by Patrick Jarenwattananon
I’ve been in conferencing in Boston this week, and staying at a friend’s apartment stuck in the dark ages sans Internet. So no link dump this week.
But I did want to compile some of the responses to the Terry Teachout piece which has so inflamed the Jazz Internet. You say anything resembling “___ Is Dead” and immediately everyone with a rectal orifice — i.e. an opinion, per the saying — gives his or her two cents. I’ll grant Mr. Teachout this (in addition to being a worthwhile read on many other topics): if he only meant to start up this discussion, he succeeded. In no particular order:
Howard Mandel
David Brent Johnson
Jason Parker
Marc Myers
Peter Hum
Tim Niland
Doug Ramsey
Chris Rich
David Adler
And of course, me. Send any further comments.
Let us note that Teachout has a real point which many are overlooking in favor of constructing a slightly off-topic “Jazz Is Dead” straw man. He is citing a disturbing trend in empirical data, and our counter-citing of many positive things does not change the fact that — if the data are to be believed — jazz has declined in its U.S. audience in recent years at a somewhat alarming rate. Even if jazz fans will never completely disappear, much like George Costanza, we ought to be concerned about shrinkage. But Teachout’s seeming conclusion that there is little to be done seems to reflect a leap in logic, plus a disturbing blindness to those efforts which are on the ground now.
Not to say that there isn’t much work to be done with these efforts. It’s my opinion, and I think the consensus opinion of every rectal orifice with a jazz blog, that the presentation of jazz does need to change. Not the music itself: rather, how it’s marketed, put on in concert, promoted, talked about, written up, broadcast. Jazz is generally lagging on the Web compared to the other musics which young people actually do get into en masse (though did anyone see that RIP Rashied Ali got picked up by both Brooklyn Vegan and Pitchfork?), which is part of we started this whole ABS endeavor, and why I’m at a Cambridge, Mass. coffee shop typing this out with my so-called spare time. Not all of them will succeed, these initiatives and musicians behind them. But even in my limited years, I have good reason to believe that some will. I mean, it always works out, right?
Enough. Read about some folks who are getting it right so far.
