[Dixielandjazz] Jazz - Hearing the Good Stuff

[Edgerton, Paul A]

Steve Barbone wrote:

==> Consider this. If G is in the jazz section, and sells 75 million
albums since 1993 or so, and by your theory, those people think it's
Jazz, then they must also think it is indeed, the "good" stuff since
they keep buying it.

My mistake.  75 million CDs sold is undeniable proof that Kenny G's
music is the very finest jazz available.  And by the same reasoning,
McDonald's hamburgers are the best food on the planet.

==> Self Indulgence? Is that what we call pleasing the audience? Seems
to me it is the other way around. Playing stuff that doesn't please the
audience is self-indulgence. (or what I would call "musical
masturbation")

Actually, that is the second point I was trying to make.  We humble (!)
players of OKOM actually *do* aim to please our audience.  

Compare a typical OKOM performance with a typical "modern jazz" concert.
As an example, this weekend the Brubeck Institute at the University of
the Pacific presented its annual "Jazz Colony" concerts -- both student
and faculty ensembles.  We may assume that people attending those
concerts come with some knowledge of what they are about to hear.  The
tickets aren't cheap.  And yet, quite a few voted with their feet and
left during the first set.  I think those performers were being
self-indulgent and were certainly not "playing to the audience," what
ever that means.

==> I don't think G or his clones are responsible for the lack of OKOM
record sales. I think we haven't, except for a few bands, learned how to
play OKOM that appeals to today's mass audience.

I've never heard anybody blame fuzak for weak OKOM sales.  How may OKOM
buyers also buy Kenny G CDs?  I'm sure there are some, but probably not
many.

==> Then again, maybe most of us really don't want to and that's OK too
:-) VBG

For sure, times have changed.  In the past, Louis Armstrong, Ella
Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Count Basie all sold well.  These days
it's Christina Aguilera, Ashlee (or Jessica) Simpson, LaToya or even
(shudder) Paris Hilton.  I've got to admit I have no way to compete in
that market!

I wish the better OKOM artists could reach a wider audience.  I think
more people might appreciate OKOM if they are exposed to it.  But it is
difficult getting our message up above the noise of the mass market
without terribly distorting it.