Jazz Today - Mortally Wounded? pt.2

Another leading cause of jazz fatal wounding is due in large part to jazz musicians themselves. Older cats on the scene today (at least in Ohio) do not hire and encourage younger musicians they way used to. Longtime veterans of the scene are protective and stand-offish of their gigs, and tend to use only older musicians, even when there may be an up and coming young player who can hang, but needs experience one only gets from playing with seasoned musicians. As a result, many young cats have to play with their peers all the time, never having to rise to the occasion or be pushed outside of their comfort zone, and its something like the blind leading the blind. The market has becomes flooded with young mediocre musicians who lack a personal tradition with music, and who see jazz only through the eyes of academia.

There is an even larger problem however, and it relates to all jazz musicians young and old; jazz has lost touch with people. Jazz today, especially at the local level, is lacking both in originality and its ability to relate to the common person. Now, when I say originality I do not simply mean that we have a lot of sound alikes (though we most certainly do!), but ensembles themselves are bland and disengaging. I cannot tell you how sick I am of hearing a whole set of tunes played as such: head-solo-trade-head out. This format on every tune may be fun for the players in the group, but it is boring and offers no surprises for the listener. If you're going to do a common tune, find a new angle and don't just play it the same old mediocre way.

Then there is the choice of material - the holy triumvirate of standards, be-bop, and latin tunes. This may shock some of you, but there are more types of tunes than just these 3, yet with few exceptions, when you go out to hear a "jazz" group, this is what you hear. Not only that, but the same 20 tunes from each style are played over and over and over. Musicians should keep in mind that they provide as service FOR OTHER PEOPLE - if you're playing only for yourself then invite some friends over to jam and quit complaining about how you have no gigs. If you're trying to relate to an audience in their 30-50's, you probably shouldn't play a whole set of tunes from 1942. There is a wealth of tunes from the last 3 decades that can be mined for something challenging to the musician and appealing to the listener, but it requires that you do more than bring a fake book to the gig.