Driving jazz forward on the web: who's changing up – or down – a gear
Jazz websites come and go. The great thing is there’s always something, and somebody, new to come along capable of providing something interesting to say, even if they don't always stick around for long enough to say it regularly enough.
It’s pretty impossible to keep up but probably a good idea to change reading habits every now and again. There are a few websites that sometimes I turn to lured by a headline or some sort of hint that there will be a good story, and this turns out invariably, but not always to be, disappointing. Newspapers online are trying to innovate, and The Telegraph jazz coverage is a bit like that. They have developed a Facebook page too, but I can’t say I really enjoy either formats whether it’s the tone, focus, or just the sheer fuddy-duddyness of some of it, which usually puts me right off. Guardian jazz coverage is better, but I wish their writers would blog a bit more and that jazz would be integrated properly into their music blog for the broader themes and discussions accorded to rock.
I’ve given up on Jazz Corner as it’s more like a big catalogue of information jumbled together, and allaboutjazz is too American for me although better, and I enjoy one or two of their writers. Jazz in Europe has made leaps and bounds forward this year but the content is still very thin however much the potential is there for it to innovate from a web tech point of view if not necessarily deliver great articles to read.
Better is Dominic Reilly’s new site Dublin Jazz. For sheer literary prowess Point of Departure is hard to beat and from time to time Marc Myers comes up trumps on Jazz Wax but here history is the watchword as much as anything and sometimes the subjects are very arcane. Jazziz isn’t worth reading online any more and neither is ejazznews. But Jazz Times and Downbeat are still despite their secondary role in terms of the print magazines that bear these names. I’ll provide links and a further guide to more jazz websites from time to time in future articles. SG
Related European jazz website round-up