[Dixielandjazz] What Happened To Jazz?

Fri, 7 Jun 2002 02:40:38 EDT

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Hi Rob Steve and all:

I have been to several places around the world where the latest craze in 
Techno is king, even in Istanbul Turkey or all places.

The young twenty to thirty something crowd throngs to such places and pays 
outrageous cover charges to go inside and stand elbow to butt with each 
other, all chain smoking cigarettes and drinking Red Bull and Vodka, bobbing 
their heads up and down to the noise (and pretending to be sooo cool)  they 
try to talk over the volume of the DJ's and the next morning they are so 
hoarse they can't even speak on the phone.

The same crowd might go out to an American Jazz Festival the next night and 
pretend they understand what is happening, but most of them do not have a 
clue, they are just there to see and be seen and be considered cool amongst 
their peers.

Surprisingly enough however most of them know who Louis Armstrong is and they 
like his music and that is what they refer to as Jazz when they speak of it, 
unfortunately they go to the jazz events expecting to hear music like that 
and many of them leave very disappointed when they are only spoon fed avant- 
garde or modern jazz.

They will soon however embrace Smooth jazz because much of it does contain a 
melody and yet has elements of techno in some of it which I personally 
dislike, preferring to hear real instruments of course.

It's the new generations version of Disco that we endured in the 1970s, they 
have disposable income to spare or at least they want to make their peers 
think they do so they have valet parking for their Mercedes and BMW's and 
Porches out front, arrive late and try to squeeze through several hundred 
others doing the same thing.

Eventually fifty or sixty of them will attempt to dance, give up, light 
another smoke and slither through the crowd out to try and find another less 
crowded place to do the same thing, have a late dinner, a Turkish coffee, go 
home go to work next morning and go out and do it all over again the next 
night.  The Beautiful People are all over the world and this is their thing.

Eventually they will discover real music but they do need to be exposed to 
it, and when they are they will embrace it and form the next generation of 
Jazz lovers.

Entertainingly yours,

Tom Wiggins
Saint Gabriel's Celestial Brass Band

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<HTML>Hi Rob Steve and all:
 
 I have been to several places around the world where the latest craze in Techno is king, even in Istanbul Turkey or all places.
 
 The young twenty to thirty something crowd throngs to such places and pays outrageous cover charges to go inside and stand elbow to butt with each other, all chain smoking cigarettes and drinking Red Bull and Vodka, bobbing their heads up and down to the noise (and pretending to be sooo cool) &nbsp;they try to talk over the volume of the DJ's and the next morning they are so hoarse they can't even speak on the phone.
 
 The same crowd might go out to an American Jazz Festival the next night and pretend they understand what is happening, but most of them do not have a clue, they are just there to see and be seen and be considered cool amongst their peers.
 
 Surprisingly enough however most of them know who Louis Armstrong is and they like his music and that is what they refer to as Jazz when they speak of it, unfortunately they go to the jazz events expecting to hear music like that and many of them leave very disappointed when they are only spoon fed avant- garde or modern jazz.
 
 They will soon however embrace Smooth jazz because much of it does contain a melody and yet has elements of techno in some of it which I personally dislike, preferring to hear real instruments of course.
 
 It's the new generations version of Disco that we endured in the 1970s, they have disposable income to spare or at least they want to make their peers think they do so they have valet parking for their Mercedes and BMW's and Porches out front, arrive late and try to squeeze through several hundred others doing the same thing.
 
 Eventually fifty or sixty of them will attempt to dance, give up, light another smoke and slither through the crowd out to try and find another less crowded place to do the same thing, have a late dinner, a Turkish coffee, go home go to work next morning and go out and do it all over again the next night. &nbsp;The Beautiful People are all over the world and this is their thing.
 
 Eventually they will discover real music but they do need to be exposed to it, and when they are they will embrace it and form the next generation of Jazz lovers.
 
 Entertainingly yours,
 
 Tom Wiggins
 Saint Gabriel's Celestial Brass Band</HTML>

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