All About Jazz Highlights

News from allaboutjazz.com | February 28, 2005

Please read on for the latest from All About Jazz...

UPCOMING FUND DRIVE
BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES
CD REVIEWS AND ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
BULLETIN BOARD BUZZ!
VISUAL ARTS CENTER, REVISITED
MOST READ ARTICLES & REVIEWS

AAJ FUND DRIVE: HELP US HIT A HIGH NOTE!

All About Jazz will launch our first-ever fund drive in March. We hope to raise the funds needed to help complete several important projects -- all of which will dramatically improve the integrity and presentation of your AAJ experience. For the first time, we will be asking for your support. Don't worry, your contribution can be as little as $5. It's all going to help. Thank you.

Look for more fund drive news and learn how you can make a difference in the coming weeks.

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES

All About Jazz was victimized by three separate hacker attacks over an eight-day span that caused 26 hours of outages. We identified and corrected the source of the problem.

Many have asked us why someone would want to hack a jazz website. No one can be certain what motivates a hacker, but AAJ is popular (reaching nearly a half million monthly readers) and it gives hackers great pleasure to TKO an active site regardless of its content.

It's been a difficult stretch. But we are committed to building new systems and expanding the site. We will also invest in a firewall and become more diligent about security.

A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS...

AAJ is proud to showcase the following CDs:

Mainstream Releases
Jason Moran's Same Mother, Michel Camilo's Solo, Froy Aagre & Offbeat's Katalyze, Paul Thomas Yoder's Dreamin', Jim Pearce's Washington Square Park, Stefano di Battista's Parker's Mood, Jim Cifelli's Groove Station, Corey Christiansen's Awakening, Scott Whitfield's Minute Game, Bud Powell's Eternity, and Harry Watters's Love Songs.

Fusion & World Releases
Ladysmith Black Mambazo's No Boundaries and Steve Greenbaum's Taking a Turn.

Vocal Releases
Alma Micic's Introducing Alma, Inger Marie Gundersen's Make this moment, Joe Bourne's Remembering Mr. Cole, and Emily Bezar's Angels' Abacus.

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

February's a short month? AAJ still delivers the goods! We published nearly 200 CD reviews and many contributors stepped up with extended analysis reviews and multiple reviews, too.

If you haven't visited AAJ recently, you've missed some exceptional articles. We strongly recommend Jeff Fitzgeralds's Jazz Diet, Mark Sabbatini's Jimmy Smith: Master of the Hammond B-3, and Celeste Sunderland's Matt Wilson: Connecting with the People. For you swing fans, David Rickert examines the history of the hits from the swing era with his new column, Swing Set.

As always, AAJ brings you up close and personal with today's (and tomorrow's) musicians of note. This month, we chatted with Pat Metheny, Archie Shepp, Stanley Crouch , Steve Lehman, Hank Jones, Lou Grassi, Ladd McIntosh, and many more.

BULLETIN BOARD BUZZ!

The AAJ bulletin board has been buzzing with activity lately. Timely and helpful information is dispatched daily and active member counts have hovered around 100 during peak hours. It's become an indispensable resource for jazz enthusiasts worldwide.

Our Catching up with... series continues this month with percussionist/composer John Hollenheck. If you're familiar with Mr. Hollenbeck's work, feel free to drop by and say hello. If you missed our last guest, tune in and read pianist/composer Bill Carrothers' thread in its entirety -- insightful and often hilarious.

We've also developed two new games to...ummm, kill time at work. For fun, try the Song Title Game or Name That Tune.

VISUAL ARTS CENTER, REVISITED

Despite some setbacks, we were able to expand our AAJ Visual Arts Center. We made several navigational enhancements to the system since the initial launch and now feature the work of more than 60 artists (nearly 2,800 images!).

Nearly 150 more visual artists have signed up to exhibit their work, so look for plenty of new activity and images.

If you are a photographer, painter, or illustrator, and would like to feature your work at AAJ, click here.

MOST READ ARTICLES & CD REVIEWS

Our seven most read articles in February...

And the seven most read CD reviews...

Viaticum by E.S.T.
I Have the Room Above Her by Paul Motian
The Way Up by Pat Metheny Group
Overtime by Dave Holland Big Band
Live in the World by David S. Ware
In Flux by Ravi Coltrane
Same Mother by Jason Moran

Cheers!

Mike, Chris, Nils and the entire All About Jazz Staff