My friend Lee pointed out that Rhapsody.com is weak on jazz, so I decided to test it. I went to Jazz Review and checked the 11 albums that are marked “New” on the Jazz CD Review Database. Rhapsody only had 5 of the 11. However, 3 of the 6 that weren’t on Rhapsody were missing from Amazon.com as well. How obscure are some jazz CDs?
Albums on Rhapsody
- Future Day by David Finck
- Night Town by The Hot Club of Detroit
- I Had the Craziest Dream by David Berger Octet
- Bluelisted by JW Jones
- Do5 by Mahogany Frog
Albums not on Rhapsody
- Dry Bridge Road by Noah Preminger Group
- Explorations by David Leonhardt Trio
- Renewal by various
- Vicky Christina Barcelona soundtrack
- Home by Kelley Johnson
- Incandescence by Bill Stewart
Over at JazzTimes.com I found five reviews listed online from their September issue and Rhapsody had 3 of the 5.
- Here and Gone by David Sanborn (Rhapsody)
- Encuentro by Afro-Cuban Jazz Project
- Stompin’ the Blues by Harry Allen-Joe Cohn Quartet (Rhapsody)
- I Am I Am by JD Allen Trio (Rhapsody)
- Tenor Talk by Jerry Bergonzi
That’s 8 out of 16, or .500 batting average for Jazz using this simple test. Not bad, but not anywhere like the Rhapsody’s success with pop music.
Lee also asked about world music. I went to RootsWorld.com and checked their first 10 album reviews, and Rhapsody had 7 out of 10.
Albums on Rhapsody
- Lonquén by Francesca Ancarola
- Duo by Bibaia
- Here to Stay by BR6
- 3 Nights by Zulya and the Children of the Underground
- Teknochek Collision by Slavic Soul Party!
- Alevanta! by Benjamin Escoriza
- Klezmer at the Cotton Club by Helmut Eisel and Band
Albums not on Rhapsody
- Essai by Bastien Lucas
- English Country Garden by Jenny McCormick
- Orm by Sågskära
This really shows how little I know about jazz and world music. I had only heard of David Sanborn before. If also shows I’m not making full use of Rhapsody.com. I could create quite a musical education regimen if I just made myself try one new album a day from diverse musical sources.
I wonder if there are any bloggers out there who are subscribers to Rhapsody that try to review as many albums as they can. If I was retired, I think I would be tempted to start an “Album of the Day” site.
Jim
Auxiliary Memory 
I purchased two jazz albums today from Amazon (MP3):
Jeff Coffin’s album Mutopia. Not available from Rhapsody
Charlie Peacock’s album Love Press Ex-Curio, which is available from Rhapsody. Amazon classifies this album as jazz, while Rhapsody lists it under rock/pop.
I was also hoping to download Bona Fide’s album Voodoo Lounge, but it’s not available for downloading from Amazon or Rhapsody. Amazon sells the CD.
I wonder why jazz lags behind in the move to the digital world? Do they have more tiny independent labels, or are jazz fans older and not into MP3s yet?
By the way, I checked to see if several of these albums might be on eMusic.com – but they weren’t. eMusic.com seems to be a whole different universe of music.