, and links for a broad range of artists from classic performers like Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker to contemporaries like Pat Metheny and Keith Jarrett. You'll see useful links to jazz-friendly U.S. radio stations, on-line magazines, and retailers. More images would make the pages more appealing, though, and no jazz site can be complete without musical examples.
Stop in at the Winnipeg-based Hard Bop Cafe for listings of local events as well as festivals and clubs throughout Canada. Layout is drab, with few images and no audio, but it's the home of a good Don Ellis section, and there's an interesting emphasis here on Italian jazz performers and their recordings. Check out the very informative Miles Davis for Beginners section.
ECM Records boasts 26 years' worth of recordings, most with a slightly alternative edge, and they're listed here along with many musical samples, mostly available in both high- and low-quality formats so you can choose how much download time you want to put in. If you find an artist you like, similar artists will be recommended, probably because you can buy CDs on-line here. Look for a special Keith Jarrett section. EMI Jazz, based in Holland, has a smart-looking Blue Note Corner that offers artist information, album covers, and audio clips. B. A. NilssonThere's not a lot here, but it's a pleasing design. Recordings range from reissued Chet Baker to newly waxed Javon Jackson, but some of the information is in Dutch.
InterJazz wants to bring players and listeners together through club listings, a Yellow Pages service, and want ads. So far all the listings are pretty sparse. But the ambitious IRC events, slated to include noted performers, are a good idea. More information is needed here, as well as an active user base.
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Copyright (c) 1995 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company is prohibited. Internet Life and the Internet Life logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. |
![]() QUICK CLICK! Jazz Online JazzNet The Wolverine Antique Music Society Louis Armstrong Home Page The WNUR-FM JazzWeb Hard Bop Cafe ECM Records Blue Note Corner InterJazz Horticulture Solutions Series Coffee Talk Coffee Journal The Caffeine Archive Sip by Sip: The Republic of Tea The Joy of Coffee Cyber Cafe The Trojan Room Coffee Machine |