It happened on September 8th. Suddenly all the lights blinked out and our server said goodbye. Left blind without any explanation, we had to take apart the machine that housed All About Jazz in order to see where all the data went.

Turns out it went straight up the chimney due to a hacker's ill will, so we were forced to go back to our last backup. Disastrously enough, that dated back to late May, which meant we were suddenly missing four months' worth of magazine. Poof.

Not good.

So we rallied the troops, took advantage of every internet resource available, and managed to get more than 500 CD reviews back in the archive right away, with almost 300 articles not far down the road. We also replaced and upgraded our server. But none of these efforts interfered whatsoever with a constant effort to stay current with the latest developments in the music we love.

We've also changed the way we look at the magazine, and in the process we developed all sorts of improvements that change the way you look at All About Jazz. Three new centers devoted to CD reviews , articles and news now appear on the home page, each with a full-sized archive of its own. You can search and organize what you see based on title, author, style and other criteria, a mere two clicks away in every case.

We managed to get every listing right back in our record label directory , plus a heap of new ones – over 700 total. The other directories are not far behind. We have almost 200 festivals , over 100 radio stations , and over 400 venues in the collection. You can view the entire set or just the places closest to where you live. And if you find your own personal spot isn't listed in the collection, it's super easy to add it.

Looking back on the events of the past couple of months, we've learned a lot. We figured out how to make our system iron-clad. We found new ways to make our content friendly and accessible. And most important, we discovered a lot about our strengths as a team of scores of dedicated individuals.

There's something rejuvenating about starting fresh, about approaching things in a new way. This recovery process has been about a lot more than rebirth. It's led to a whole new way of doing things.

And that's good for everyone. Stay tuned and you'll see this is just the beginning... there's a whole lot more to come .