Jazz Is dead...Really?

This post is a response to a recent article in The Chronicle on the decline of Jazz. Below is a link to the original article.

Here is my take...

Same Old Story...ding dong "Jazz is Dead"...to my knowledge as American Musical Art forms go...Jazz is one of the oldest and certainly one of the strongest.

Since the turn of the century @ 1900...the Jazz/Blues culture has been growing and evolving. The problem is current American Media has a short attention span and feels no obligation to censor the crap it promotes as viable. They feed junk food to our youth 24-7 and wonder why juvenile diabetes is on the rise, they promote violent art forms in movies, cartoons, video games and music and wonder why children solve their conflicts violently. I know I am mixing metaphors, but the reality is the responsibility - like Eugene, said lies in the industries that benefit from our media choices.

People are sheep...( the Bible tells me so..) lead them to Jazz and they will follow!! Offer a thirsty man a glass of clean water vs a glass of muddy spew and let him decide. However, in today's marketplace he has few choices. Exposure and marketing is the problem...sure some Jazz music is "exotic" but the bulk of the music the Young Cats are blowin' currently is very accessible and crosses many "popular" genres.

Mainstream tastes will always lag behind the artists vision...luckily I have lived long enough to see technology open up a whole new distribution vehicle that the masses young and old are keyed into...the internet. Those of us that spend time on forums like this one need to fight for Jazz. As I have said many times..."Spread the good news...Jazz is not dead...the pot is on the stove and can't ya smell what the FUNK is Cookin?"

Long Live Jazz Music!!

- Brian Phoenix


Here is the link:

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/The-Unpopularity-of-Jazz/7631/