tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post675549303862146453..comments2024-01-30T06:07:00.152-05:00Comments on Jazz Backstory: The Jazz Glass: Half Full or Half Empty?Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-8468826096456706702012-12-29T12:15:11.842-05:002012-12-29T12:15:11.842-05:00Alec – thanks for your thoughtful comments. I agre...Alec – thanks for your thoughtful comments. I agree that jazz or any art form that becomes mainstreamed and subject to dissection can lose some of its mystery and appeal. By elevating jazz to the art status of classical music, we have accorded it its rightful place as an original American art form, but burdened it with the trappings of the concert hall and academe. But it’s been my observation that educators are doing their best to make their jazz programs hip and reflective of musical trends. For example, The Gordon Goodwin Big Phat Band produces challenging and modern charts that are widely in demand, and arrangers are quick to utilize pop hits as vehicles for jazz ensembles. I don’t think the average student thinks of jazz as being a dead art form, as they might about concert band and classical music. <br />Technology is not the primary cause for the inequity in jazz record sales and concert attendance, but it is an obvious contributor. The latest example is the proliferation of free on-line play-along tracks for practicing which can be useful for both amateurs and teachers. I can’t imagine that Jamey Abersold, the “King of Play-Along Marketing,” is pleased to see versions of what he sells available for free to his potential customers. Technology has always caused disruption in music marketing, but up until this point the customer has always had to pay for the new medium (e.g. LP’s being replaced by CD’s, etc). Now the direct revenue stream back to the artist can be easily bypassed. <br />Thanks again for your observations. You might want to check this link regarding the JazzEd conference: http://www.jazzednet.org/1/en/2013_Conference_Registration<br />Monk<br />Monk Rowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-21993922377521181192012-12-28T20:16:31.526-05:002012-12-28T20:16:31.526-05:001) I do think it's very "older generation...1) I do think it's very "older generation" to blame "technology" in cases like these. If the question presented is, "Why is the jazz audience is shrinking, especially under the age of 45, especially given the fact that high schools, middle schools, and conservatories have students studying jazz more than ever before?", then I think the question has answered itself. Students want to play music they think is cool, hip, progressive, exciting, etc. Music that is the subject of school study, especially at the middle school and high school levels, by that very nature lacks any of the trappings of music that is cool, hip, progressive, and exciting. That's a plausible perception, anyway, when jazz is presented in the same context as symphonic music, which young people also generally think of as "dead." Schools generally aren't teaching music that is currently popular. When an art form becomes codified in general school curricula, young people tend to assume there isn't new and exciting work to be done in that genre. (There's a Miles idea at play here, in that the mass institutionalization and teaching of jazz indicates that jazz has slowed down, stopped evolving, and stopped having a current, forward-looking relevance.) I don't have the answer on how to save jazz, but I don't think that "technology" is a big problem for jazz, except to the extent it presents challenges to professional performers' attempts to make a living, but that's an issue that affects all musicians, and many other professional fields too. (Of course, I agree with the adage that "what we receive too cheap, we esteem to little," I just don't think jazz's dwindling popularity is due to increased ease of access.)<br /><br />2) I am living and working in Atlanta. It may be difficult to slide out of work for a 10:00 am screening, but I'll take a swing at it.<br /><br />-AlecUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02501884339277261975noreply@blogger.com