On this date 16 years ago, I put up my first JazzWax post without images. I wasn't able to do that at first, but it was the start of an adventure that continues to amaze me.
Starting my blog came at the nudging of the late arts and drama critic and dear friend Terry Teachout. Sitting on my apartment's sofa as we listened to music, Terry claimed I knew too much about jazz and that I had to blog about it. When I protested about being too busy (I was a financial writer then), he would hear none of it, saying no one was busier than he was, that he blogged and that doing so was essential.
So within two weeks, I came up with a name, grabbed the JazzWax URL and trademarked the name. I never looked back. Along the way, the blog changed my life, it turned out to be a ton of work and many spectacular things happened along the way.
So here we are at another anniversary. On JazzWax's birthday each year, I traditionally take the day off from posting so that you and I can reflect on how far we've come over the years. As of yesterday JazzWax logged 5,169 posts with 7.5 million lifetime pageviews.
There are many readers and jazz legends who started with the blog who are still readers. I call them "originals." Some originals, sadly, have passed away, and a day doesn't go by that I don't think about them, since many corresponded with me regularly. I'm convinced they are still readers somewhere, someplace.
To give you a sense of how much time has passed, Steve Jobs(above) first announced the introduction of the iPhone in January 2007, and Apple released the first model June 9. JazzWax came two months later. I know, scary.
Over the past 16 years, I have interviewed more than 300 jazz artists for JazzWax and I've kept access to the blog free, making it an open, educational source for readers, media obit writers and musicians curious about albums I've favored and legendary musicians they've known or admired. It's my way of paying back the artists for all of the pleasure they've given me.
With all of that said, I'll leave you now. Tomorrow, Friday, we embark on the site's 17th year. Like a proud father, I'm stunned. JazzWax is all grown up!