All About Jazz Forum - Gone

[CGR]

I just spotted that the AAJ Forum has closed down.

Great pity but not that surprising. It had become rather boring over the past couple of years with hardly any of those hugely entertaining 'flame-wars' that used to erupt from time to time over the nature of jazz, etc.

I suppose that's the way of the world, circle of life, (add your cliche of choice here).

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

I just spotted that the AAJ Forum has closed down.

Great pity but not that surprising. It had become rather boring over the past couple of years with hardly any of those hugely entertaining 'flame-wars' that used to erupt from time to time over the nature of jazz, etc.

I suppose that's the way of the world, circle of life, (add your cliche of choice here).

The (old) original Bluenote website exploded in arguments about new signings etc (Norah et al) and was taken down. A lot then decamped to Jazz Corner (Lois Gilbert) where arguments about the Iraq War and faction fights, vendettas etc led eventually to Lois closing it. Organissimo still runs and is a very good resource for opinion and information. It seems to retain the mellowed and not be the usual "X is better than Y and Z is rubbish" schoolyard stuff. But I can't help feeling that as people (mostly) now listen to jazz with less intensity so they no longer engage on line. The fat lady is singing.

BN.

[Ian Thumwood]

The AAJ forum could be a source of discovering a lot about jazz and I found that the posters were ITK about a lot of things which don't get reported in the UK . There were quite a few UK posters but these seemed quite cliquey. The funniest thing I ever read on there was a review of the old Jazz on 3 Forum with a large number of the posters being held in contempt and none more than Trevor Cooper. In my opinion Trevor represented everything that was bad about jazz fans and was probably the most narrow-minded fan I have come across with contemporary players coming in for a lot of criticism. I doubt if he was ever appreciative of the fact that he was being ridiculed so much on this website with a least one of his musical targets pithily pulling to pieces on the AAJ forum.

I don't think that the AAJ forum was always friendly. There were some like John Kelman who would respond in a very polite and thought -provoking manner and I enjoyed exchanging ideas with him . Other posters were very informed about the scene in the 50's and 60's and there were plans to compile one contributor's posts to a book following her passing. Someone also posted some terrific black and white photos of the jazz scene in the 1970s that were brilliant. However, some posters were unpleasant and even if the bulk of the musicians who contributed could be really interesting (e.g guitarist Vic Juris) there was one pianist who was the son of a famous 1950s jazz guitarist who was a total c*ck. I haven't visited the forum for ages but it did get dull a long time ago even if useful for finding out who to keep an ear out for.

[Lat-Literal]

Having dipped into it from time to time as a reader, I do think it is something of a loss, especially as I can't currently find an archive of past posts.

[Ian Thumwood]

The AAJ website has quite a distinctive personality. I enjoy the interviews they post and some of the record reviews have you heading off in interesting directions trying to explore things. They seem to do quite a lot to foster little known musicians , especially those self-producing material which I think is a good thing. The "big hitters" scarcely get over-exposed and when they are featured I find that the perspectives are appreciative and well informed.

If there is a criticism, I think the reviews are often uncritical and the reviewers reluctant to add anything at all negative. The biggest bugbear has been the treatment of the ECM label which is almost supportive to the point as effectively advertising their output. There is a large degree of advertising for ECM as it is yet the reviews are just tend to verge towards the hagiographical. This is quite funny since they are probably the most recognisable of all record labels and whilst you can't argue that there is an "ECM sound", there are certainly "ECM sounds." Just because of this it doesn't mean that the reviews should be quite so uniformly consistent as well!!

[CGR]

Any recomendations for other Jazz Forums / Blogs ?

[Old Grumpy]

Any recomendations for other Jazz Forums / Blogs ?

Well there's this one for a start. Some might regard it as parochial (I would say regional), but this shows that the interest in jazz/folk* (or is it jazz-folk?) transcends national boundaries!


OG

* Delete as appropriate

[Lat-Literal]

Any recomendations for other Jazz Forums / Blogs ?

A section called "The Jazz Hole".

To be diplomatic, I won't name the forum.

It isn't worth joining if you are on this one!

[Tenor Freak]

Didn't there used to be a jass bored on teh old Radio £3 website? Not archived on archive.org as far as I can tell...probably for the best on reflection

[Ian Thumwood]

It is quite interesting to look at jazz websites and look at their agendas and even how regularly they are updated. I quite like All About Jazz but it is hugely biased towards contemporary jazz and only rarely reflects the heritage of the music especially anything that is pre- Be Bop. The Jazztimes website is also intriguing as , unlike AAJ, it seems to have little interest in the European scene. AAJ will promote a lot of European artists (Trish Clowe's new CD is currently featured ) but Jazztimes seems to rarely have much interest in the Euripean scene. I also find the CD review sections fascinating on these sites. AAJ will promote newer and younger musicians and the albums are generally about 90% unfamiliar acts. The Jazz times site updates every day and chooses less fringe material but can go a number of weeks with no reviews whatsoever.