Audiences for live jazz from East Coast to West, North border to South, all points between and some beyond are using Twitter and the hashtag #jazzlives to buzz about bands and venues they like. A campaign begun to encourage “anecdotal evidence” that demonstrates a vibrant listenership for America’s indigenous music has resulted in hundreds of brief messages — some with links to photos of crowds, video and podcasts. No final count yet; this weekend could be big with jazz fests at Tanglewood, Detroit, Chicago, LA, Philly, Aspen, Vail, etc. And this experiment isn’t statistically relevant, just a volunteer shout-out. But people all over have big ears and broad tastes, as their little tweets demonstrate. Count yourself in by tweeting (Twitter accounts are free), using #jazzlives — as individuals have in the following samples –
themikewest Jose James at Bohemian Caverns last night (9/3). Why isn’t this guy the toast of the jazz world?#jazzlives [Washington DC]
luckyoldsouls Phil Giordano Jazz Orchestra at O’Reillys, Frankford & Lehigh. Big band #jazzlives #fb [Philadelphia]
bgporter Emilio Teubal & La Balteuband, downtown Westfield, nj #jazzlives http://tinyurl.com/n773f4
FHNSAB Saw Charlie Hunter +Eric Kalb +Eric Biondo +Curtis Fowlkes at Rose Live Music in Brooklyn 8/30/09, presented by Search & Restore #jazzlives
gjudd1 Giacomo Gates 8/23 Westport CT #jazzlives
thestevelehman Great concert with Craig Taborn tonight at The Stone in front of a small but enthusiastic audience of about 40 people. #jazzlives
[NYC]
checkoutjazz Surman, Abercrombie, Gress, DeJohnette @ Birdland . Yum. #jazzlives [NYC]jasondcrane Just saw Pat Metheny at the Surman show #jazzlives [Birdland, NYC]amycervini Going to hear Richard Roland sing at Cornelia Street tonight. #jazzlives [NYC]
BluesLibrarian Listened: James Carter – Heaven on Earth. Nice soloing from Adam Rogers on guitar employing different tones throughout #jazz #jazzlives [NYC]isitlive Blogged: Spent last night at Smalls #jazzlives [NYC]
cdbjazz saw michael blake at 55 bar with dred scott trio. awesome #jazzlives [NYC]noelweichbrodt by the way, #jazzlives at Minton’s in Harlem, where you can still bring your horn and sit in for a solo or two. [NYC]MVJohnson #jazzlives Moodswing Orchestra, Monday after midnight at Nublu. Nice groove, great cover of “When Doves Cry.” [NYC]fullyaltered At Rose. Mark Giuliana birthday show.@timlefebvre, Nir Felder, others. http://twitpic.com/ga4ua#jazzlives (is this jazz? who cares…) #fb [NYC]biocultural13 #jazzlives boogied down and got blown away at robert glasper’s album release party last night…still feeling it!! [NYC]SarahBaird Does it count as “hearing live jazz” if I’m playing piano and singing through a jazz standards real book? YES! #jazzlives [NYC]jphilipbooth Seamus Blake (tenor) @Smalls/NYC w Lage Lund(gtr) Dave Kikoski(p) brilliant Bill Stewart(d) & Matt Clohesy(b) streaming video NOW le="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">#jazzlives [Tampa, Florida]RVAjazz New @ombakmusic material is great. Ornette’s “Lonely Woman” and Radiohead’s “15 Step” among others. Crowd goes wild! #jazzlives #rva [Richmond, Virginia]
waywardtweet Video and photos from Charlie Parker graveside sax salute in Kansas City. http://bit.ly/TFrT9#jazzlives
joshuatorrey Eponymous @ zorba’s, champaign il, Kenny Drew Jr. @ the iron post, urbana il #jazzlives
bebopified Two wonderful sets from the Amina Figarova Sextet tonight at the Dakota #jazzlives [Minneapolis]
jazzman23 at Sauce in Minne watching fat kid play at a new venue! #jazzlives
kcwebjazz #jazzlives Attended the Yardbird feast and jam session, 3pm 8-30 at the Mutual Musicians Foundation in KC. Some cool YOUNG players there!
kcJazzAmbass members of the KCJA attended the Charlie Parker grave site celebration this past Sunday. What a great musical tribute! #jazzlives
jazzinstitute Mike Reed Trio, Ted Sirota’s Rebel Souls, Dee Alexander Quartet, Ira Sullivan…not a bad evening of music so far! #jazzlives [Chicago]
sbpaul It’ a big band blowout: New Order, tight, (mostly) young players, blazing at Blue Room, KC #jazz #jazzlives#kcJazzNews #jazzlives - Ahmad Alaadeen Leads Sax Salute in Charlie Parker tribute: http://bit.ly/PQiod [St. Louis]
New Orleans
dfrankow Saw Dave Hofgren at the Riverview Cafe & Wine Bar.http://www.davehjazz.com. #jazzlivesBostonBrahmin August 28th: George Porter Jr, Johhny Vidacovich and Anders Osborne, Maple Leaf, NOLA.#jazzlives
BasinStRecords http://twitpic.com/fxrtt - Everyone on feet at Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse #JazzLives
So are we getting a count to speak of?
HM: YES! There is no way to automate a count (at least not that we’ve found so far) as of Thurs. night we had about 500, then from my quick perusal Friday night after returning from the Chgo jazz fest it looked like that may have doubled, especially with tweets from Chicago and Tanglewood. The way to see all the Tweets is to download Tweetdeck (for those of you so inclined) and/or search #jazzlives on your twitter account.
In Chicago, the NEA is conducting focus groups on the fest volunteers today, and Boeing Corporation is surveying audiences about their attendance motivation.