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Topic: Is Jazz dead? Sacramento seems to think so!! |
Paul Sutherland
From:
Placerville, California
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Posted 31 Aug 2011 3:23 pm |
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I had the privilege of playing this past Memorial Day weekend with the Stardust Cowboys at the Sacramento Jazz Festival and Jubilee. Although we wore our cowboy regalia, we learned a half dozen pure jazz tunes to complement our usual repertoire of western swing and cowboy music. Our act was certainly not pure jazz, but we were well received, and it was a fun gig.
Now it is being reported in the local media that promoters of the four day event are dropping the words "Jazz" and "Jubilee" from the name of the event for coming years. It will now be called the "Sacramento Music Festival."
Pretty non-descript/bland/generic. I can't imagine that title offending anyone, but then who would it attract?
They claim attendance is falling because the young people won't pay to attend an event with the word "Jazz" in the title, and the old folks are dying off. They promise that half the bands/acts will still be jazz. I have to wonder how long that promise will be kept.
What amazes me is that the promoter of this event is the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society.
Seems to me, they (The Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society) should be proud of "Jazz" and keep it prominently in the title. They should scale the event to make the numbers work, and not worry about the age of the crowd. Sacramento is on a slippery slope towards losing one unique and distinctive bit of local cultural. |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 31 Aug 2011 4:49 pm
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Several years back (before I bagged my TV) I saw a "jazz" presentation at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. It was a tribute to some old duffer who actually had to be propped up on stage to squeak a few notes out, and the band behind him was almost as old. The highlight of the evening was when three fat old ladies sang "I've got rhythm" over and over and over while they snapped their fingers. I remember thinking "thank god I didn't tell any guitar students to watch the "jazz" show...."
I Wiki'd "Kennedy Center" and "jazz" and got this:
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| Recent highlights, produced by the Center, have included Great Vibes, A Salute to Lionel Hampton (1995); Billy Taylor’s 80th Birthday Celebration (2002); Nancy Wilson, A Career Celebration (2003); Michel Legrand with Patti Austin, part of the Center’s Festival of France (2004); A Tribute to Shirley Horn (2004); James Moody’s 80th Birthday (2005); and Benny Golson at 80 (2009). In March 2007, the Center hosted a once-in-a-lifetime celebration, Jazz in Our Time, which bestowed the Center’s Living Jazz Legend Award to over 30 revered artists. During Dr. Taylor’s tenure, the Center has created recognized educational initiatives, including national jazz satellite distance-learning programs; adult lecture series; master classes and workshops with national artists and local metropolitan Washington, D.C. students; and Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead—continuing the singer’s legacy of identifying outstanding young talent. |
In other words, old, near-dead music that belongs in a museum. 80th birthday celebrations? Along with Wynton Marsalis' (self-)"preservationist" conduct at the Lincoln Center (and Ken Burn's deification of Marsalis) it's no wonder the kids run screaming from so-called jazz. I was lucky enough to be raised around my (trumpeter) father's swing and able to work my way backwards from Mahavishnu to Miles to Coltrane to Charlie Parker, Ellington and so on; it's hard to see how a kid could connect to anything as it's presented nowadays. "Bebop" is just another credit in school.... Among the pop stars of today, there are obviously a few like Beyonce and Alicia Keys who have the chops to sing jazz - but it would be commercial suicide for them. |
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John Ed Kelly
From:
Victoria, Australia
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Posted 31 Aug 2011 5:56 pm
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David Mason writes: "......In other words, old, near-dead music that belongs in a museum......"
Harsh words David, and I hope I'm not quoting you out of context.
Of course jazz was the pop music of its day and those days have gone, along with the majority of its followers. It may be old but it's not near-dead nor does it belong in a museum. Would you say the same of another minority musical genre, namely classical music?
''it's hard to see how a kid could connect to anything as it's presented nowadays.''
This is true enough, however I have seen and heard youngsters (20ish) grooving to New Orleans style music in my home town here - as presented by their generational peers.
There have been a number of jazz revivals in the 20th century. It's not unlikely one could occur in the 21st. It is unlikely that you or I will be around to prove or disprove this though. Musical styles are cyclic and particularly dance music, of which jazz is a subset, will always be in demand by the younger set. |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 31 Aug 2011 8:02 pm Re: Is Jazz dead? Sacramento seems to think so!!
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| Paul Sutherland wrote: |
promoters of the four day event are dropping the words "Jazz" and "Jubilee" from the name of the event for coming years. It will now be called the "Sacramento Music Festival."
Pretty non-descript/bland/generic. I can't imagine that title offending anyone, but then who would it attract?
They claim attendance is falling because the young people won't pay to attend an event with the word "Jazz" in the title, and the old folks are dying off. They promise that half the bands/acts will still be jazz. I have to wonder how long that promise will be kept. |
Paul, the same thing already happened years ago everywhere else in the country. Look at New Orleans, "the birthplace of jazz". Even their erstwhile "Jazz Festival" is now the "Jazz and Heritage Festival" and regularly features such non-jazz headliners as Stevie Wonder, Jeff Beck, and even Robert Plant for cryinoutloud. I'm afraid the writing has been on the wall commercially for jazz for quite some time... 
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www.JimCohen.com
www.RonstadtRevue.com
www.BeatsWalkin.com |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 31 Aug 2011 8:59 pm
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What I meant was that this is what jazz is being presented as, by the very people you might hope would be trying to add some life to it. I don't know if you're familiar with Wynton Marsalis, but he came under great (and I feel justified) criticism for his attempts to define and limit jazz to what he basically just preferred, which was acoustic small-combo music (only) made by black people (only) with a distinct root in blues (only). According to him, everything that happened after 1965 or so outside of his rules wasn't jazz. It might not have mattered so much if he hadn't parlayed a handful of Grammys into a position as the Director of the "Jazz at Lincoln Center" program in New York, where he was in charge of distributing grants and arranging the concert schedule - and most of the early grants went either to himself to compose concert pieces reflecting the "history of jazz music" - which stopped dead in 1965; or to other supporters of his "classicist" approach. He also offered his "expertise" to a television series about jazz on PBS and a concurrent series on National Public Radio.
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In 1995, PBS premiered Marsalis On Music, an educational television series on jazz and classical music hosted and written by Marsalis. Also, in 1995, National Public Radio aired the first of Marsalis’ 26-week series, entitled Making the Music.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynton_Marsalis
And then there was the Ken Burns project:
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| Wynton's coronation in the film is not merely biased. It is not just aesthetically grating. It is unethical, given his integral role in the making of the very film that is praising him to the heavens. Furthermore, it misleads by suggesting that all worthy post-1980s jazz has adhered to Wynton's creative/ideological imperatives. |
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/articles/arti0201_03.htm
And at this time there was quite a lively "downtown jazz" scene in New York and a (politely) roaring Scandinavian scene (IMO, some of the best in recent years). Electric guitars and basses aren't even jazz instruments (The Book of Wynton), hmmm - I wonder what he'd think of pedal steel guitar.  There actually was a bit of a to-do about Marsalis's assertion that white people have no business playing jazz, given that he is (ultimately) in charge of the distribution of millions of taxpayer's dollars (that was, ummm, once yours). "Wynton presently serves as Artistic Director for Jazz at Lincoln Center and Music Director for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra."
The point being that jazz IS dead*, in the minds of a very large percentage of people who book the music - you have to get 'em while they're wee tots to implant the correct brain module.
"NOW I love jazz... NOW I love jazz... NOW I love jazz..."
*(or maybe just smoo-ooth.  ) |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 1 Sep 2011 5:35 am
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The good news is that musicians will continue to play Jazz for the love of it, whether or not they make any money--some will get lucky and make a living, others won't. Jazz will never die but it will continue to evolve. There are so many tremendous musicians in the world and that continues with every generation. The language has changed substantially, but it is still in the spirit of the great history of the music.
Those who love Jazz and listen must also continue to let their ears evolve. We simply can't say that Jazz ended with "Kind of Blue"--as listeners, we have to grow and open our ears to new possibilities. That is what Jazz is all about.
May I submit for your listening pleasure some great jazz being played today.
David Binney, "All Of Time"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xRNXxXfeCg
Chris Potter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-x4f7o-8E8
Kurt Rosenwinkel with Mark Turner, "Lennie's Groove"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAS87N7iwm4
Chris Crocco, "Giant Steps"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPEtMJ4hbrg
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Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Barry Blackwood
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Posted 1 Sep 2011 7:33 am
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| Quote: |
| Now it is being reported in the local media that promoters of the four day event are dropping the words "Jazz" and "Jubilee" from the name of the event for coming years. It will now be called the "Sacramento Music Festival." |
With the inception of that title, it seems they are trying to be all things to all people. Time will tell as to how it all works out ….  |
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Posted 1 Sep 2011 7:54 am
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This seems to be the latest trend in all music styles. Try to entice listeners of every genre. I guess specialization is a thing of the past for promoters. I forsee much more of this cop-out homogenization, noncommittal type attitude for the future.
Interesting read on the Marsalis deal. If that's all true, then I'm disappointed in him. |
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Charles Davidson
From:
Phenix City Alabama, USA
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Posted 1 Sep 2011 3:12 pm
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I know most of you could care less but it REALLY ruffles my feathers when some of you insinuate that the SUPER STARS of days gone by are antiquated.Hell yes the kids of today won't listen to real music,Look what they have been exposed to over the years. First the punk rock groups like [The Germs],[The Adicts],[Rancid],[Fear],[Vandals],[Anti Flag],[Dead milk men][DOA],[The Vibrators],[Flogging Molly]. Then comes the most vile,immoral,anti musical cesspool crap EVER,Gangter Rap . To name just a few [5O CENT],[ Above the law],[C Murder][Snoop Dog],[Thug Lords].Also ANYONE that condons,or promotes this garbage is just as sick as the loons that perform it.[and I don't want to hear any PC crap about freedom of speech]When some thug wakes me up at three AM driving by my house with a 5000 dollars worth of speakers in a hundred and ten dollar piece of crap auto,The windows literally rattling in the walls,and you can hear the filthy lyrics a block away,about incest,all women are Ho's,Kill all police,etc,That's NOT freedom of speech.Then on the other hand some of you think some of the artist are out of style and not worth talking about.I will list just a FEW of them then you compare them to the trash out there today in ALL styles. [Django] [Rollins] [Bird Parker] [Miles Davis] [Ellington] [Sonny Greer].And writers such as Sam Lewis,[In a little spanish town][Five foot two eyes of blue][sitting on top of the world] or Cootie Williams ,great trumpet player,he co-wrote [Round Midnight]No you could'nt get must[not all] of the brain dead musical illiterate kids today to listen to any of the greats listed above for five minutes.But they would spend hours and hours at a Jay-Z or Madonna concert.     YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.
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Hard headed, opinionated old geezer. BAMA CHARLIE. GOD BLESS AMERICA. ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST. SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC ! |
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