Jazz Attendance... present!

EdMann · 12-19-2009, 03:32 PM

Many of you may have opened up your papers... yes, news that's on paper, and saw the news regarding a heartening agreement on the health plan, an agreement on climate change and another sliver which may have gone unnoticed: the National Endowments for the Arts survey which pointed out the reduced attendance at live events since 2002.

Here's what we know from this survey: classical music down 17%. Art museums down 22%, ballet down 21.5% and jazz down a whopping 26.1%. To be fair, movies and sporting events were down as well, but those can be repurposed as DVD's, on different media and the producers of these events have a plethora of ways to recoup their investments in the product. Not so with most live music performances, particularly jazz which is selling CD's at record (no pun intended) lows as well.

Alarmed? Not really. I think most of us know what's happening to our favorite form of music. A slow degradation in interest coupled with a lack of new, exciting artists who can interest the masses, but worse, jazz hasn't changed significantly in over 30 years. The music was codified in the 40's, developed into magnificent strands of thought and sound in the 50's through the 70's and since then has stalled out in a rehash of what's been already done thousands of times over. Visit any of the great jazz clubs in NY or LA and you'll see the same faces playing for an aging audience of those who appreciate this music the most, but young people? Not often enough.

Is there a solution to the inevitable decline of jazz? Not when my kids listen to much else than Owl City and Uncle Kracker. Good music? Not bad, but it ain't jazz and barely moves the needle further in pop for that matter. And we can thank Wynton for his Jazz chair show on Sirius radio, but that's a dose of irony; he has done more to move jazz forward than most yet here's a program that's more a history of the form than a chance to advance it. Today's program: listen to these hip licks from Monk, and wow... Miles learned from Dizzy and vice versa!

You could follow the money, but when JayZ is making 10s of millions very year, literally, who can move that mountain? My bet is on the hip hop nation. Yep, the guys with all the money and the power taking on the promise of looking back and taking a stance in rewarding their heritage, their history and using tracks and ideas from jazz, codified or otherwise, and finding a new audience for it. Now, you may not see Flava Flav doing his version of Milestones, but you can bet that Snoop Dog might, or Puff Daddy/p. diddy/Sean Combs (or whatever he's calling himself these days). There are intelligent artists who can see the forest for the trees, and better, how the trees got there in the first place. I just may make a call! Who better to innovate and recreate than the current crop of innovators?

It's the time of year when most of us think about more than ourselves and when my thoughts go to whence I came and where I'm going. I'm going out to see some jazz and maybe, just maybe the NEA will survey ME.

Happy holidaze,
Ed

Markie · 12-19-2009, 04:32 PM

There might be an answer, let me throw this out there.
A lot of rap is absolutley great poetry but I'm sorry,(to me) it isn't music.
Here's the idea. Use the creativity of rap and mix it with the creativity of improvisational jazz and improvisational classical(an example of classical would be G. Montero).
Both rap and musical improvisation have so much in common, I don't know why the two haven't merged.

RHSbigbluemarchingband · 12-19-2009, 04:48 PM

To me the new age music is awesome, I love the rhythms (hate the lyrics they are stupid and pointless 90% of the time), however I think a couple of bands still hit that really creative side, Panic at the Disco, in my eyes is an example, as they do things that most bands wouldn't do, e.g. they use violins, trumpets, bari saxes, trombones, etc in almost every single one of there songs. But to me, even though I love this new age stuff, when I walk into my grandparent's house, and here a classic such as In the Mood or even when I walk into jazz and we play a great standard, it all hits home for me, it has a place in my heart. I never get sick of any of it, and as proof in my cd player there are two Louis Armstrong CDs, Glenn Miller Orchestra "In the Mood", Benny Goodman Orchestra, and of course a Maynard Ferguson Cd, but I really just never get tired of that classic sound, which is why I don't understand all of this. During our pep rally we were playing one of our Gordon Goodwin pieces ( we also have Too Close for Comfort in our arsenal aswell), The Jazz Police, and every single kid in that gym, was tapping there feet and really getting into it, a more modern piece, yes, but I think everysingle kid out in the world, has a little bit of a love for jazz music. Im addicted to the classic jazz band pieces, but whenever we get in a new custom made piece ( band director is friends with a composer, Mark Taylor), they hit home too. I think on the outside jazz may be declining, but to tell the truth I don't think it really is declining in popularity, all kids have a secret love for it!

EdMann · 12-19-2009, 04:51 PM

That's exactly where I'm going with this. I heard Snoop on the Stern show the other day and he did a rap over a track, which could just as well been a swinging track, and improv'd a piece of poetry on the fly. Sound familiar? This is where jazz can be saved. I throw the gauntlet down to those who are playing Doxy over and over again to create something totally new. When the next generation of jazz arrives, we'll know it. It will slam music upside the head.

And as for the above poster, I'm not talking about band guys who like Wayne, or your parents' In the Mood records. That's exactly the problem: same ol' thing, big band jazz redone for the millionth time. Hey, I know these cats (particularly some of the Phat Band guys) and they're all great, but as Monty Python said, "And now for something completely different."

Ed

JunkyT · 12-19-2009, 10:13 PM

I've written much about this on my blog, including this post shortly after the NEA survey and the resulting article by Terry Teachout in the Wall Street Journal. And I'm not the only one. The whole jazz blogosphere was up in arms about this a few months back.

To me, the problem isn't the music, it's the perception of the music. And much of the blame for that rests squarely on the shoulders of us jazz musicians.

As Miles said (I'm paraphrasing): "Stop calling me a jazz man and I'll sell more records".

If we want younger people to get into jazz, we have to go find them. We can't expect them to come find us as long as they think of jazz as the stodgy music their parents listened to.

Want to see some hip young jazz cats that are doing it right? Check out Nextbop.com.

bigtiny · 12-20-2009, 03:43 PM

I've got another idea. All musicians STOP PERFORMING in public. That's right....stop playing. Let the world see what it would be like to have no live performed music....anywhere. Musicians should play in private and find other ways to sustain themselves for a while...radical I know, but it seems to me that nothing else seems to work. I don't think the general public DESERVES access to live music under the conditions that evolved over the past 100 years.

bigtiny

Rich Wetzel · 12-25-2009, 10:21 PM

The other problem is so many stations play the same canned format of the same short list of dead guys and if they wanted to have any relevance or interest in their own communities, they should do a lot more with the local and regional artists all over the country and the events and bands happening now. I travel a lot and hear a few stations that do this well and generally the music is doing better there.

EdMann · 12-25-2009, 10:44 PM

Ah, you may recall that I'm a radio guy by day! This is a huge problem, although here in LA, the jazz station does dig in and play many new cats. But it's a radio adage that you stick with the hits and don't experiment too much. Bad news for new artists in every genre and it's not about to change anytime soon.

Ed

willbarber · 12-25-2009, 10:49 PM

Joey Pero's new album has a lot of interesting new takes on jazz and classical as well.

Jon Crowley · 01-01-2010, 05:24 PM

Jazz is dying(and it really is dying), because the only people that listen to jazz are those that are trying to play it.

Pop and rock music are popular, because people that don't play instruments or know anything about music enjoy it, without harboring any dreams of becoming a 'musician' as a career path.

The conservative music being pushed by the 'jazz media' doesn't help. Its almost encouraged to play in the style of Freddie Hubbard or Miles Davis, instead of trying to do something different.

You would think that Jazz would be getting more popular with more and more students being pumped out of music school, but for some reason, that's not working either.

Maybe someday all those students will play a video game called 'Jazz Hero'...

12-19-2009, 03:32 PM	#1
EdMann Pianissimo User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 249	Jazz Attendance... present! Many of you may have opened up your papers... yes, news that's on paper, and saw the news regarding a heartening agreement on the health plan, an agreement on climate change and another sliver which may have gone unnoticed: the National Endowments for the Arts survey which pointed out the reduced attendance at live events since 2002. Here's what we know from this survey: classical music down 17%. Art museums down 22%, ballet down 21.5% and jazz down a whopping 26.1%. To be fair, movies and sporting events were down as well, but those can be repurposed as DVD's, on different media and the producers of these events have a plethora of ways to recoup their investments in the product. Not so with most live music performances, particularly jazz which is selling CD's at record (no pun intended) lows as well. Alarmed? Not really. I think most of us know what's happening to our favorite form of music. A slow degradation in interest coupled with a lack of new, exciting artists who can interest the masses, but worse, jazz hasn't changed significantly in over 30 years. The music was codified in the 40's, developed into magnificent strands of thought and sound in the 50's through the 70's and since then has stalled out in a rehash of what's been already done thousands of times over. Visit any of the great jazz clubs in NY or LA and you'll see the same faces playing for an aging audience of those who appreciate this music the most, but young people? Not often enough. Is there a solution to the inevitable decline of jazz? Not when my kids listen to much else than Owl City and Uncle Kracker. Good music? Not bad, but it ain't jazz and barely moves the needle further in pop for that matter. And we can thank Wynton for his Jazz chair show on Sirius radio, but that's a dose of irony; he has done more to move jazz forward than most yet here's a program that's more a history of the form than a chance to advance it. Today's program: listen to these hip licks from Monk, and wow... Miles learned from Dizzy and vice versa! You could follow the money, but when JayZ is making 10s of millions very year, literally, who can move that mountain? My bet is on the hip hop nation. Yep, the guys with all the money and the power taking on the promise of looking back and taking a stance in rewarding their heritage, their history and using tracks and ideas from jazz, codified or otherwise, and finding a new audience for it. Now, you may not see Flava Flav doing his version of Milestones, but you can bet that Snoop Dog might, or Puff Daddy/p. diddy/Sean Combs (or whatever he's calling himself these days). There are intelligent artists who can see the forest for the trees, and better, how the trees got there in the first place. I just may make a call! Who better to innovate and recreate than the current crop of innovators? It's the time of year when most of us think about more than ourselves and when my thoughts go to whence I came and where I'm going. I'm going out to see some jazz and maybe, just maybe the NEA will survey ME. Happy holidaze, Ed

12-19-2009, 04:32 PM	#2
Markie Forte User Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Clarksburg, WV Posts: 1,448	Re: Jazz Attendance... present! There might be an answer, let me throw this out there. A lot of rap is absolutley great poetry but I'm sorry,(to me) it isn't music. Here's the idea. Use the creativity of rap and mix it with the creativity of improvisational jazz and improvisational classical(an example of classical would be G. Montero). Both rap and musical improvisation have so much in common, I don't know why the two haven't merged.

12-19-2009, 04:48 PM	#3
RHSbigbluemarchingband Piano User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 419	Re: Jazz Attendance... present! To me the new age music is awesome, I love the rhythms (hate the lyrics they are stupid and pointless 90% of the time), however I think a couple of bands still hit that really creative side, Panic at the Disco, in my eyes is an example, as they do things that most bands wouldn't do, e.g. they use violins, trumpets, bari saxes, trombones, etc in almost every single one of there songs. But to me, even though I love this new age stuff, when I walk into my grandparent's house, and here a classic such as In the Mood or even when I walk into jazz and we play a great standard, it all hits home for me, it has a place in my heart. I never get sick of any of it, and as proof in my cd player there are two Louis Armstrong CDs, Glenn Miller Orchestra "In the Mood", Benny Goodman Orchestra, and of course a Maynard Ferguson Cd, but I really just never get tired of that classic sound, which is why I don't understand all of this. During our pep rally we were playing one of our Gordon Goodwin pieces ( we also have Too Close for Comfort in our arsenal aswell), The Jazz Police, and every single kid in that gym, was tapping there feet and really getting into it, a more modern piece, yes, but I think everysingle kid out in the world, has a little bit of a love for jazz music. Im addicted to the classic jazz band pieces, but whenever we get in a new custom made piece ( band director is friends with a composer, Mark Taylor), they hit home too. I think on the outside jazz may be declining, but to tell the truth I don't think it really is declining in popularity, all kids have a secret love for it! __________________ "Trumpet-The most brilliant and spectacular of all musical instruments. People hear one note of the trumpet, and instantly recognize the superiority displayed by the instrument and the player. People diss trumpet player egos, but everyone knows it's just jealousy. The trumpet is the instrument of God.All trumpet players are perfect."-Urban Dictionary.com

12-19-2009, 04:51 PM	#4
EdMann Pianissimo User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 249	Re: Jazz Attendance... present! That's exactly where I'm going with this. I heard Snoop on the Stern show the other day and he did a rap over a track, which could just as well been a swinging track, and improv'd a piece of poetry on the fly. Sound familiar? This is where jazz can be saved. I throw the gauntlet down to those who are playing Doxy over and over again to create something totally new. When the next generation of jazz arrives, we'll know it. It will slam music upside the head. And as for the above poster, I'm not talking about band guys who like Wayne, or your parents' In the Mood records. That's exactly the problem: same ol' thing, big band jazz redone for the millionth time. Hey, I know these cats (particularly some of the Phat Band guys) and they're all great, but as Monty Python said, "And now for something completely different." Ed Last edited by EdMann; 12-19-2009 at 04:54 PM.

12-19-2009, 10:13 PM	#5
JunkyT Pianissimo User Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 126	Re: Jazz Attendance... present! I've written much about this on my blog, including this post shortly after the NEA survey and the resulting article by Terry Teachout in the Wall Street Journal. And I'm not the only one. The whole jazz blogosphere was up in arms about this a few months back. To me, the problem isn't the music, it's the perception of the music. And much of the blame for that rests squarely on the shoulders of us jazz musicians. As Miles said (I'm paraphrasing): "Stop calling me a jazz man and I'll sell more records". If we want younger people to get into jazz, we have to go find them. We can't expect them to come find us as long as they think of jazz as the stodgy music their parents listened to. Want to see some hip young jazz cats that are doing it right? Check out Nextbop.com. __________________ Watch live video of The Jason Parker Quartet. Trumpets: Selmer Paris Concept TT, 1946 Martin Committee Flugel: 1970's Couesnon Mpcs: Bach 7C, Curry 5FLM Jason Parker Quartet Jason Parker Music

12-20-2009, 03:43 PM	#6
bigtiny Piano User Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 476	Re: Jazz Attendance... present! I've got another idea. All musicians STOP PERFORMING in public. That's right....stop playing. Let the world see what it would be like to have no live performed music....anywhere. Musicians should play in private and find other ways to sustain themselves for a while...radical I know, but it seems to me that nothing else seems to work. I don't think the general public DESERVES access to live music under the conditions that evolved over the past 100 years. bigtiny

12-25-2009, 10:21 PM	#7
Rich Wetzel Pianissimo User Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Tacoma, WA Posts: 115	Re: Jazz Attendance... present! The other problem is so many stations play the same canned format of the same short list of dead guys and if they wanted to have any relevance or interest in their own communities, they should do a lot more with the local and regional artists all over the country and the events and bands happening now. I travel a lot and hear a few stations that do this well and generally the music is doing better there. __________________ Rich Wetzel Bach Trumpet Artist and Clinician "Rich Wetzel's Groovin Higher Jazz Orchestra" www.richwetzel.com and www.myspace.com/groovinhigher

12-25-2009, 10:44 PM	#8
EdMann Pianissimo User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 249	Re: Jazz Attendance... present! Ah, you may recall that I'm a radio guy by day! This is a huge problem, although here in LA, the jazz station does dig in and play many new cats. But it's a radio adage that you stick with the hits and don't experiment too much. Bad news for new artists in every genre and it's not about to change anytime soon. Ed

12-25-2009, 10:49 PM	#9
willbarber Piano User Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Medina, NY Posts: 374	Re: Jazz Attendance... present! Joey Pero's new album has a lot of interesting new takes on jazz and classical as well. __________________ 1994 Bach Strad Model 43+Bach Megatone 3C=WILL (aka me!)

01-01-2010, 05:24 PM	#10
Jon Crowley New Friend Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Brooklyn Posts: 12	Re: Jazz Attendance... present! Jazz is dying(and it really is dying), because the only people that listen to jazz are those that are trying to play it. Pop and rock music are popular, because people that don't play instruments or know anything about music enjoy it, without harboring any dreams of becoming a 'musician' as a career path. The conservative music being pushed by the 'jazz media' doesn't help. Its almost encouraged to play in the style of Freddie Hubbard or Miles Davis, instead of trying to do something different. You would think that Jazz would be getting more popular with more and more students being pumped out of music school, but for some reason, that's not working either. Maybe someday all those students will play a video game called 'Jazz Hero'... __________________ www.myspace.com/joncrowleymusic http://www.JonCrowleyMusic.blogspot.com http://www.JonCrowleyMusic.bandcamp.com Buy the new CD at: http://www.cdbaby.com/CrowleyJon http://www.amazon.com/Connections-Jo...5280168&sr=8-1 or on Itunes

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