The Future of the Jazz Industry

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Comment by Tj Cocker on October 9, 2009 at 4:59am

Kind of Blue turned me on to Jazz. Jam sessions are like going to church. You don't know the sermon until its out there. Ok, not exactly like church, but it's supposed to be full of heart.

Keep on jamming, some people really enjoy it!

Comment by Aja on September 2, 2009 at 10:07am

It is with much sadness that I have to inform you Media Works have decided not to fund George Jazz any longer – the station will not start up again.



The reason the plug has been pulled is purely a business decision. I was told today that because the station is popular it would cost $2500 a month to continue to pay the ISP for data streaming charges. GeorgeFM was not willing to put time into securing advertising revenue to cover costs. Quite simply guys the station was too popular !!!!!

Comment by Ed Skirtich on August 31, 2009 at 11:29pm

Hi All,

Wow! There's some folks really upset about what's goin' on in the jazz scene!

Here are some of my perspectives:

At jam sessions we have to endure the house band playing thousands and thousands of notes over thousands and thousands of choruses on say maybe four or five tunes.

The thousands and thousands of notes over the thousands and thousands of choruses makes no sense at all.

Folks at the jam sets never, ever play the appropiate style of jazz- All they hear is applause!

Jam sets aren't supposed to be "Hey, Look At Me! I'm A Star!"

Jam sets are supposed to be sessions where we learn from each other, and network with each other!

I'm so tired of everbody playin' for nothin' at these jam sets, and when I call them for gigs, the complain that it's only $ 50!

Yeah, I agree, that would be great to get paid at least $ 1,000 or more a gig, but if you want to make that kind of money- Look for another job!

Another thing with jam sets- Stop treating the musicians like crap!

We gotta wait all night to play, and when we're up there- Everybody's yellin' at everybody about how many choruses to play- Let us jam set musicians express ourselves- Because without us jam session musicians WHO ARE VOLUNTEERING OUR TIME WHILE THE HOUSE BAND GETS PAID, WE SHOULD BE TREATED WITH DIGNITY AND WE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO CHOOSE WHAT TUNES WE WANT TO PLAY!

As far as those comments on Miles Davis- Wow- That's awfully insulting to the History of Jazz- I love what Miles Davis did for the genre of jazz- Jazz ain't supposed to be - BADEBADABADOBALABABALEBADEBOPLABABADABADABARABABADABADABADOBALABALEBADEBABEBEBEBOP! Which is all you hear for the 4 or 5 hours at he jam set!

As far as those comments on Miles Davis- How can anyone not love the album "Kind Of Blue"? How can anyone not love the Miles Davis Albums "Seven Steps To Heaven, " "Porgy and Bess," The CD with "Milestones" and "Straight, No Chaser," Miles' suddel humor playin' with Charlie Parker, Miles' interpretations of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time," and Michael Jackson's "Human Nature."

Man, Miles could really swing hard too!

Jazz is about soul and beauty and not BEBADABABEDABABABADEBADABEBOP, Etc.

And those comments abour Wynton Marsalis- We would not have jazz music or jazz education if it weren't for Wynton Marsalis!

Anyways, those are my thoughts!

Ed Skirtich

Comment by Sheryl Ann Roselli on August 31, 2009 at 3:50pm

Aja..thank you for the list to check out. Check out trumpeter Mark Rapp...he is astonishing.

Comment by Sheryl Ann Roselli on August 31, 2009 at 3:48pm

I have just read this thread and every comment has merit. Jazz, as proscribed by the "jazz purists" or "jazz nazis" as I call them, has been elevated to a haute art form and taken away from the streets from which it sprung. It has become intimidating the neophyte jazz listener. Wynton Marsalis is as guilty as any jazzer in promulgating this phenomenon. Jazz, as musical art form, needs to absorb other influences such as rap, hip-hop, pop etc. to evolve and survive. I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. Emerging artists are often confronted with jazz snobbery in the form of idol worship for the artists of the past. Well here's a newsflash, Miles Davis was NOT the greatest trumpet player who ever lived. I can think of at least one emerging artist who can "kick his can" technically and artistically. We can all safely treasure the "greats" while nurturing new talent. Bring on the "newbies"..they are the future of the art form called jazz.

Comment by Aja on August 26, 2009 at 11:29am

This to me is a very explosive subject as in my opinion Jazz Artist/Musicians in general have a god like complex(If they was chocolate they would eat themselves) and are very stuck in there own little boxes and in most cases refuse to move out of it and this is the reason especialy in the states the music is in such a bad state "Smooth Jazz" is one of the main problems and it's killing the music and for what it's simple easy money for the artist (Kenny G has a lot to answer for !).

Another problem is a lot of Artist/musicians are just regurgitating the same old music in the same old style and thats the reason why the age group at most of the festivals are 50 plus and yes i know at the moment over here in the UK the festivals are still very popular, i know i go to them sometimes myself but unless they make the music more accessible to the younger generation know! in 20-30 years there will little if no jazz scene.

Jazz has to be spoon fed very slowly to young people it has to seen as cool again and lets be honest it's seen as a very academic music form to the masses .Know myself for instance i am not a stereo typical jazz lover i have no University education and left school when i was 15 ( i hated school) and i grew up on a council estate in east London hardly the breeding ground for a Academic lol but my mother played piano and loved music and some of it was even Jazz so the seeds was there at a early age.

There is wonderful new jazz around although this is coming from Europe these days those guys and girls are fresh and exicting and are still breaking ground in Jazz and it's young people that is listening to it and going to see them but the problem is the god like creatures I/e Jazz Purist this is not jazz because they use Rappers/samples/broken beats etc you get the drift .

Basicaly it as simple as this open your mind to the new this is the saviour of our music called "Jazz" please no more versions of Around Midnight or Nights in Tunisia Arghhhhhh try writing some new and original music for a change.

Check out The Black Zone Ensemble,SA-RA,Kira Neris,The Platinum Pied Pipers,Nicola Conte,Stacey Epps, Beach Hoppers.

The Miles & Dizzy & Monk have there place but they are not the be all and end all .

Comment by Aja on August 26, 2009 at 11:28am

Hello People,
I have been running a discusion on one of my social site after picking up on this from a gentleman journalist from your side of the pond :

The late Summer weeks are seeing some severe crankiness in the jazz blogs, sparked by a pessimistic Wall Street Journal article by esteemed jazz critic Terry Teachout, entitled "Can Jazz be Saved?"
At first I was reluctant to jump on to the pile of feuding jazz enthusiasts, but finally I relented, and you can read my humble take on the situation. Also, there are links to various responses to Teachout's position by a handful of insightful jazz writers.read more

Comment by CWR (Fan of Culture) on June 12, 2009 at 1:27am

Kara,
Wondeful guiding thoughts. I have found, throught my discussions with many people,they are just afraid. So many complain that we can not get along,but they do not extend that hand. So many "say" they want better ,however receed back into thier comfort zone everytime. Afraid of what they may have to face for having thier own thoughts and ideals.

Again beautiful thoughts.

Comment by CWR (Fan of Culture) on June 12, 2009 at 1:26am

Kara,
Wondeful guiding thoughts. I have found, throught my discussions with some many people,they are just afraid. So many complain that we can not get along,but they do not extend that hand. Some many "say" they want better ,however receed back into thier comfort zone everytime. Afraid of what they may have to face for having thier own thoughts and ideals.

Again beautiful thoughts.

Comment by Kara Puskaric on June 11, 2009 at 11:45pm

What does jazz mean to each of us individually, and as a social species? We have to look at the jazz-industry situation from a few different perspectives in order to be accurate and productive, it seems. The thing is, it's hard to really pin any musical genre or force down as an 'industry' in and of itself. Today, there are a few different industries that have to team up to keep jazz music on people's radar.

Let's call the first one 'the record industry'. This is partially governed by the third industry I'll describe, but it is all about the promotion, release, and accessibility of CD's and recorded material (soundtracks count here, too).

The second can be called 'the performance industry'. While artists often do tours to market the sales of their recordings, this is the enterprise of going to someone's venue in the effort of profiting when all is said and done, spreading the music, and just having a good time.

Now, these are the two most of us think of in terms of music, because they're the practical ways to tap into the actual sound of music. Given these, one has to ask, "What's the industrial climate like currently?" "Certainly not what it used to be for jazz music," is the answer most of us who are at least a few decades old would give. To the aspiring saxophonist, some might snidely reply, "Don't quit your day job, sonny. Kenny Garrett's got this joint locked up TIGHT!"

The weather has been kind of overcast recently because a third industry has emerged that appeals to the infamous 'bandwagon' mindset - let's call this third one 'the culture industry'. Theodore Adorno wrote a good book outlining this concept. Essentially, it makes people stop caring about how the sounds of any given kind of music *actually affect* them. The egocentric teenager eats pizza with her friends and stays up late listening to artists like Avril Levigne who sing one song after another about relationships and such, catering to her ego and interests. The (aspiring) social elitist feels fulfilled for seeing 'such an excellent' performance of Brahms' first symphony after a dinner at Le Mont (or perhaps Casbah for the bohemian or budgetly).

So the big problem really isn't that people aren't buying records or going to concerts. They are. It's just that the culture industry has everyone pigeonholed into their own little sense of identity that they're constantly trying to refine in their competitive scheme to one-up against the next person. The front-row tickets at Metallica concerts don't cost so much more because the instruments aren't loud enough - it's a status thing.

I call it the 'ego sponge' syndrome. The myspace/facebook online interaction game is a part of this. It's entertaining to people, but more than anything, they're afraid to break out of their niches. Today's culture industry, in its myriad styles and genres that are engineered by the business people to appeal to all ages and ethnicities, seeks to take control of every aspect of people's lifestyles. This is what musicians and enthusiasts are up against.

It's marketing, mostly, but the system has rigid, self-absorbing effects. Most people in this climate don't understand jazz as meaningful to their sense cultural of identity because they're used to music strictly promoting the same, and their sense of attentive/critical listening doesn't engage when they hear it. On a fundamental level, they've become out of touch with their essential human nature and the beauty of the world itself - in our case, the harmonious beauty of music.

They want visuals, faces, and the portrayal of social lifestyles to come right through on the surface. Especially among youth, people become desensitized by associating old music with 'un-hip' fashions, speech habits, dance styles, etc; yet while many cannot tolerate music without lyrics, if one day the music in the Pittsburgh subway suddenly chaned to Penderecki's "Thenody", everyone's face would become pale-faced and panicky. People's minds haven't been permanently changed, just trained to operate in different ways. What we really need to be asking is, "What is making people come into this world with such a profound lack of self-concept, identity, and self-worth?"

The ideal solution is going to have to target coming generations and be implemented by educators. A lot of damage has been done to people psychologically, but I don't think the ego-sponge will ever be satiated through competing with others, nor do I believe that the supply of self-worth in this world is limited or that anyone needs a particularly great amount to feel okay.

A small starting proposition I'd offer is that right now jazz can't emphasize competition or careers. It's got to be fun. I can't say I've never done this myself, but a good rhythm section can't just go ultra-fortissimo to drown out an incoherent cornet solo. Check out the live version of Dark Prince from "Trio of Doom LIVE". Tony Williams and John McLaughlin had a LOT of fun trying to work with Pastorius' (really out-there!) playing before they seemingly gave up. It's a fascinating listen.

There's plenty of room for bringing kids to understand jazz as a music that everyone can share. Rock music is, too, and R&B, and Gregorian chant, and all kinds of stuff. But if the great achievements of any music stay in the past, if the genre/style is something that's all about its history and standards and kids can't find a way to really feel justified in wanting to be a part of its' living, breathing actuality in the present time, it's just going to gradually turn into another 'how quaint' part of history that gets allowed a little space here and there to exist in a shadow of its original splendor. We can't shame the potential of all the talent out there by not giving contemporary art its due space. Remember, every artist who ever changed the landscape by doing something different was once regarded as 'contemporary', and some of them seemingly came out-of-the-blue to create their art.

To wrap things up, let's look to Miles Davis for insight as to what we should do next, because he sure seemed to always have an idea of what 'to do next'. 'So What' isn't the same as covering Michael Jackson tunes, but 1959 was also different from 1989. Miles Davis once said this about his earlier material: "Those songs don't exist to me, you know? 'Kind of Blue', I'm not going to play that... those things are there. They were done in that era - the right hour, the right day - and it happened. It's over. It's on the record."

He also said, "Don't play what's there. Play what's NOT there." Hearing Michael Jackson's original version of Human Nature was great, but I sure enjoyed Miles Davis' live and recorded versions, too. Don't worry, just act. The modern world will have its Bards again soon enough. I hope this is found as helpful.

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