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

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

I don't think anyone has yet hit upon the demographics of Jazz and it's 
listeners, as it too has changed with all the cultural and immigration 
into many countries around the globe  which often changes the 
marketplace as folks move about to new and often smaller communities to 
avoid life in the big cities to raise their kids in the suburbs etc, 
and then watch as their kids run as fast as they can to get out of the 
suburbs  and into the BIG cities where it's Happening man and to 
discover a whole new world bigger than the TV screen in Pokeahopesi or 
where ever.   Not to mention all the latest ideas of what is hip dumped 
on them by the Big City Media moguls and major labels marketing what 
THEY consider to be Music.

Money Talks, and when folks stop buying Jazz recordings in mass numbers 
there is a reason for it's popularity to slide downwards, less and less 
radio time, less and less TV exposure, fewer and fewer concerts and 
dances, many many more radio programs, like Talk shows formats have 
taken over mainstream radio, and in the USA in the AM radio world you 
need to speak Spanish to listen to most of them, or like listening to 
various  and sundry Religious programs which tend to steer the 
listeners away from anything that is not in the "Zone" deemed 
appropriate for us by the purveyors of such religious attitudes.  
Heaven forbid we even think about dancing or sex or booze, the 
motivation of millions for centuries all over the world.

Thou Shalt not have a good time !

Cheers,

Rev. Tom- Bob



-----Original Message-----
From: Rorel at aol.com
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 3:24 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] What Killed Jazz? (Verbosity Warning!)

    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
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