Re: why is jazz dead?

Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2003 15:27:14 -0300
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz
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There was a time when "jazzy" music was pop music...glenn miller style
swing music, until rock music took over. But I like to think that jazz
is to pop-swing what punk is to pop-rock...by its very nature rebellious
and underground - not intended for mass consumption.
Norman Karin wrote:
> Joey Goldstein wrote:
>
>> It isn't dead. It just isn't as popular as pop music.
>
>
> Maybe jazz was never "alive" in the sense of being the predominant music
> of the masses. I may be wrong but I don't think jazz was the most
> popular style of music even during 50's that many consider the golden
> period of jazz (Miles, Bird, Pass, Montgomery, etc., etc.). Were there
> jazz clubs on every corner? Were there multiple jazz radio stations in
> every city? I don't think so. A complication to this theory might be
> if Sinatra and/or Bing Crosby are considered jazz artists. Jazz (as
> most folks in this group broadly define it) seems to be out of the
> mainstream by design. Take "smooth jazz" as an example. Its popularity
> has grown but it often is disdained, rightly or wrongly, as not "real
> jazz." I periodically get depressed at how hard it is to find
> opportunities to hear and play live jazz and how few jazz radio stations
> there are. However I agree with the group members who have pointed to
> the popularity of jazz festivals (D. Onstenk) and the influx of young
> blood into the genre (Bob R). I find this heartening. I doubt that
> jazz is going away any time soon. To paraphrase Huey Lewis, "The old boy
> may be barely breathin' but the heart of [jazz] is still beatin'!"
>
> Norm
>