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Updated July 4, 2003 - Check the
"Jazzspot Featured Review" for this week.
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Thanks for visiting Jazzspot. Please contact us if something
strikes you as great, awful, absent or especially poignant, or if you just want an interested ear. We want
new reviews of new or old recordings - do you have one?
"There are still relatively few places on the internet where people write in-depth information about
lesser known players that most casual listeners have never heard..."
I wrote those words about two years ago, and they are still true. If you believe the revisionist history of
Ken Burns (it wasn't all his fault - he had a lot of help), then you would probably not learn about
many of the fringe names and music that make up the true fabric of Jazz.
Sadly, the Burns program raised our consciousness, but narrowed our focus, and jazz retailers (it's tough out
there, to be sure) have done the same (read more
here about the state of jazz at retail. Musicians such as Nancy King, Bob Dorough, Warren Vache', Diane Hubka
or Lucky Thompson (all living) are not likely to be the subject of any new documentaries (unless you want to
produce one) or the featured artists at most stores. But they all have exceptionally interesting music and valid, and
sometimes incredible stories. Bunny Berigan, Roy Eldridge, Jimmy Knepper, Sonny Stitt, Warne Marsh and Jack Teagarden (no longer with us) are others who are
valid and underappreciated, yet covered here. All have merit for their art.
"With so few outlets to hear the music these days, we don't know enough most of the time to know what we're missing...
We don't know what we don't know, and therefore, we don't care..."
And it seems to be getting worse - more CDs, all but the biggest names or best sellers finding it harder to get shelf space at
retail. So we keep adding new information here, and hoping you will find some things of value. Thanks for visiting and for
reading. If you have an article that would like to share it with our readers, we welcome your article submission. Keep it 500 - 700 words, as free as
possible from "self-promotion", and to the point.
Dave Leonnig
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©2003 JazzSpot Inc. All rights reserved.
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