My time in Wichita is coming to a close I'm afraid. On Saturday morning, my father passed away, peacefully, with his wife, my sister and me at his side. He was a wonderful man who touched many during his 80 years on this earth. I'm here for October to help with arrangements and the aftermath. I look forward to getting back to Rochester, but would not have traded the last five months here for anything. 

Click on the link below (if you see one) and you will find the next seven days of live jazz in and around Rochester. As always, let me know if any gigs below are no longer happening or if you have heard of anything that's not in these listings so I can add it. Watch this page for updates.

There is still some jazz at the far fringe of the Fringe.  The last festival of the summer (as it sashays into Fall).  So I can officially say I missed summer in Rochester this year. That's OK. I'm where I need to be.  Too bad the pickings for jazz here in Wichita are pretty slim....

Click on the link below (if you see one) and you will find the next seven days of live jazz in and around Rochester. As always, let me know if any gigs below are no longer happening or if you have heard of anything that's not in these listings so I can add it. Watch this page for updates.

When I went live with the new design, I told you there might be some hiccups along the way and one suddenly occurred (at least for me) when I updated the last post.  On some browsers the new banner image may be mostly overlaid by the first post.  Looks OK in Safari and appears only to be happening on Google Chrome.  I applied an update to the browser yesterday, so must have broken something...  Just wanted to let you know I'm on it. If this is the only hiccup, I've been lucky!

Jazz at the Fringe.  Another festival I'm going to regret missing, but I remain in Wichita, KS for the time-being.  There will be jazz and "jazz-like" music presented at the First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival this year, which I've added below and in the upcoming gigs later occurring after the next seven days covered in this post. Where you see a link for tickets, it'll take you to the Fringe's site to purchase; if not, then the concert should be free (but show up early to guarantee a seat). There is so much more to take in, too, so I encourage you to check it out on my behalf. There's a lot of other live jazz in town, too.  

Click on the link below (if you see one) and you will find the next seven days of live jazz in and around Rochester. As always, let me know if any gigs below are no longer happening or if you have heard of anything that's not in these listings so I can add it. Watch this page for updates.

Well, what do you think?  Over the weekend, JazzRochester got a new look.  For email subscribers, please click through and take a look at the site itself (I ask because sometimes when I hear from you, you say "I get your emails," but appear to have never seen the site itself ... there is a lot more there for you to check out).  Take a look on your smartphone or tablet, too.  Tell me what you think by leaving a comment on the post announcing the reboot or  by clicking on Contact Us at the top of the site (or in the menu for you mobile users...).

Click on the link below (if you see one) and you will find the next seven days of live jazz in and around Rochester. As always, let me know if any gigs below are no longer happening or if you have heard of anything that's not in these listings so I can add it. 

Hard to believe that I started blogging on this URL during the month of September ten years ago (I write "on this URL" because I had been blogging at a different site that no longer exists—Blogsome—from April of 2005, so in reality, I've been doing this for well more than ten years...).  I thought I'd celebrate the 10 year anniversary of this blog by changing the site up a bit. A bit of a reboot or makeover. So what has changed? Here are a few highlights:

• While I'm keeping the color scheme I've had for the past 10 years, I'm giving the logo and banner a makeover, making it a bit easier to use in other contexts and platforms. You'll see this change incorporated into the other platforms where JazzRochester is found soon. 
• I am dropping the "@" from Jazz@Rochester.  Thought it was "cute" when I started, but forgot that it could interfere with using the name as a brand on other platforms like Twitter. 
• I have made the site "responsive."  Awhile back Google made it clear that it would devalue sites that did not have a mobile presence. While Jazz@Rochester had a mobile site, it was through a 3d party and less accessible and than I'd like and didn't really accommodate later changes to posts (which happens sometimes with the listings).  These days the best way to accommodate the types and sizes of screens out there is through using responsive web design, which is is an approach to web design and coding that lets a webpage viewable regardless of the screen size of the device you're viewing it on.  The design of the page should now adapt whether you're looking on your desktop monitor, iPad or other tablet, or smartphone. 
• I'm moving links to other pages and platforms on which JazzRochester operates to the top ribbon. In mobile, you'll find the same in the menu behind the horizontal lines you'll see on your smartphone.
• I'm removing the advertisements. While the Google ads did bring in a tiny trickle of $ (I get a $100 from Google, which is the lowest before a check is cut, around every other year), it's not enough to keep using the best real estate in the blog.  
• I hope that this reboot will also include an expansion in the amount and types of content published on the blog. More on that later as try them out (and, frankly, after I return to Rochester from helping to take care of my father in Kansas). 

As this reboot may help JazzRochester be even more accessible to more people, I'm hoping the makeover will help more Rochesterians, and those visiting the Rochester area, find live jazz in and around our fair city. I also hope that it can become more of a hub for building a community around live jazz in Rochester.

I expect there will be some hiccups along the way as I implement this reboot.  Please let me know if it creates any issues with the way the blog is working for you (happy to hear good things too...). Just click on the Contact Us link in the top ribbon to let me know. Make sure you let me know what device and browser you're using to access the site.

The images below are from early archived pages from both versions that I found on the nifty site The Wayback Machine to show you how the blog has looked over the years.