Monty wins the war - at a Stretch

[elmo]

Ian

I have lot of sympathy with your comments regarding the Go Go penguin type of bands but the reality is they are sort of bands that younger people want to listen to.
I was in our local specialist Jazz shop today ( yes we actually have one in Pembrokeshire - A W Jazz) and Andrew the owner said that he has about 6 customers that buy the sort of jazz that we talk about on this Forum. He has a big stock of all era's of jazz but the only jazz that he sells to younger people has to have a solid rock rhythm but to be fair the older customers want the easy listening Peterson, Shearing etc.

The problem is that rhythmic, harmonic and melodic complexity just doesn' t appeal - everything has to be instant assimilation, music has become something that you listen to while doing the washing/shopping you name it. Unfortunately jazz is just an esoteric flavouring together with numerous other influences to these new bands, perhaps we should listen to them for what they are and not what we would like them to be.

elmo

[Ian Thumwood]

Elmo

I recognise what you are saying and it is noticeable that the younger audience that I encounter at some gigs in Vienne go for exactly the mediocre stuff you mention. However, it does seem odd that the more genuine stuff gets over-looked in lieu of thing where jazz is only part of the ingredient. It is as if promoters are acknowledging that there is no market for genuine jazz and are having to pander to a younger audience to break even. The Chicago Jazz Festival seems to have the opposite philosophy whereby the stuff that is challenging gets booked to perform and the generously sized audiences reflect the honesty and integrity of the promoters. Kevin Appleby who organises the jazz at Turner Sims told me a story about going to a festivak in Chicago where the music was all extremely avant garde and yet he was staggered at the size of the audience for this music. Maybe promoters in the Uk should treat jazz with more respect?

I agree that a lot of older jazz fans favour Peterson or seem disinterested in exploring beyond the jazz of their youth. However, there are plenty of musician / bands who play in a modern / mainstream style that are consistently over-looked. Hal Galper is just the tip of the ice-berg. There is so much great jazz out there that struggles to get heard but it seems increasingly to be the older, more genuine players which are getting overlooked at festivals hence John Abercormbie's intriguing recent comment about being a stranger at many European jazz festivals these days. Classical fans would be gutted to be offered a programme of continual "Four season" - why shouldn't the audience for jazz be treated with more respect?

I don't agree that the music needs to be rhythmically, harmonically or melodically difficult and there is still plenty of jazz out there that is easy to appreciate and this "authentic" or hits the right buttons. I would just prefer to hear more jazz that actually sounds like jazz and maybe less recognition as to what a younger demographic wants to listen to. Whilst I totally appreciate that someone like Sonny Rollins may have no relevance to a jazz fan under the age of 30, I can't believe that there is no longer an audience for an informed style of jazz. Promoters and programmers probably need to be more open-minded and think about the dedicated niche market. I often think of JRR as a pretty good barometer of jazz taste and the genuine stuff seems still to be requested with the variety of music sought suggesting a good knowledge and appreciation of the music.