For Jazz to prosper the music needs new listeners, a larger audience.  This means reaching out beyond the existing base of listeners.  How to do that?  Who should do that? 

If only the number of listeners had multiplied proportionally as the number of musicians did in the last decade.  Even though there are millions of jazz listeners on planet earth today, we now need tens of millions to accommodate the onslaught of new musicians, and the players already in place.

Every week, new musicians arrive in New York from the four corners of the globe, anxious to have their developing voices heard.  These new artist dramas play out against the backdrop of the other musicians, those who been around for decades, still fighting to survive and wondering why their CDs don’t sell.

The market is overloaded with product, the record boys lament.  Hey, who puts it there?  Each week, the CDs arrive at my doorstep, via US mail, UPS, Fedex, Airborne and messenger.  Major labels, mid-sized record labels, one man operations, CDs everywhere.  What really matters here, the music or the product?

Last year, 3300 releases, new and reissues, tried to find their way into the shopping carts of consumers so overloaded with information and so deficient in leisure time that the only thing they want, and need, is some peace and quiet.

They’re out there, the people who like jazz, the ones who’ll purchase some CDs, go to a club, concert or festival, once in a while.  The problem is, they have less time for the music.  Have you noticed that modern man in this technologically enhanced culture puts in more work hours these days?  Add to the mix, an abundance of leisure time choices.  So instead of buying 10 CDs a year, they only have time for two or three.  The need for new recruits is obvious, fresh listeners to supplement the cause.

Why So Many New Musicians?

The Greek Gods of this music, Armstrong, Ellington, Miles, Trane, Pres, the other unique individualists, they left a legacy that is truly eternal.  Their creativity gave birth to an art that has become a universal form of expression. Our past titans planted powerful seeds that were carried on the winds of change and now, thanks to their inspiration, and the burgeoning global jazz education movement, there are jazz musicians in every corner of the planet. 

No matter what the media overlords preach, the appeal and power of jazz is not to be underestimated.  But because it’s been largely absent from television, most people have never heard the sound of jazz.  The way the jazz industry has positioned the music in our culture, it’s practically invisible.  In fact, to most Americans, with the advent of smooth jazz, the most readily identifiable creator is Kenny G, and I don’t mean Garrett.  Jazz listening is a secret society.

If the record boys, and the men who control the festivals put their money and creativity together, the profile of this music could be elevated significantly.  Sadly, this is one scenario I can’t envision, no matter what my state of consciousness.  Those presently in power lack the two things necessary for positive change here:  solidarity and imagination.

Solidarity in the jazz industry, how’s that for a concept?  Although there should have been a jazz awards show on television long ago, it’s never happened.  Why not?  One only need to watch the Grammy Awards to see how jazz is viewed as the bastard step-child of the record industry.

Who are these men in black hats that cast a shadow over the music? 

Because jazz was first played in whorehouses and bars, a disgusting, money grubbing leech-like subculture attached itself to this highly creative form of expression.  The artists were so engaged in the act of making the music, they lost control of it.  Today, a reptilian jazz industry awash in greed and the lust for power envelops the music as does the cobra strangling its prey.  The vampire-ridden jazz industry is literally sucking the music of its vital juices.  Just ask most musicians how they feel about those holding the reigns of power.  I suspect the most common response would be, record companies and their executives are a necessary evil.  Not for long.

There is but one full-time jazz cable tv outlet, BET-On-Jazz, with programming so banal regular viewing constitutes a form of torture.  Perhaps the battle for jazz on television is lost.

Thank god for the Internet, a medium yet to be discovered by the executives of the major record labels.  Just look at their websites.  There is only one word that can describe the online home of most jazz labels, pathetic.  Rarely have I seen such a total lack of imagination.

The Jazz industry is at crucial juncture right now.  The old system, with the major record labels dominating the industry, is corrupt and about to crumble. 

Next week:  What We Need To Do Now