In the space of less than two months, the COVID-19 pandemic transformed our world—and completely altered the lives (and, in many cases, the livelihoods) of everyone in the jazz community. Treasured artists have died. Those left behind face an indefinite future with no work. Cultural institutions have closed their doors and canceled their seasons. The club, theater, and festival businesses have, for all intents and purposes, ceased to exist as we knew them. In their place, a dizzying range of online events is springing up—from daily solo performances to more ambitious concert series, even festivals of a sort—giving musicians a chance to continue working and fans an opportunity to hear them, see them, and support them.
At times, it seems impossible to keep up with the changes that are happening every day. But here at JazzTimes, we’re trying our best. That’s why we created this new section of our website, which aims to help guide jazz lovers through an age of high uncertainty. For the duration of the crisis, we’ll continue to update the list of cancellations, postponements, and reschedulings on our blog. We’ve revamped our events calendar to focus on online events, and put together a page that draws attention to the Internet offerings, both new and archival, of various cultural organizations and independent artists. (If you’d like to add an event to our calendar, you can do so by going to this page and filling in the form.)
Last but certainly not least, we’re honoring the memories of those who’ve been struck down by the COVID-19 coronavirus with a special photo gallery page; each photograph contains a link to an obituary (which you can, of course, also find by searching our Tributes & Obituaries section).
During this unprecedented time, we fervently hope that all of our readers and their families stay healthy and safe. Together, even when socially distanced, we can make it through; let’s do everything we can to keep life—and music—going strong.
Originally Published
