The History of JazzCorner

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.
- Alexander Graham Bell

In 1993, my daughter Ceora Hope Gilbert died suddenly. Overwhelmed with grief and in need of empathetic souls, I found a way to connect with others who had similar losses via the burgeoning "World Wide Web." At that time, there were still few internet providers, and I began posting on America Online where I became the official moderator of a weekly chat for all those whose children had died at any age.

We'd meet once a week in a live forum called "You Are Not Alone." Though I never met any of the people from the chat in "real time", I was able to find healing, and I was incredibly grateful for the connections. One person, understanding my grief and sympathetic to my financial situation, generously sent me money to buy my daughter a headstone. What a powerful new medium! And how blessed I was to have found this "open door."

My professional background was as an on-air personality at WRVR, WNEW-AM, WBGO and as the NY Jazz correspondent for the BBC. It was simply a natural inclination for me to consider how I might explore this new way of communicating to empower jazz musicians and related organizations. Few people even had email at the time, and so through a list of 100 fax numbers that "JazzTimes" provided, I reached out, and soon JazzCorner.com was born.

On July 6, 1996, JazzCorner.com debuted on the internet with 3 clients. When I looked at the statistics - I saw 100 hits on that first day! I couldn't believe it...and then I realized it was me, clicking on the sites over and over 100 times. My -- how things have changed for JazzCorner, the internet and the entire world!

Now having celebrated 14 years in operation, JazzCorner.com has received accolades from the "New York Times," the "Los Angeles Times," "The New York Daily News," and many other periodicals and media." In addition, we've been the subject of feature articles in "Downbeat" and "JazzTimes" magazines. We are humbled and blessed to have grown to be the home of hundreds of websites for jazz musicians and organizations with more than 6 million page views a month, always going by our motto: "unifying the jazz community."

Welcome to the newest edition of JazzCorner.com! May you make connections to the music, the community and find our portal to be an open door for you!

Please provide your feedback, and we thank you for your support.

Without you, JazzCorner wouldn't be possible.

Peace and light
Lois Gilbert
Managing Director