By Walter Price
I know that almost every other column seems to be tinged with bitterness!
Well here's the first one for the New Year!
I am personally calling out every industry rat to do a better job at promoting
and pushing jazz for 1999. These rats include all the ones that work in the
jazz print, media, music, and festival business. I am also calling out those
lovable jazz hacks (jazz critics) and those ever enthusiastic jazz Zs (sleepy
jazz radio DJs). I ask all of you sub humanoids, WHY CAN'T JAZZ BECOME MORE
POPULAR WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC?
I see Miles Davis given proper tribute on "The End Page" in Guitar magazine, I
see Medeski, Martin, and Wood profiled in a Rolling Stone insert, and I hear
references to Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, and John Coltrane in
commercials. Rats, jazz is always on the verge of really gaining more
widespread public interest-what should you cheese eating life forms do? Easy,
become jazz pushers.
First, get the hell out of your hole (office cube) and start calling up people
at these national media outlets like CBS, MSNBC, and CNN making yourselves
available to talk about jazz events, birthdays, commemorations, and the
significance of a Miles, Louis, or Billie. Make these people aware that the
losses of a Betty Carter or a Walter Bishop can be as a significant loss as
Sinatra in the American musical world. The very fact that Kenny Kirkland can
pass away without a murmur is embarrassing! If you can't crawl out of your
hole, then nibble on a phone, fax, or e-mail line to someone other than a jazz
rat.
Now let's say you have people working on that and you constantly get burned,
here's another suggestion-work Hollywood like a mother. I mean have some rats
scurrying along to push jazz music and images into movies, scripts, or
whatever. Oh, you got some mouse working on that; how about push some more
jazz in television programming, from background music to airing specials on
network television that contains minimal singing. I wonder if anybody has
tried to sell MTV or VH-1 again a time slot for jazz music?
Now if you say you have rats working on this then I say they're sucking at their
job, bring in hungry jazz enthusiasts to push the music. Stop hiring all the
professionals or keeping all the secure non-transcendentalists of the music
around. Rats, jazz has about 3% of the musical pie, why are all of you
settling for these crumbs!
Jazz Zs, for once can I hear a jazz DJ play "Blue Train" or some akin
masterpiece and get excited about what you just played. Jazz Zs must be
recruited from these "warm" radio formatted stations. Now you don't have to
scream into my ear that you love "Salt Peanuts", but for once get excited
about the music you play. Rats who work with Zs, please rebel and mix up your
format. Why are jazz radio stations obligated to play everything that comes
out on CD? Jazz has so many hits, classics, and grooves; can some Z or rodent
mix more of those into the newer releases? Will I ever hear "What I Say" by
Miles Davis on a non-college run jazz radio station. No, says the rat-"too
long 21:09, too funky, too old, too abstract, and it might offend the 11
listeners we already have"!
Don't worry I will go on and on later about these vermin destroying and
killing jazz. Now all of you know what comes next. All the rats, Zs, and
hacks will be coming out of their crawl spaces to tell me they are already
doing all the things I suggested or they will list a 1000 reasons why these
are idiotic suggestions (push jazz? We don't want it to be commercialized. We
like it that Herbie Hancock is all over the place even though most people know
him more for "Rockit" than Gershwin's World) If so many rats and Zs are
pushing jazz, then explain to me once again why is jazz so damn obscure to the
masses of people. It should be embarrassing to me and all you other rats that
a musician's musician like Tony Williams can pass away in this country without
NOBODY caring but about 100 people. Yes I'm calling all rats out because you
have to do BETTER for 1999 and beyond. On second thought do what you do best,
crawl in your holes, collect the paycheck, don't rock the boat, be elitists
and arrogant, and whine like the rest of us about the sorry state of jazz!
