Welcome to the new RVAJazz!

RVANews is the new home of RVAJazz. We have been very excited about this transition, and today marks the launch of the new site! Come inside to learn more…

October 1, 2009; 6:00 AM • by Dean Christesen

RVANews is the new home of RVAJazz. We have been very excited about this transition, and today marks the launch of the new site! I’m proud to be a part of the RVANews team and think this collaboration is a great fit.

Regular readers of this blog have a special connection (affinity, obsession) with local Richmond music. It’s been RVAJazz’s goal since its creation in December 2007 to keep followers of the scene abreast on what’s going on. Now, with this launch, we suddenly have a much greater responsibility: to not only update those connected to the scene but also those who may have heard there’s something cool about jazz in Richmond and who have no idea where to begin, or even those Richmonders who randomly happened upon a post here. This is a great opportunity for each and every artist whose name appears here.

To those who are finding their way to RVAJazz for the first time: Welcome! You’re probably wondering what this jazz scene is all about, so here’s a little introduction:

Richmond jazz is something special, something we’re proud of, something that other cities are turning their ears toward. We’re all friends and we love to have fun, which shows in the music. There’s a little discrepancy with the word “jazz” since many of us (and tons of artists worldwide today) tend to incorporate elements of every other genre until anything “jazzy” about it may be indistinguishable. But the improvisational spirit remains in tact, which makes every performance more exciting than the last.

We’re coming up on RVAJazz’s 2nd birthday — which is coincidentally only a few months after RVANews’s 2nd birthday — so this is the perfect time for a major overhaul on the website. The cluttered and clunky design of the old site had to go. Thanks to RVANews and 903 Creative, the great new design has a smoother look with a more attractive calendar and bells and whistles to go along with it.

Blog posts

Just like on the main RVANews page, only excerpts of most posts are visible on the main page until you click to read more. Read what you feel like reading by easily skipping over what you don’t. Photo posts will look much better than before since photos will be very large. One thing I love about RVANews is the discussion that comes with each post in the comments. Comments are more visible than they were on the old site, so I hope readers decide to occasionally join in on the conversation.

Calendar

We’re now using Upcoming to manage the RVAJazz calendar. The events of the next five days are integrated beautifully at the top of the website, and the next 15 days can be viewed by clicking “View the full calendar.” But if you’re really curious about what’s going on a month from now, you can view all future events on the RVAJazz Upcoming page. The Suggest a Gig feature looks a little different but will still get your event on the calendar. If you want a more direct approach, submit the event yourself on Upcoming. Just join the RVANews – Jazz group and add the event.

Twitter

I’m still on Twitter. Who isn’t? It’s the best possible way of micro-blogging on the go, so the “Recent Tweets” on the right-hand side of the site was a natural inclusion to the new site design. Twitter has been great for live-tweeting gigs and notifying people of great things going on in the moment. Recently, I’ve been conducting Twitter album reviews (or “first impression reviews”) by tweeting comments on an album while listening to it for the first time. I’m hoping to do more with participation from the Twitter community, so watch for that.

These features and more should improve your RVAJazz browsing pleasure. I hope the information you find here on the site is useful and serves Richmond jazz like it deserves to be served.

And if you feel like celebrating with us (which is encouraged), the party is tomorrow night at Bogart’s with No BS! Brass and Compass Rose Orchestra.