Marty Khan Interview: About His Book "Straight Ahead"

MK: Yes, as I'd blame any predator. Any beast that must consume to feed its out-of-control imperative. But again, it's the syndrome that's really at fault not the symptom that thrives on it. Let's look at their recent fundraising campaign to build three halls in that big Columbus Circle boondoggle. $150 million dollars was raised—all to build a club in a city filled with clubs and concert facilities. Do you have any idea what $150 million dollars could do for jazz? Health care, pension funds, product distribution and marketing, establishment of artist-driven c3s and the professional training programs needed to make them work, and so forth? Even a fraction of that money could go a long way in addressing those issues.

And what does Lincoln Center do with that scratch? Real estate! I hear they're nice facilities. I mean, how nice can they be? And all these concerned funders, fans, celebrities and so forth plunk down their money to contribute to this, when there's so much need on the jazz scene? Then there's the collateral damage as other facilities try to replicate Lincoln Center, but aren't doing all that well. Just as other festival promoters emulate George Wein, but nobody has ever been able to replicate his empire. Just as no jazz musicians are going to be able to replicate Wynton's empire—as "BeatDown" Magazine recently referred to it.

But lots of mini-versions of all of the above are springing up. Little fiefdoms of exploitation, with their various spins that offer a distorted whiff of actual progress and systemic improvement.

SR: Is this only occurring in the area of live performance?

MK: No, it permeates everything. It's the American way, which until around 20-25 years ago was not prevalent in the world of fine arts and non-profit dedication.

Now the fine arts and funding world have bought in completely. Let's look at the Ken Burns mess. A filmmaker of dubious quality—pretty much exclusively a product of Public Broadcasting—and with no previous knowledge or even interest in jazz, gets millions of dollars to create the biggest film extravaganza on the history of jazz. A great opportunity for the art form, right? True recognition across the land in untapped areas, right? Huge new audiences of consumers who will buy concert tickets, fill clubs and make those CDs fly off the shelves, right?

You know what sold? Videos and DVDs of the series. Copies of the book connected with the series. CDs compiled to be marketed with the series. That's it. Not a blip on the chart for the artists portrayed, not even for Wynton, who was lionized by it while almost everybody but Pops and Duke were smeared.

Those Ken Burns Jazz—think Sherman and Atlanta when you hear that—CDs dominated the jazz charts. I contacted over 30 record stores in 15 cities to ask if people were buying any of the artists' own CDs along with the Burns compilations. The answer was always a resounding no.

Marketing, my man. Mass marketing. That's what made Burns. That's what's made Wynton. That's what we're up against. It's an empty promise of potential success to which not one in 10,000 will actually have access.

SR: So what's the answer? And is there one?

MK: Yes. Knowledge. Understanding. Objective Perception. Unity. Strategy. Commitment. Confrontation. And a return to the fundamental core traditions that make jazz such a profound art form. Ignore these head-fakes and abandon the okey-doke syndrome. There's a new environment provided by technology, allowing contact with potential new audiences that are untapped and looking for enrichment.

Give up this fetid old corpse of the business-as-usual and arise into a world of better possibilities. Let's consider the emergence of cable television back in the '70s. The three networks dominated the entire realm of American television, along with smalltime local broadcasting companies and an earnest but amateurish sub-network dedicated to arts, education and public interests. The three giants pandered to the lowest common dominator, with occasional flashes of brilliance and innovation swimming upstream against the flow, occasionally "succeeding" more by coincidence or the oversight of those in charge than by public reception.

Along comes cable as a new outlet for creativity and focused or marginal interests. The numbers that were absolutely essential for broadcast network success go out the window, and a substantially smaller number of viewers can still indicate enormous success. Innovative economic structures based upon subscription fees, audience-specific advertising sponsors and so forth totally altered the landscape of television.

Thirty years later, the television viewer has a variety of service options, hundreds of programming choices and access to subject matter and ideas of enormous scope. On top of it all, the most successful of all of these new channels, HBO, consistently offers a good amount of highly innovative, daring, artistic, mind-expanding, high-quality programming of all sorts.

The emergence of Internet technology offers a similar landscape that is even more accessible, cost-effective and functional for the individual artist. But it's necessary to throw out some old bad elements and re-adapt others in one's viewpoints to take full advantage of the new opportunities at hand. That means a new mindset needs to be adopted, without abandoning the essential traditions and ancient wisdom inherent in the music. That's what I'm hoping to contribute toward with Straight Ahead.

SR: That's pretty ambitious.

MK: Yes, but big problems require big solutions. And the first, and probably most important step is to open the mind to possibilities, while closing down the human tendencies to be lazy, dumb, and hope for good luck or the grace of God.

SR: Since you feel that there are so many people who can benefit from the book, and to whom it's absolutely indispensable, don't you feel that $50 may be perceived as a bit steep, especially for the working musician?

MK: Man, show me the musician who hasn't spent 50 bucks on a good meal, a sporting event or even a bag of weed. A couple of boxes of reeds cost more than that. A lousy movie costs $25 for two tickets. One set in a club can cost that between the cover and the minimum. But you can't put $50 on the table for comprehensive information about the career upon which your daily sustenance depends? If you're that short-sighted you really need to read this book. (laughter) Really though. Just the non-profit information contained repays that $50 investment many times over. Consulting with a knowledgeable attorney would cost five times that and probably give you less than one-tenth of the information. I've done dozens of 3-hour consultations on non-profit at $300 a pop. All of that information is in the book for a fraction of that amount—and permanent for repeated reference. If it's not worth it to some cats, what can I say?

SR: How's it doing so far?

MK: Considering that we haven't done a great deal of promotion and marketing, really well. Probably the biggest surprise is how many established and successful working musicians in their 40s and 50s have bought it. Less surprising, but quite meaningful, they tend to be musicians who have managed to navigate the tricky waters of the jazz business pretty well so far. But that's not really surprising, if you really think about it. Those who seek knowledge and self-betterment are often those who are already doing pretty well in those areas. Those who need it most are the ones who are least likely to seek it out. One of those human ironies.

More than 30 schools have purchased it, many with the intention of using it to develop a course. That's why I put in so much time developing the Teacher's Guide with Suggested Assignments. The book and guide were very well received at the IAJE Conference this past January in Long Beach, especially among the HBCUs [Historically Black Colleges and Universities] through my relationship with Dr. Larry Ridley and the AAJC (African American Jazz Caucus). We had a booth there and I did a clinic for the AAJC on the chapter of the book, Seven Keys to Empowerment and Productivity that was very well attended and seemed to have a lot of impact.

SR: Weren't you also on a panel about funding?

MK: Yeah (laughs). The evolution of that panel is a story in itself. I'll probably write a piece about it soon. Let's condense it to say that despite certain folks' attempts to prevent it, the committed efforts of Don Lucoff and intelligent moderating by Marty Ashby allowed me to get my points across.

SR: That sounds like it may have been explosive.

MK: Not really. Along the lines of what I said earlier, an intelligent perception carries a thousand times the lightning of a pounding fist.

SR: How is the book being received by the jazz press?

MK: In general, it's not. We aren't providing reviewers' copies—not even at a reduced rate. We had to decide about this when we first released the book, along with whether we should provide gratis copies to institutions which may want to use it as a textbook. We decided against it in both cases. Regarding schools, our board of directors felt that since we're asking working musicians and students to pay full price, it would be wrong to let institutions get it for free. Institutions charging thousands of dollars in tuition fees should be able to invest $50 in the only book that covers this material—and comprehensively at that. The Teacher's Guide is only $10.

As for the publications, I don't really feel that this is a book for review. First of all, with all due respect—and I mean that literally—writers are generally terribly uninformed when it comes to the business of jazz. And considering what jazz publications and websites pay for reviews, how much work is going to go into reading a 400+ page book, understanding its content, and then writing about it from a reasonably intelligent point? Who would put in a minimum of 40 to 80 hours or so necessary to make 50 bucks for the review? More likely, the book would be skimmed, interpreted either generally or from a purely personal perspective of pre-existing opinions (alliteration unintended) and then written about to represent the writer's viewpoint. What good does that do for anybody? They could get all the information they need for that from our website, but it wouldn't be "legitimate" because they wouldn't have the book in hand—which they probably wouldn't read in as much detail as they would read the material on the site.

I really see this as a news item, for which the material on our website is totally sufficient. The first book of its kind, presenting this kind of information from the view of a qualified professional with 35 years of experience? Seems newsworthy to me.

SR: Is it getting news coverage?

MK: Not especially. A few items here and there on the Internet. I did an interview with KKJZ (KJAZZ 88.1 FM) in Long Beach, and one with jazzguitarworld.com. The written media has ignored it.

SR: Any ideas as to why that's so?

MK: Who knows? Maybe they feel that not sending them a review copy is too arrogant. Maybe they expect us to buy an ad first. Maybe it's just my anti-industry reputation. Maybe they feel that the content of the book isn't relevant to their readership.

SR: I don't know. I would think that this book should be extremely relevant to anyone who reads jazz and music magazines. At the very least I would think it's worth a news blurb.

MK: You think? (laughter)

SR: One last item. Other than a brief statement at the very end of the book and some references to "plantation mentality" you seem to be avoiding the issue of race throughout the book. I assume that was deliberate.

MK: Yes, definitely. The smart-assed explanation is to say that Straight Ahead isn't about black and white, it's about green. But really, what real value exists in my opinions in this context? The information I'm laying down here is from direct experience. It would be quite presumptuous and arrogant for me to be telling some young African-American musician what he or she is going to be up against here in the American marketplace due to racial issues. Or how they could turn it to their advantage here or there.

And I'm certainly not looking to participate in any Pops vs. Bix controversies, or even comment on who has what right to embrace which cultural traditions, or which race has made greater contributions to the legacy and all of that other stuff that may be interesting to some. Do I have opinions? Sure. I have an opinion on just about everything. But so what? Who cares? It's not pertinent to the subject matter this book is intended to cover. That's just a no-win game that I have no desire to play. But folks can look at my teachers and the artists I've worked with and try to make their own judgment if that's what rings their bell. I don't care.

SR: On that note, I hope that this book is able to help accomplish what you're intending. Good luck with it.

MK: Thank you, my brother. Peace and A Love Supreme.

Straight Ahead: A Comprehensive Guide to the Business of Jazz (Without Sacrificing Dignity or Artistic Integrity) and the Teacher's Guide with Suggested Assignments are available at the Outward Visions.

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