Some Virtual Stocking Stuffers

A couple of quick ideas for filling your time online during the holiday season and beyond:

Accujazz.com: Right now I’m listening to the “Swingin’ Christmas” channel, but there are multitudes of other channels to choose from and listen to. This one has really brightened my morning. They also have a blog where they review new releases, and occasionally refer you to other sites of interest. Check it out.

Jazz.com Slightly over a year old now, this is a jazz site that is informative, funny, and visually pleasing without being so visually heavy that it takes ten minutes for a page to load. Reviews, interviews, lots of good writing, images (check out the gallery for some other great jazz photogs & artists), and Lewis Porter’s Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians. Author/Musician Ted Gioia’s site.

jazzvideoguy.tv   

http://www.planetbret.com/  Both of the above are sites that belong to Bret Primack, aka jazzvideoguy. Like mini-jazz docs. Interviews & performance mixed. Bret has been around for many years and has experience in all sorts of Jazz enterprises. Check him out.

Thanks to the Accublog for the links to Bret’s spaces.

Making Christmas Music Interesting Again

In an effort to make my own, and others, experiences with Christmas music interesting again, I have started reaching out to others ~ on Twitter, Facebook, and now here at the blog. I want people to tell me about their favorite Jazzy Christmas music. What would you recommend? Do you know of some obscure jazz Christmas stash? SHARE IT WITH ME, PLEASE! I have my own favorites, which I plan to share after Thanksgiving, which is really when Christmas/New Year music should start, as far as I’m concerned. NOT the day after Halloween.

So. Here is my plan. I get recommendations from friends, fellow tweeters, fellow music lovers, the postman, whoever. I then share those with you. Then, I share my own favorites with everyone else. Some of mine are less well known, and some are more common. So, don’t think it has to be something no one has ever heard of. Tell me what it says to YOU. Maybe I can find joy in Christmas music once again, and maybe there are other grinches out there who can too.

Jazz Online-Share the Experience

There are more people out there “in the world” that don’t know enough about jazz music to appreciate and support it, than there are people who do. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be the problems of funding, support and appreciation that there are. Part of the problem seems to be that people wanting to learn about the music are overwhelmed by what they see as an insider attitude, exhibited by some of those “in the know.” So my first rule for those just beginning to learn and ask questions, is, Don’t be intimidated by Jerks. They exist. Move on.

Jazz also is both hurt and helped by the existance of so many sub-genres of the music. If you aready know what type you like and want to listen to, fine. There are many sites online that address specific “types” and I’m sure you can find them simply by Googling the one you are most interested in. Big Band. Bop. Fusion. Nu-jazz. Or you can simply Google Jazz and get many millions of choices. It’s all out there.

One of my favorite ways of learning more about old favorites is NPR. They have numerous choices and programs. I subscribe to Nancy Wilson’s Jazz Profiles on I-tunes podcasts. I can listen when I have time, and never have to worry that I’m missing a show. And it’s free. NPR also hosts Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz. And they have a Jazz for Kids program that I’ve never checked out, so if anyone else is familiar with it, feel free to write in and let me know what you think. Share your knowledge, and your links. In the meantime I’ll keep adding my own, and hopefully we can help a few fellow travelers to the Emerald City.

Social Media and … Jazz?

Tito Puente

I have been on Twitter now for a couple of months, and when I first joined I did a couple of keyword searches to try to find other people who might share some of my interests. You know, books. And music. Specifically Jazz. And what I found is that a lot of people who used the word “jazz” in either their username or bio, weren’t talking about the music. Jazz is just a cool name to some people, and to others it’s some type of computer thing.

The other thing I found, although very sad to me, is that literally dozens of people who had started Twitter accounts, and did have something to do with Jazz, the music, had abandoned them after one or two posts. Perhaps they thought it was like My Space, where all you have to do is throw up a page, and wait for people to “friend” you.  I have seen a lot of great musicians on My Space. Not so much on Facebook or Twitter, unless it is a “fan” page on Facebook. Not the same thing. Twitter requires a little personal interaction. But Greg Osby does it, even if it is just to put up dates of his gigs. The other night I was “followed” by Tito Puente Jr., who may have just done it because I use one of my photos of his father as my “wallpaper” there. Dave Matthews is twittering fairly regularly, whether it’s about politics, or places he has been touring, or to put up a funny photo on twit-pics. And these guys have great numbers of followers.

My point is, Twitter is not only a great networking tool, as in, got a gig in South Carolina? Let people know you’ll be there. Not only will they let you know the best places to eat, stay, hang out after hours, etc., but you may see your audience increase. You may hear from an old friend who can put you up for the night. And you may convince someone who has never known much about Jazz to want to learn more.

Let me know about your experiences with Social Media, and how it has helped you to deliver your message or express your art. If people can use this as an ever expanding business tool, why can’t it be used to increase interest in art, music, books, and movies?

Invitation

 Years ago, I wrote a semi-regular column for the well known (now) site, All About Jazz, called Eye and Ear. I came up with the name because I was writing about jazz, reading and sometimes reviewing jazz books, listening to and reviewing CD’s, and I was a jazz photographer who sometimes interviewed well known and lesser known, jazz figures. Not just musicians, but people like Dan Morgenstern, who have spent their lives promoting jazz, educating people about jazz, loving jazz.

Doing the column was alot of fun, but could also be taxing, considering the fact that at different times while I was doing it, I was also working full-time as a photo editor/researcher/photographer. My life is less harried these days. Since I am no longer on a writing schedule for someone else, I thought I would return to my previous efforts to simply keep the music out there in front of people. Along the way, I will talk about the books I am reading, share some photography, talk to some friends about their music, and share what I am listening to. If you have something that you’d like to share, contact me, and I’ll try to include it in what I’m writing about.