http://www.ejazznews.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=7490&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
I don't live in Japan. I've never been to Japan, either. But I read a story today about this Jazz club that has been going for more than 70 years, and is now going to shut down due to inactivity, and I began wondering about a bigger picture here.
Now, obviously, the "glory days" of Jazz music are gone. The Jazz music market of today is significantly smaller than it was say, 50 years ago. But I think that Jazz music is facing a lot of dangers ahead. I have noticed that more and more, Jazz has become sinonymous to exclusivity. It seems that people are increasingly thinking that the Jazz audience is unreceptive to new listeners or players. And in consequence, they are. Every time I see a newcomer, either in internet discussions, or just normal discussions about jazz, i'd say 8 out of 10 times the newcomer is treated a) As an ignorant person, b) As a waste of time, c) As 'unworthy' to become part of this jazz audience, and/or d)as a nuisance (probably a/b/c combined...). I have noticed this attitude in itself segregates even further the Jazz audience from all others. Most of Jazz listeners have become too damn cocky, because they have been enclosed in this little society of "keepers of the old secret" kind of thing. I swear it's almost Masonic. The portrayal of the Jazz audience as either an intellectually superior, or intellectually alternative society of it's own is one of the greatest, if not THE greatest peril faced by Jazz music.
As I see it, the future of Jazz is at a Crossroads, right now. One one side, the internet and the accessibility to both music and information is at it's highest, and should not go down ever again. That is a great magnet to new listeners everywhere. On another side, new listeners are being put away by the increasingly enclosed society of Jazz listeners and fans, and thus not bothering to try and give it a listen. Now, Jazz is running out of fuel. The old timers are getting real old and face the inevitable extinction, and the newcomers, while providing great quality music, cannot cope with the old timer's recording output because as I said, the Glory Days are long gone. It's getting closer and closer to the time when a path will be taken to decide the future of Jazz music.
I believe that there is one thing that has always been overlooked in the music field, and that is EDUCATION. I don't mean strictly academically, what I mean is a genuine attempt to equally display to the mass listening audience, EVERY kind of music available. Well yes, it's an excessively utopic thought. Never EVER will the Record Companies, radios etc. allow it, as the public won't have the patience for it. But a solid foundation into understanding there IS a choice, now that is definitely possible. There is no way in hell that the future of jazz music is dependant, for example, in the members of my generation, and + or - 10 years' worth of younger and older people (i'm 17..). No this is an effort that could very easily be put out by every member of the jazz listening community, regardless of age, who feels that this segregation is pointless and dangerous. These are the people who are willing to sacrifice an amount of quality, in order to be able to turn on the radio and listen to better quality music at a higher rate. In my opinion, one of the greatest reasons jazz music is not sought out, is because it is not easily available.
I walk into record stores here, and when you stroll into the jazz section, suddenly you are met with a "sophisticated" red carpeting, dimmed lights etc. Basically a room that looks disturbingly similar to my grandfather's study. In other words, purposely built to attract an older audience, who I suspect are the greatest buyers of their material. Younger people who dare to enter the section know what they want. They know they're minority. Whenever the stores dare to advertise a new jazz album, it's 98% of the time something like, Norah Jones, Herbie Hancock's possibilities type thing, that Nu-Jazz SHIT, or Sergio Mendes and the Black Eyed Peas sort of crap. The other 2% is when an exceptionally good old artist, or newcomer releases something new. hell I can't blame them. After all they're getting little money on that section, anyways.
No, the problem lies in the audiences first. People are lazy, and will listen to what's thrown at them. That once was jazz, today it's something I feel ashamed as a musician to call music. Da broda's in da hood etc. Places like that club in Japan can't hold up anymore, because people don't know what they'll listen to if they go in there. They are scared. That's what it looks like to me. Jazz music is feared. Shit, my friends dare not talk music with me, because they know i'm a Jazz fan and Musician. They think i'll immediately treat them like a/b/c/d. Yet here I am, writing a huge manifest on trying to make them understand that any kind of music is reachable at any kind of level. You need not be intellectually superior to like jazz, or intellectually inferior because you enjoy hip-hop. Sure I don't like it, but i'm not smarter because I don't listen to it. I'm not smarter because i like to hear a Keith Jarrett solo concert, or because I know who Charlie Haden is. Once people understand it's just another CD/DVD/Radio Station/Song/Music Style, and they're allowed to like it or not, regardless of what social conditions have been created aroung the jazz audience, I bet many of us will suddenly start getting more gigs, selling more CD's, and writing/playing more music.
I don't live in Japan. I've never been to Japan, either. But I read a story today about this Jazz club that has been going for more than 70 years, and is now going to shut down due to inactivity, and I began wondering about a bigger picture here.
Now, obviously, the "glory days" of Jazz music are gone. The Jazz music market of today is significantly smaller than it was say, 50 years ago. But I think that Jazz music is facing a lot of dangers ahead. I have noticed that more and more, Jazz has become sinonymous to exclusivity. It seems that people are increasingly thinking that the Jazz audience is unreceptive to new listeners or players. And in consequence, they are. Every time I see a newcomer, either in internet discussions, or just normal discussions about jazz, i'd say 8 out of 10 times the newcomer is treated a) As an ignorant person, b) As a waste of time, c) As 'unworthy' to become part of this jazz audience, and/or d)as a nuisance (probably a/b/c combined...). I have noticed this attitude in itself segregates even further the Jazz audience from all others. Most of Jazz listeners have become too damn cocky, because they have been enclosed in this little society of "keepers of the old secret" kind of thing. I swear it's almost Masonic. The portrayal of the Jazz audience as either an intellectually superior, or intellectually alternative society of it's own is one of the greatest, if not THE greatest peril faced by Jazz music.
As I see it, the future of Jazz is at a Crossroads, right now. One one side, the internet and the accessibility to both music and information is at it's highest, and should not go down ever again. That is a great magnet to new listeners everywhere. On another side, new listeners are being put away by the increasingly enclosed society of Jazz listeners and fans, and thus not bothering to try and give it a listen. Now, Jazz is running out of fuel. The old timers are getting real old and face the inevitable extinction, and the newcomers, while providing great quality music, cannot cope with the old timer's recording output because as I said, the Glory Days are long gone. It's getting closer and closer to the time when a path will be taken to decide the future of Jazz music.
I believe that there is one thing that has always been overlooked in the music field, and that is EDUCATION. I don't mean strictly academically, what I mean is a genuine attempt to equally display to the mass listening audience, EVERY kind of music available. Well yes, it's an excessively utopic thought. Never EVER will the Record Companies, radios etc. allow it, as the public won't have the patience for it. But a solid foundation into understanding there IS a choice, now that is definitely possible. There is no way in hell that the future of jazz music is dependant, for example, in the members of my generation, and + or - 10 years' worth of younger and older people (i'm 17..). No this is an effort that could very easily be put out by every member of the jazz listening community, regardless of age, who feels that this segregation is pointless and dangerous. These are the people who are willing to sacrifice an amount of quality, in order to be able to turn on the radio and listen to better quality music at a higher rate. In my opinion, one of the greatest reasons jazz music is not sought out, is because it is not easily available.
I walk into record stores here, and when you stroll into the jazz section, suddenly you are met with a "sophisticated" red carpeting, dimmed lights etc. Basically a room that looks disturbingly similar to my grandfather's study. In other words, purposely built to attract an older audience, who I suspect are the greatest buyers of their material. Younger people who dare to enter the section know what they want. They know they're minority. Whenever the stores dare to advertise a new jazz album, it's 98% of the time something like, Norah Jones, Herbie Hancock's possibilities type thing, that Nu-Jazz SHIT, or Sergio Mendes and the Black Eyed Peas sort of crap. The other 2% is when an exceptionally good old artist, or newcomer releases something new. hell I can't blame them. After all they're getting little money on that section, anyways.
No, the problem lies in the audiences first. People are lazy, and will listen to what's thrown at them. That once was jazz, today it's something I feel ashamed as a musician to call music. Da broda's in da hood etc. Places like that club in Japan can't hold up anymore, because people don't know what they'll listen to if they go in there. They are scared. That's what it looks like to me. Jazz music is feared. Shit, my friends dare not talk music with me, because they know i'm a Jazz fan and Musician. They think i'll immediately treat them like a/b/c/d. Yet here I am, writing a huge manifest on trying to make them understand that any kind of music is reachable at any kind of level. You need not be intellectually superior to like jazz, or intellectually inferior because you enjoy hip-hop. Sure I don't like it, but i'm not smarter because I don't listen to it. I'm not smarter because i like to hear a Keith Jarrett solo concert, or because I know who Charlie Haden is. Once people understand it's just another CD/DVD/Radio Station/Song/Music Style, and they're allowed to like it or not, regardless of what social conditions have been created aroung the jazz audience, I bet many of us will suddenly start getting more gigs, selling more CD's, and writing/playing more music.
