Where Is The Jazz?

Envy!!! One of the Seven Deadly Sins... and I'm totally guilty of it. Yep. I'm so envious of folks that live in or around New York City, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Boston, and Kansas City that I can't stand it. Anywhere that has a thriving jazz scene must be like heaven on Earth, right?

I mean, how great would it be to just be able to run down to the Village Vanguard on a Tuesday night, slip into Smalls on a lazy Sunday afternoon, or check out Yoshi's on date night with your significant other? What would it be like to step inside Preservation Hall on a whim to catch the All-Stars because you heard that a special guest might be appearing? It would be so cool to seek out and find the lesser known local spots where all the cats hang as well. It would be beyond my wildest dreams to stumble into a joint and see Ed Cherry or Gerald Clayton sitting there. Not that I would approach them and bother them per se, but just to know that these superstars that I've only ever seen on YouTube, heard their music, or read about are at least three dimensional real people... and they are sitting right there!!!

You see, I bring this up because I live in rural Kentucky... and when I say "rural..." I mean RURAL!!! I live in a county that has a total of three stoplights. Cattle outnumber people 2 to 1. We have more churches than convenience stores. The county seat has a population of just over 2,000 and the entire county as a whole only has about 20,000 residents and that's with a land size that ranks as the 6th largest in the state. So, needless to say, that's a lot of open space. Growing up I did have neighbors, but they lived ¼ mile away. To imply that I live in the middle of nowhere could be seen as a gross understatement.

Now, don't get me wrong there are a lot of things that I love about where I live. The beauty of the countryside and its rolling hills. The peace and quiet. The complete and utter kindness of the people. Violence is practically non-existent. It is a great place to raise a family. Kids play outside without parental supervision for goodness sake. People still wave at each other and most people know each other. True story, I once dialed the wrong phone number and realized that I did indeed know of the person on the other end and we continued to carry on a conversation for 30 minutes because I knew their first cousin. Things such as this make where I live seem like Mayberry and I realize that I'm so lucky in many ways and many would be envious of me and trade lifestyles in a heartbeat.

There is one giant thing missing for me though. That's jazz, the jazz lifestyle, and the jazz culture. It's so elusive that it is even hard to find books about jazz in our local library. Our state is not a hotbed when it comes to jazz either. On occasion, a jazz act may pass through Louisville, which is about 70 miles from my location, or Lexington, which is even further, however those are few and far between. The closest urban areas that provide major jazz performances with any regularity may be Indianapolis or Nashville, yet that would require some considerable planning and nearly half a day of driving just to get there and back. When attending any type of event around my area the primary forms of music are country, bluegrass, and gospel. All great genres in their own right with some amazingly skillful musicians and vocalists no doubt. I can totally appreciate the level of talent and expertise they all have and maybe I take it for granted. I'm not sure. Although, I do know that's not entirely what I'm looking for nor is it the type of music that grabs my heart.

Sometimes I just want to find a like-minded person and speak face to face about the new Joel Ross or Charles Lloyd album.

So, what's a fella like me to do? Start my own jazz scene? Surely others around here have to like jazz and its culture, right? I can't be the only one, can I? What do others that live in small towns across the country and world do in situations like this?

One good thing is that we have our World Wide Web, streaming services, the ability to buy albums, and read websites like All About Jazz to keep us in the loop, which helps in making the world a little bit smaller when it comes to creating social networks of compatible individuals as well as jazz enthusiasts.

I tend to find that people with a strong desire seek out their passions and are usually driven to create for themselves what is lacking. That seems to be the case for any sort of endeavor really. I guess that's what I need to do. Create for myself and others. That might help in maintaining some sort of sanity. Even though it may drive me the other way.

Maybe it's a lost cause. Maybe that's just the way it is and the way it always will be in places with limited cultural exposure with respect to metropolitan humanities. All I know is that I'm going to keep plugging away, keep searching, and I'm going to keep trying to spread the good word on jazz. I love it too much not to. Who knows, I may be able to convert someone along the way?

Thanks for reading everyone. Check back next time and see what we have on the smoker at The Jazz BBQ. Where we are always cookin' up some tasty tunes and discussing the wonderful world of jazz.

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Posted to Jazz BBQ IN THE Jazz Discovery GROUP
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Location: Louisville