In Spotted we highlight clippings from elsewhere on the jazz Internet and in print from sites we appreciate a whole lot and who tirelessly and effectively promote the music that we all wished - taking their inspirational lead as a best practice example - could get a whole lot more exposure inspired by their efforts.
When marlbank first started I remember chatting over a decade ago to the fine UK jazz writer Peter Vacher author of Swingin' On Central Avenue: African American Jazz in Los Angeles and a long time erudite contributor of obituaries to The Guardian in the lobby of the Barbican before a gig. Peter asked who do you admire online? ''Easy - JazzWax'' was the impulsive response then. As now.
In Jazz Wax their tribute to iconic guitarist Kenny Burrell who turned 93 this week is worth a few clicks. We reckon - and no the cheque isn't in the post - the site based in the US is best online just about anywhere for the regularity of its historical deep dives and much better than even Downbeat in that regard which could - and should - do more online given that nearly all the jazz journalism action is online these days. Dear reader, ask yourself when was the last time you stood in a newsagent's - good luck with finding one of those - and should you have located the site of the retail Holy Grail found one that deigned to stock a specialist jazz magazine? No, me, neither. Those pre-Internet places are long gone, the bigger shops long since converted into mobile phone boutiques or god help us juice bars. If they do sell anything in print - and where we are that tends to be in filling stations and the likes of Tesco - it's probably a range of daily papers only and a few TV listings magazines that the telly addict pensioner community still seems to cherish more than most and snaffle up eagerly before shuffling tillwards.
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