I just added a new menu item to the main navigation bar: Atlanta Jazz
From looking at my traffic logs, it's pretty clear that most of my regular visitors do NOT live in Atlanta. And, while I have received messages from many of my visitors, I've never heard from anyone in Atlanta. So, why am I adding an entire section for Atlanta jazz?
Atlanta has some FANTASTIC jazz musicians, but like many cities, it struggles to develop a large enough audience to support more than two or three jazz clubs. Over the past couple of years I've been trying to think of ways that I could help grow the Atlanta jazz scene, but due to time constraints I haven't done anything aside from attending concerts and writing about a few of them on my jazz blog.
Recently, my favorite Atlanta jazz club closed down. It was nearby, low-key, and featured great jazz musicians. I felt so comfortable there that I had imagined myself playing at one of its jam sessions --not anytime soon, of course, I still have a long way to go! So, when it went under due to a lack of support, I decided I absolutely had to get more involved with the Atlanta jazz scene. And where better to start than on this site!
SEARCH ENGINES LIKE ME
Several Atlanta jazz musicians have Web sites and so do some of the Atlanta jazz clubs. Unfortunately, most of them have relatively weak search engine positioning (for a variety of reasons) and therefore don't rise to the top of common search engine queries. This website, on the other hand, has relatively good search engine positioning for the topics I regularly talk about. In fact, I barely even mention Atlanta on this site, yet I already have good positioning for some combinations of "Atlanta" and "jazz" (try a Google search for atlanta jazz jam session).
Given my ability to get good search engine positioning, and given the difficulty there is in finding decent information about Atlanta jazz musicians, jazz clubs, and concerts, I thought I should take the plunge and create a section of my site devoted to promoting the jazz in Atlanta. With any luck, I'll succeed in driving at least a few more people to Atlanta jazz clubs and events.
And away we go...
BTW, you can jump right to the Atlanta Jazz section of this site with the following easy-to-remember URL: ATLjazz.com
Just stumbled across your site, and I agree we need to do more to promote jazz clubs & musicians here in Atlanta. For my part, I've been working with a new site called podbop.org to make sure Atlanta's jazz events are properly represnted.
Podbop is an automatically generated podcast that uses the MP3s artists have already posted for download on their websites to let you listen to the acts that are going to be playing in your town. Try clicking my link to see a list for Atlanta.
I've been making sure all the jazz events in Atlanta get properly represented in the feed. If you try it out, let me know if you see any problems in the Atlanta feed.
Rick,
Great job with the site, man! This is going to be a huge asset to the Atlanta jazz (& trumpet) scene. Congrats & THANK YOU!
Ken
We're starting a monthly Jazz event at the Crowe's Nest in College Park. We will be featuring new talent in upcoming events. You're welcome to submit your press kit to us. (770)306-2244
Coming April 1, 2007: Alex Bugnon and Ken Ford @ The Crowe's Nest Megaplex 5495 Old National Hwy. 2 shows, 6pm and 9pm. Tickets available at www.ticketalternative.com www.da-stage.com and charge by phone 1 877-725-8849
Hi Rick,
Keep up the great work! I've been reading your blog sporadically for the past couple of years and finally am getting around to telling you how much I like it. So much great information and the right spirit for getting the word out about Jazz music in Atlanta. Take care,
Laura
Hi Rick, my name is Toby and I sat next to you briefly last night at the Future of Jazz Competition. I read your story on this site and think we have a lot of things in common, so I thought I'd give you a shout-out. I play the trumpet as well as the sax and go to some local jam sessions occasionally. I am also a programmer, as well as wrote the software for my own blog=) I applaud your efforts towards learning and I like your humble attitude towards it. Maybe we'll bump into each other again some time.
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