Yes, I know this is a story from last week, but between going away for
the Memorial Day weekend and having a cold, I haven't gotten around to
posting this comment:
So there will be no JVC Jazz Festival this year in New York City. Whatever the reasons - and the NYT article cited many - it is unfortunate.
Ironically, in a "Take Five" posted recently on allaboutjazz.com, I responded that more younger people need to be involved on the business side of music, when asked "What are some of the essential requirements to keep jazz alive and growing?". The JVC Jazz Festival Event organizer is a thirty-something guy, a Columbia undergrad. Basically, the kind of person I was talking about in my response. I do hope he'll be able to make a go of it eventually. I agree with him that "destination" music events can be a successful, but they may have to expand their portfolio to include more events that aren't specifically jazz events. I think it would be cool to do a rock and jazz festival, of course since that basically encompasses my taste in music. I'm not talking about these festivals that are "jazz" in name only, but a festival actually billed as duo-genre event with acts representing both kinds of music.
The thought of my ideal rock-jazz festival leads me also to the observation that in this economy music events targeted towards younger audiences (rock, hip hop) are doing much better than music events targeted towards older audiences (classical, jazz). I don't know much about the reasons for this year's JVC Jazz Festival cancellation beyond what I read in the NYT article, but you don't hear anything negative about South by or Coachella or the upcoming Bonnaroo. In fact, when it comes to South by, all you hear about is how the festival gets bigger every year.
The NYT article quoted one person by name and mentioned others on the business side of jazz concerned that the cancellation of this event would indicate that jazz is not a marketable music. To me the cancellation of this year's event regardless of its specific reasons represents decades worth of missteps by the powers that be in jazz, most notably the marginalization of fusion. (I know Joe Zawinul is smiling down on me as I write this.) It's just unreasonable to expect someone who grew up listening to rock or r&b or hip-hop or world music to readily take to bebop or retro standards. Then, you get into the bigger issues - the paucity and haphazardness of cultural education in this country, the primacy of the tv and the internet as people's entertainment choices, the way in which this culture measures something's worth by its current monetary value.
I really do hope that the JVC Jazz Festival will be back in some form or another next year. If it does happen again next year, my guess is that it will be a smaller festival. I unfortunately also could see it coming back as a more straight-ahead festival like Tanglewood's, a somewhat reactionary response to this year's cancellation. Ultimately, I think it's unwise to place too much emphasis or hope on these big events. The future health and viability of jazz and standards will depend on younger, independent musicians who make music that is relevant to their generation's experience, and not on these big events, which by nature represent the status quo.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/arts/music/20jazz.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=jvc%20jazz%20festival&st=cse
So there will be no JVC Jazz Festival this year in New York City. Whatever the reasons - and the NYT article cited many - it is unfortunate.
Ironically, in a "Take Five" posted recently on allaboutjazz.com, I responded that more younger people need to be involved on the business side of music, when asked "What are some of the essential requirements to keep jazz alive and growing?". The JVC Jazz Festival Event organizer is a thirty-something guy, a Columbia undergrad. Basically, the kind of person I was talking about in my response. I do hope he'll be able to make a go of it eventually. I agree with him that "destination" music events can be a successful, but they may have to expand their portfolio to include more events that aren't specifically jazz events. I think it would be cool to do a rock and jazz festival, of course since that basically encompasses my taste in music. I'm not talking about these festivals that are "jazz" in name only, but a festival actually billed as duo-genre event with acts representing both kinds of music.
The thought of my ideal rock-jazz festival leads me also to the observation that in this economy music events targeted towards younger audiences (rock, hip hop) are doing much better than music events targeted towards older audiences (classical, jazz). I don't know much about the reasons for this year's JVC Jazz Festival cancellation beyond what I read in the NYT article, but you don't hear anything negative about South by or Coachella or the upcoming Bonnaroo. In fact, when it comes to South by, all you hear about is how the festival gets bigger every year.
The NYT article quoted one person by name and mentioned others on the business side of jazz concerned that the cancellation of this event would indicate that jazz is not a marketable music. To me the cancellation of this year's event regardless of its specific reasons represents decades worth of missteps by the powers that be in jazz, most notably the marginalization of fusion. (I know Joe Zawinul is smiling down on me as I write this.) It's just unreasonable to expect someone who grew up listening to rock or r&b or hip-hop or world music to readily take to bebop or retro standards. Then, you get into the bigger issues - the paucity and haphazardness of cultural education in this country, the primacy of the tv and the internet as people's entertainment choices, the way in which this culture measures something's worth by its current monetary value.
I really do hope that the JVC Jazz Festival will be back in some form or another next year. If it does happen again next year, my guess is that it will be a smaller festival. I unfortunately also could see it coming back as a more straight-ahead festival like Tanglewood's, a somewhat reactionary response to this year's cancellation. Ultimately, I think it's unwise to place too much emphasis or hope on these big events. The future health and viability of jazz and standards will depend on younger, independent musicians who make music that is relevant to their generation's experience, and not on these big events, which by nature represent the status quo.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/arts/music/20jazz.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=jvc%20jazz%20festival&st=cse
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