News from allaboutjazz.com | June 26, 2004
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This month's update details some of the latest changes to All About Jazz, so please read on...
 2004 JJA JAZZ AWARDS
CD REVIEWS AND ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
MORE JAZZ BIRTHDAYS & UPCOMING RELEASES
SITE NEWS
BULLETIN BOARD ACTIVITY... WAY UP!
Visit our monthly welcome page, the quickest way to discover what's new from your friends at All About Jazz.
2004 JJA JAZZ AWARDS
Every year the Jazz Journalists Association puts together an awards show honoring luminaries on instruments from piano keyboards to computer keyboards. Carla and Jason Rupp covered
this year's New York event for us, revealing a guest list a mile long. Saxophonist Wayne Shorter was Musician of the Year and his
Alegria was Album of the Year; Dave Brubeck won for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz; and pianist Vijay Iyer got the nod as Up & Coming Artist of the year.
All About Jazz was represented in full force with 15 contributors present. Founder and Publisher Michael Ricci was also on hand to accept the honors when AAJ won Best Website Concentrating on Jazz for the third consecutive year.
It means a great deal to us to be recognized by our peers, but we're not about to rest on our laurels. We're embarking on our ninth year and it's proving to be the most exciting one yet. Look for many new features, dynamic sections, and a new re-design in the months ahead.
A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS...
AAJ is proud to showcase the following CDs:
Mainstream & Modern Releases
Greg Osby's Public, Sean Jones's Eternal Journey, Jean-Pierre Mas's (H)ombre, Keith Scott's Waikiki, Vaughn Nark's Panorama, John Jorgenson's Franco-American Swing, Hiromi's Brain, and Eric Frazier's Smile Inside Your Soul .
Vocal Releases
Jackie Allen's Love Is Blue, Michael Winkle's This Dance, and Natasha Miller's I Had a Feelin'.
Show your support of AAJ by clicking through to these artists' websites and listening to music from their latest releases.
Jazz musician or label? Click here for more information about promoting your new CD.
CD REVIEWS AND ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
AAJ has delivered the goodies once again by publishing nearly 200 CD reviews. Our ever-growing staff of international writers chipped in with CD reviews, extended analysis reviews (five reviews of The Contemporary Records Story!) and multiple reviews.
We featured some superb stories this month, including: Chris M. Slawecki's Fifty Years to Swing Ya Mother..., Jeff Fitzgerald's sequel to his wildly popular "The Blues: Black Once", R.J. DeLuke's Rickie Lee Jones concert review, and John Kelman's outstanding two-part interview with vibraphonist Joe Locke.
As always, AAJ brings you up close and personal with today's jazzers of note. This month, in addition to Joe Locke, we chatted with Tomasz Stanko, Ron Thomas, Kristin Korb,
Sean Jones, Tom Lawton, Burton Greene, and many more.
JAZZ BIRTHDAYS & UPCOMING RELEASES
Ian Dunnigan has been plugging away at the Birthday Center--he's added 500 artists since the last newsletter. If you're a jazz musician and your birthday is not listed, please email Ian at birthdays@allaboutjazz.com.
The Upcoming Releases Center is one of the hottest sections at AAJ. Leaving no new release unlisted, Charlie Dahan and John Kelman have entered close to 600 new releases since the launch. And for regular users, we've conveniently added a "record label" search option.
SITE NEWS
We made a few small but noteworthy navigational enhancements to the site. The web radio quick-launch box was moved from the left panel to the top navigation bar. And we made two changes to the article page (click here for the details).
It was a good month for All About Jazz. In addition to the jazz award, AAJ eclipsed 13,000 visitors in one day and was designated by Newsweek magazine as the go-to site for summer jazz festivals.
BULLETIN BOARD ACTIVITY
The bulletin board is creeping back to its pre-crash numbers with activity member counts reaching 70 during peak hours. We also hit a milestone this month and would like to welcome our 3,000th member... Tom Evered of Blue Note records.
To discuss jazz in real-time, whether you're actively contributing or lurking on the fringes, please visit our bulletin board. In addition to being the best jazz website, we want to host the most active bulletin board devoted to jazz.
Till next month,
Mike, Chris, Nils and the entire All About Jazz Staff
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