site announcements Archives - ContemporaryJazz.com

30 Years of ContemporaryJazz.com!

John Hilderbrand — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 14:00:10 +0000

I launched this site, ContemporaryJazz.com, on January 13, 1996. Hard to believe it’s been 30 years!

I had, and still have, a love of technology, a love of communicating and sharing, and a love of the music. I was born to do something like this—the medium just didn’t exist until the World Wide Web started becoming a thing.

You can view greater details on the origin of the site in a series of posts I wrote in 2009.

The site, initially called cJazz: The Contemporary Jazz Site, was one of the first 16 jazz websites indexed by Yahoo! This was years before Google was on the scene. It became a popular music site. Record labels that were hip to the web (not many then) would reach out. Its content was being read on the NAC/New Adult Contemporary (later smooth jazz) radio stations. I updated it nearly daily for numerous years.

When I had children, I gave the site up. I was so caught up in being a father that I didn’t want to do anything that took time away from my kids. Fatherhood has been my favorite role in life. As the kids got older, I regretted giving the site up and was fortunate to return to it a few years ago.

Being a very early creator on the web changed my life. And, as my son points out, this site is part of my legacy.

I will be reminiscing on those early days throughout the year. I have so many memories. In the meantime, enjoy the site’s first logo. It is 90’s clip art, and the logo was probably created in Paint Shop Pro.

If you enjoy the site or just want to say something kind, please drop a message over on Contemporary Jazz on Facebook or the newly created Reddit board! It inspires me to hear from you!

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New Contemporary Jazz Discussion Area!

John Hilderbrand — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 01:47:35 +0000

The ContemporaryJazz.com group on Facebook has been upgraded! Come join the community and discuss the music you love, post pictures, add links, and more. Today’s topic, the always popular: what are you listening to right now?

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Site Update

John Hilderbrand — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:13:51 +0000

I apologize for the lack of new content for the last few months. In March, I pretty much dropped off the modern jazz map. I stopped updating the site, let ContemporaryJazz.com Radio go, and tweeted less frequently. I haven’t abandoned the site but there will be some changes in the future. I have plans for ContemporaryJazz.com. I’m not sure when these will happen but I hope you’ll continue to check in from time to time, follow me on Twitter, or subscribe to the RSS feed.

I’ll give you my idea of the direction of the site. It will be focused on when the music was labeled as contemporary jazz and not smooth jazz. I have so many press releases, magazines, and other materials from the time I started listening to the music. I want to revisit the time when everything was exciting to me.

Stay tuned!

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