Down Beat hasn't been cool since jazz musicians themselves were America's arbiters of cool (i.e., before Wynton Marsalis picked up a trumpet). The cover of the February issue depicts blond, white blues musicians Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, beckoning readers with sugary looks and the command "Hop Aboard the Family Blues Caravan!" (Thanks, but I'm going to the mall with Stacey.)
The institutions that rep jazz in the 21st century are simply out of touch. That's why they have to struggle to get young people interested. Who gives a fuck what kids think — they don't appreciate jazz anyway, right?
Are jazzmudgeons actually happy that the Blue Room is run by the American Jazz Museum, kept alive by donations and tax dollars?
It's more heartbreaking that no one is rushing to save the Mutual Musicians Foundation, a beacon of hope where audiences and musicians could forget that Cosby-sweater jazz ever existed.
It's good that Kansas City made Down Beat's list. Better a Blue Room than no Blue Room. And its calendar has looked pleasingly full these days.
But we live next to de Missouri River, not de Nile. Jazz won't be hip again until its proponents get over all that historical-legacy-art-form talk, get rid of the TV-studio look at clubs and just let it blow, wild and dirty.
Showing 1-1 of 1
Thanks for covering the music, Jason. I particularly like the optimism in the following quote:
"It's good that Kansas City made Down Beat's list. Better a Blue Room than no Blue Room. And its calendar has looked pleasingly full these days."
We are doing some pretty cool things over at the American Jazz Museum with regard to programming and communicating all of the great things that are happening. The museum is part of the city and does receive some limited funding and in-kind support. However, we "stay in business" primarily through the support of people who participate in our programs and attend our events. Our goal is to simply get the word out to everyone, and recently, it seems that the public is responding to these efforts.
Beyond the interconnected fact of truly being an art form, the coolest thing about "jazz" music is that it is inclusive - inclusive of most all forms of contemporary musical expression, from the Cosby-sweater jazz to the wild and dirty.
Best wishes for a great 2012!
Chris Burnett
Marketing Communications Manager
American Jazz Museum
http://AmericanJazzMuseum.org
like
dislike
