Anyone who has strolled Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall on a Thursday night has more than likely heard the sounds of John D’Earth and friends tearing through a set of blazing jazz from their perch on the window stage at Miller’s. D’Earth’s weekly performances are just one example of the kind of quality jazz that can be found in Charlottesville on an almost nightly basis. A quick scan of the week’s concert calendar turned up eight listings in a seven day period that feature jazz performances of one style or another here in town. Jazz it would seem, is alive and well. After all, didn’t Herbie Hancock just win a Grammy for Record of the Year for his latest album River: The Joni Letters? It’s the first time a jazz record has won the award since 1963!
Which is why I was caught a little off guard by this story I recently came across on NPR. It’s an audio interview with Jae Sinnett, who not only hosts a jazz show called “Sinnett in Session” on radio station WHRV out of Norfolk, VA, he’s also a jazz drummer and composer as well. And he believes that jazz is dying.
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The interview is definitely worth a listen, especially if you’re a fan of jazz or a jazz musician yourself. Stinnett touches on a range of subjects relating to the current pulse of jazz music, from the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the birthplace of jazz, New Orleans, to the way that jazz is presented and performed in the 21st century. And it raises a couple questions:
Is jazz really a dying? And if so, how do we go about preserving what is essentially one of America’s truly original art forms? And maybe, more importantly, do we care about the fate of jazz? Shouldn’t we?
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Tagged as: jazz, John D'Earth, Music, NPR
Thank you Shaun for the suggestion. This was indeed a good and insightful interview. It does however inspire a number of comments that were somehow not touched in the talk itself.
When she asks where Jazz is happening these days if not in New Orleans Sinnett somehow doesn’t answer. To me the answer seems pretty clear. Its happening in NY City, where it happened since the late 30ies. I love European Jazz, I love Jazz from South Africa, Japan and Vietnam and I am fully aware that there are vibrant Jazz centers in all of these areas of the world. But NYC is still where it all comes together. It could not be any other way with an artform that requires musicians to physically be together in order to create and exchange ideas. No amount of record buying can make up for a lack of live performance and personal exchange. It is similar with other forms of music as well, but it seems to me that for improvised music this is particularly important.
I do not agree that Jazz is dying. While it is indeed frustrating that most Jazz is reduced to background music in bars and restaurants and is thus often artistically compromised, I do somehow refuse to fear for it as an artform altogether. At least seven of the Jazz listing Shaun mentioned are bluesy/ bebopy/ easy-to-digest incarnations of the art. But how many easy-to-digest forms of classical music do you hear on the downtown mall? At the pavillion? At gallery openings? Right. And does that make you fear for the future of classical orchestral music? Right. Musicians will create outlets for whatever crazy things they come up with (as proven by groups like the Pinko Communoids who surely have no chance in Hell to ever play at Miller’s or Fellini’s no matter how much they accomodate).
So my assesment is, that we should raise awareness and appreciation for all types of contemporary art forms, musically, visually, literary etc. I don’t think Jazz is in a particularly bad position here. People turn to art because they are looking for something. Because a certain art can give them something that another can’t. Some like Bluegrass, some like Jazz some like Punk and some like all three so much that they create music that incorporates all (as did Bill Frisell when he came to Charlottesville with his Disfarmer Project).
I think I could go on and on about it (I haven’t even gone into how I feel about the Charlottesville Jazz scene) but I’ll stop for now.
Go see as much local live music as you can and make conscious choices about what you like and there will be Jazz, Bluegrass, Punk, Classical and all the good things forever.
Well said and much appreciated. Thanks byard for adding to the conversation.
John D’Earth is such a local treasure - we’re lucky to have him in our backyard.
Sure, John is a fabulous player and he brings lots of big names to town (Dave Liebman most recently), but sometimes I feel that with all the attention he gets, poeple lose sight of others that are trying to create something along the lines of Jazz in Charlottesville. He also seems to have quite a monopoly on everything Jazz in this town, at least by reputation. (Meaning: apparently you can’t even think about Jazz in Charlottesville without the obligation to mention his name.) This is always a dangerous thing because it basically means that if you want to be recognized as a “true” jazzman you have to have his blessing. Again, I love his playing, but I wish people were not so focused on him and his immediate surroundings.