The commercial success of a film is largely determined by how many teenagers buy tickets during the first two weeks of its run.  If the kids jam the theatres, the movie takes off.  Hence the success of Titanic, or the recent stardom of Adam Sandler, who will receive $20 million for his next picture. With Leonardo DiCaprio poised to star in a Chet Baker bio, perhaps Mr. Sandler will soon portray Art Pepper. 

Accordingly, the music industry also looks for a quick return on its investment, with only the silicon enhanced superstars considered viable commercially.  Once again, we are the mercy of teenagers, who have chosen to embrace artist incubuses in the form of the Spice Girls, Shania Twain and Mariah Carey.

Yet "Kind of Blue" is still on the charts.  This week at Amazon, it’s number thirty four in overall CD sales.  Since its release, in 1959, it’s sold and sold and sold, yet Jimmy Cobb, the only surviving musician on the date, has never received a royalty check for his participation.  He ain't bitter, though, just bittersweet, as Rahsaan used to say.

I believe the profile for jazz has actually been elevated in recent times. Although the music is large absent from television or radio, which are controlled by conglomerates, there are more listeners than ever.

I was in my local Barnes and Noble the other day and during the forty minutes I spent in the store, they played Ben Webster, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Chet Baker, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins.  I wonder who programmed that.

Over at the local Starbucks, they were selling a CD compilation of Impulse artists, the second in a series.  The first, produced in cooperation with Blue Note Records, sold over 25,000 copies in less than a month.

A Broadway play, called "Sideman," which started in a small theatre and worked its way uptown, tells the story of a trumpeter and his travails in the music business.  It’s been running for almost a year now and although the characters are stereotypes and the drama half-baked, audiences continue to support it.  It's a jazz story they find endearing.

I’ve also seen an increase in the number of advertisements utilizing jazz artists.  Traditionally, print ads for tobacco and liquor have included jazz musicians but now, a more upscale demographic is evident. Why else would Coach, a product whose market is primarily affluent WASPs, feature Cassandra Wilson in their ads?

Maybe Jazz is more commericial than the naysayers would have us believe.