Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the inordinate number of tribute recordings that have been released in the past few years?

When I first started listening to jazz, back in the early 60s, new releases featured artists who played a combination of standards and their own compositions. Their artistry was the focus, with masterful improvisations and intriguing compositions making for memorable recordings on such labels as Blue Note, Prestige, Riverside and Columbia. Not surprisingly, this music has proved to be eternal and today, still sounds fresh. It's the recreations that don't.

Lately, if we believe the marketing gurus who sit in the seats of power at record labels large and small, making good music just isn't enough. With so many new CDs being released along with reissues, 3300(!) jazz releases last year alone, the labels are constantly forced to find some "hook" for their "product." How to market an artist? The easiest way is obviously, so and so plays the music of such and such jazz master.

Hence the onslaught of tribute recordings and tribute bands.

I remember in the late 70s, when Miles' great 60's Quintet reformed with Freddie Hubbard in the trumpet chair. In fact, they did it again in the early 90's with Wallace Roney. It was nice to hear Ron and Tony and Herbie and Wayne play together, but they certainly didn't capture the magic of the original Quintet. In fact Miles himself was skeptical. On a PBS documentary done in 1988, he thought it futile to try and go back and recreate the past. "That shit sounds tired now," he felt. It was music of its time.

The masters of our music and their contributions are a matter of record. Coltrane, Ellington, Parker, Armstrong, Miles and so many others, they have touched us deeply and their music will forever be interwoven into the fabric of our lives. So many musicians start by imitating or copying their improvisations and compositions that they can't help be influenced in a major way.

But eventually, little birds have to leave the nest and fly away on the strength of their own wings.

Like all great art, jazz reflects what's happening in society. Back in the 60s, the times were turbulent and fast changing. People took to the streets to express themselves, sometimes in a rather violent fashion. The music was wild as well, and the players were noted for their individuality.

Our society today is largely a consumer, conformist culture. There are many sheep, and too few shepherds and sadly, jazz reflects this. How many new recordings do you listen to more than once?

Next year marks the centennial of one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duke Ellington. You can bet there will be no shortage of Ellington tribute recordings. But if Duke was alive today, I bet he'd say, thanks for the memory, but please, show me some of your stuff, please.