Not sure what I make of this yet, have a read.
THE 3 SECRET PROBLEMS OF JAZZ (AND JAZZ IS NOT ALONE)
Posted by GuitArchitecture on May 24, 2012 · 2 Comments
The 5th person sending me the NPR / Kurt Ellenberger post about the difficulties of being a jazz musician, was the tipping point for me writing a post I’d held off on for a while. I don’t play Jazz but I’m an improvising musician who went through a rigorous Jazz pedagogy, so take please take whatever observations I offer here with a big grain of salt.
I think that Jazz has 3 big problems as a genre, and musicians working in that realm have their work cut out for them to move forward in it.
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Duo or Trio wanted for restaurant
(no pay but you can sell your cd)
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This gig scenario is actually a microcosm of the problems jazz faces as a genre.
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First, when you drive by a restaurant and you see a sign that says, “tonight – live jazz!” have you ever turned excitedly to the person next to you and said, “Hey there’s a band playing there tonight! I love Stella By Starlight! Let’s go – maybe they’ll play it!”
No you haven’t. And no one else has either. Because you don’t go to hear the music – you go to hear John McLaughlin or whatever other player interests you - and that’s the first big problem. For the general public, Jazz has become a cult of personality for players instead of focusing on songs.
Many of the Real Book tunes date back to Tin Pan Alley. Back in the day, Jazz players played on popular music. People actually went out to hear the music and the band. Remember the fire-storm Miles caused when he recorded a version of Time After Time? He was just going back to that tradition of playing on tunes that people liked. And yes, there’s been a lot of new music written – but as a genre, the focus is still on the players. Once you put a focus on a player, you cut your audience down to people who like players and other musicians. That’s really problematic if you’re trying to build a career.
No one (outside of musicians playing it or other musicians sitting with crossed arms at a gig critiquing a player hitting the changes) gives a toss about hearing Giant Steps live – they care about the energy the soloist is transmitting. The audience (such as it is) at every jazz gig I’ve been to is about 90% musicians and 10% fans. I’ve mentioned this observation before, but in my undergrad experience I remember going to student recitals and seeing the band mindlessly getting through the head and then breathing a sigh of relief, “Thank God that’s over – now we can play some music!” If you just want to solo with complete disregard for the song – why even maintain the pretense of playing the tune?
Mind you, the issue of repertoire is an over simplification. I don’t want to discount that a lot of great music has been written. While I think that is where Duke and Mingus got it right in keeping the focus on some great pieces, I don’t see any contemporary jazz composer’s gaining traction in the same way they did. There are a number of reasons for this (including saturation of the music market), but rock music survives because people sing along with the songs and dig the rock star. As a genre, focusing on the Jazz star is a hole that will take a long time to get out of.
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“Stop collaborate and listen”
The next problem with Jazz (as indicated by the gig listing above), is the implication that Jazz is background music. Any type of music is no longer music if no one is listening – and Jazz is a music that demands the listener’s attention to pick up on the nuances of the performance. People go to a restaurant to eat, not to listen to the (unpaid) band. Or fans of the band go to the restaurant to hear the musicians play and begrudgingly order food and the 2-drink minimum. So other than people the band has brought (in reality – the only reason restaurants book music anymore) – the other patrons there aren’t listening. Some bands fight this by playing louder and then the patrons just eat and leave.
Musicians take these gigs (and wedding gigs) because they need cash, but as a culture we have moved into an ADD mindset with regard to focus. People are less likely to sit down with a record and dig though it and try to get something out of it. They listen to 5 seconds of an mp3 stream and then move onto the next thing.
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Music and players are everywhere
As I mentioned before, the saturated music market is one of the biggest obstacles that challenges jazz as a genre. There are a lot of players with less and less venues to play in. So you get musicians taking unpaid gigs at a restaurant and wondering why they haven’t sold any cds (and why management wouldn’t comp the food now that the sets are done).
There’s value in scarcity and people have infinite access to music. If you wanted to hear Miles Davis electric band play back in the day, you went to go see them. Now you go to You Tube. There’s increasingly fewer reasons for people to go out and see a show for the sake of seeing a show. In general, they won’t go just because a band is playing and it’s something to do.
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“…Those were the days…”
Derek Bailey has one of my favorite quotes ever about the conservatory experience. (I’m paraphrasing here), “As soon as bebop became a set series of formulas taught in an academic setting it went from being the vibrant searching music that it was and became a maudlin reminder of the good old days”.
Many people associate Jazz with comfort (like sitting next to a fire with a glass of wine and listening to Sketches of Spain). They have a nostalgic view about going to a bistro and hearing some jazz. (Some of these people will also tell you that the LOVE Michael Bublé as evidence of a “Jazz” pedigree!?! This is another problem where people have equated intrumentation and arrangement with a genre.) Comfort is a tough market to cultivate and maintain, but Jazz has also equated with cultured music and some people go see Jazz in the way that they go to a museum and this could be a key.
People want to be moved.
They want to center. They want to focus.
People go to a museum to experience something. They go to a show because they don’t want to miss an event. They are searching for something new.
That sounds like Jazz to me. Ellinger is right. In terms of output – Jazz IS thriving. But its musicians (by and large) are not and if the musicians and composers aren’t thriving – then the genre is in real trouble.
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As a genre, I think Jazz needs a re-branding.
Many Jazz musicians are already doing this. They don’t call their music Jazz anymore. They come up with a million other labels and get new audiences in by playing venues guised as something other than Jazz – but playing Jazz at its core. Playing “searching vibrant” music that moves people.
Appealing to people’s mind as cultured music is a good start. Appealing to people as head boppin’ – ass twitchin’ music that grabs the ear and moves the soul is even better.
As a label, Jazz is too broad to be meaningful to most players – but to the public that label already has associations with it. As a genre, Jazz needs to bring new fans into the fold with songs and then wow them with the musicianship behind them.
And it needs to happen, because it’s too beautiful a thing to let slip away.
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Thanks for reading!
-SC
3 Secret Problems with Jazz
Re: 3 Secret Problems with Jazz
Good reading... thanks for sharing it!
Re: 3 Secret Problems with Jazz
I can dig it, pretty accurate.
Music has to have meaning, watching some guys wank on their instruments is not very meaningful to the general public.
Music has to have meaning, watching some guys wank on their instruments is not very meaningful to the general public.
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- Posts: 115
- Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 5:01 am
Re: 3 Secret Problems with Jazz
Josiah wrote:I can dig it, pretty accurate.
Music has to have meaning, watching some guys wank on their instruments is not very meaningful to the general public.
Do you actually believe that all Jazz is basically "some guy" "wanking" -whatever that is - on their instruments?
I can tell you this guys, I tend to view most Jazz as the ultimate way to express oneself through music. I don't believe anyone has to share that viewpoint. But I will always be of the opinion that any form of music contains great meaning to those playing it. It is not the fault of the player if their chosen form of musical expression fails to appeal to the masses. It is not quite the fault of the listeners either -even though there exists plenty of evidence that mediocrity is greatly lauded over skill and ability nowadays.
But I don't quite get that certain element of listener who is quick to dismiss someone else's form of expression as "wanking". From experience, I can attest that those usually making such a blatant charge that someone lacks 'feeling' or 'meaning' could merely be jealous that they lack the ability to "wank" - whatever that is

Re: 3 Secret Problems with Jazz
baht habit wrote:
Do you actually believe that all Jazz is basically "some guy" "wanking" -whatever that is - on their instruments?
Not at all. But I'm a musician. Hence why I said.. to the general public.
That is a comment I've heard regarding "jazz" and "fusion" music from lots of people who aren't musicians. And it really is mostly soloing with little or mostly no lyrical content.
Instrumental music has a VERY particular niche of people in the big wide world of the general viewing public. Jazz is instrumental AND a specific genre of it. So you are just slicing huge sections of the people pie off real quick.
But I would also say that the general public has been generally dumbed down over the years music wise, for lots of reasons.
- Tom Reschke
- Posts: 228
- Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2010 12:45 pm
Re: 3 Secret Problems with Jazz
Moderation's all well and good, just don't overdo it.
Re: 3 Secret Problems with Jazz
That his a hilarious bit!
This is a local ad on craigslist for a "Jazz Jam", it really embodies a lot of the issues. Keep in mind, this is not even a venue. No food. No drinks. It's a hole in the wall "music school" in an industrial area of the city -
http://cosprings.craigslist.org/muc/3092316552.html
"Jazz Jam Every Friday (special guest from the Glenn Miller Orchestra) (COS)
Every Friday the Broadmoor Academy of Music (1223 Lake Plaza Drive, Suite C) is hosting a Summer Jam Session Series. Every Friday night of the summer from 7-9 come by to see the best talent in the Springs play changes and feel the groove. Only $5 admission allows you to witness the magic or get up on stage. Whether you're just starting out or are John Coltrane 2.0, we want to see you here.
Hosted by BAM's private teachers and ensemble coaches.
Join theFacebook Page!
http://www.bamjazz.org
Tomorrow we will be having a special guest from the Glenn Miller Orchestra sitting in with us! You won't want to miss talent like that "
This is a local ad on craigslist for a "Jazz Jam", it really embodies a lot of the issues. Keep in mind, this is not even a venue. No food. No drinks. It's a hole in the wall "music school" in an industrial area of the city -
http://cosprings.craigslist.org/muc/3092316552.html
"Jazz Jam Every Friday (special guest from the Glenn Miller Orchestra) (COS)
Every Friday the Broadmoor Academy of Music (1223 Lake Plaza Drive, Suite C) is hosting a Summer Jam Session Series. Every Friday night of the summer from 7-9 come by to see the best talent in the Springs play changes and feel the groove. Only $5 admission allows you to witness the magic or get up on stage. Whether you're just starting out or are John Coltrane 2.0, we want to see you here.
Hosted by BAM's private teachers and ensemble coaches.
Join theFacebook Page!
http://www.bamjazz.org
Tomorrow we will be having a special guest from the Glenn Miller Orchestra sitting in with us! You won't want to miss talent like that "
- Rhythmatist
- Posts: 220
- Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2010 4:46 pm
Re: 3 Secret Problems with Jazz
Jeez D...that article is everything my trio gig next week will be (except we are being paid...less than the last time, but still some $ involved). But yeah, mainly Real Book crap, quietly, for people that would rather stick a fork (or, in this case a chopstick) in their eye. Yeah, it's really kind of a bizarre dream world to think there's a market for that crap...oh yeah, they like to play a Buble CD at breaks too.
I'm doing my best to bring in some fresh material to at least make it more interesting for us. And, I'm doing some writing too...ya want bossa nova, have I got a tune for you!
I'm doing my best to bring in some fresh material to at least make it more interesting for us. And, I'm doing some writing too...ya want bossa nova, have I got a tune for you!
Re: 3 Secret Problems with Jazz
3 (secret) problems. it's a secret? why 3 and not three trillion, five million and one (5,000,001), six hundred thousand two (600,002) and some 3 shitty cents...problems? everything is wrong! but wait it's not. things just fucking change.
got nuthin
got nuthin
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