[Dixielandjazz] What Killed Jazz? (Verbosity Warning!)

[Rorel at aol.com]

Steve makes some excellent points in his post on this thread.  As with  all 
opinions and interpretations, I agree with most, take issue with some.   One 
point on which I disagree I'd like to mention here very briefly.
 
I make my living on the periphery of the jazz world.  Some would say I  am 
right smack dab in the middle of it but I am by nature a modest fellow.   Much 
of my daily bread is put on the table by many of these bop -- actually  
neo-bop, or post-bop players.  I do not find the music is dead, unpopular  or 
non-communicative.  I imagine that most listers would enjoy the records  made by 
Cedar Walton, Bill Charlap, Houston Person, David "Fathead" Newman, Eric  
Alexander, Curtis Fuller and others and these are just the ones that are within  my 
own personal frame of reference.  I could extend the list to include  Dave 
McKenna, Kenny Davern, Warren Vaché (not exclusively a trad player), Diana  Krall 
and Harry Connick Jr (both fine pianists who I wish would keep their  mouths 
shut), Joe Lovano et al.  As a matter of fact, I would say that this  type of 
music by this type of player is the most popular jazz out there  today.  David 
Newman's record "I Remember Brother Ray," for a small  independent label, was 
the most played record on jazz radio in 2005 -- beating  out all the big boys 
like Verve, Blue Note and Concord.  The little  independent label where David 
records has been the most-heard jazz record  label in the country for at least 
three years.  So I would not say jazz was  dead, nor would I say that post-bop 
jazz killed it or that it was even  'unpopular.'
 
One thing that you did not mention in the change of the public's awareness  
of jazz was radio.  In 1929 radio sales established a record that would not  be 
equaled until 1935.  Back then music – all kinds – was radio’s leading  
program form.  And popular music  was, by far, the favorite.  This was a special 
time on the American entertainment scene –  a time when the dividing line 
between jazz and pop was becoming blurred, in  anticipation of the big band/swing 
era, a time when Abel Green’s Variety’s first-string band reviewer  could 
write in a July, 1930 issue, “Say what you will, the average radio fan  prefers a 
straight dance band combo.” 
 
But, as history keeps reminding us, the quicksands of American  show biz 
shift inexorably to make way for new entertainment forms and  idols.  By 1932, 
comedy and variety  were replacing dance music as radio’s favorite programming 
staple:  Rudy Vallee, Russ Colombo and Bing  Crosby popularized crooning; 
vaudeville re-treads like Eddie Cantor, Jack Benny,  Ed Wynn, Al Jolson and Burns 
and Allen were swarming over the dial; the  deepening Great Depression helped 
promulgate radio as “the theater of the mind,”  with listeners demanding more 
drama; and the war clouds over Europe strengthened  radio’s prowess as the 
obvious source for instantaneous news reporting.  Radio’s first “program king” 
was  banished. 
Of course, people were still buying records but this was the  great 
Depression and it was more thrifty to stay home and listen the radio --  probably 
bought pre-1930 -- than to go out and pay 35-cents for a  record. 
I could go on, but I do have a day job and must get to  it.  I am not putting 
this forward as THE reason jazz fell from its once  exalted status as 
America's Popular Music but merely offer this as one of the  reasons.  Cultural 
shifts occur gradually over a period of time and for  many reasons.  Perhaps, with 
enough posts on the subject, we will be able  to piece together something 
resembling the truth. 
Respectfully submitted, 
Ray Osnato 
Leader of the Irish Jazz Band - Ray Osnato and the Cork  Screws