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"No jazz for you!"
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Jazz has taken a back seat to the back seat it held for years. This poor, abused genre has been sliced, diced, dressed in disguises, traded and paraded as everything other than what it truly is. Unfortunately, when some things cannot be dominated or controlled, they are simply changed into something else that is more do-able.
Recently, Recently, Anne Leighton of All-About-Jazz wrote that Tower of Power's "Great American Soulbook" album was listed at #3 on the Billboard Jazz Charts. It had also climbed to #6 on the Soundscan jazz charts. This recording features Tom Jones, Huey Lewis, Joss Stone ... I must stop here, because my heart cannot take much more! This is a listed as a jazz album, with a ranking on the jazz charts? I have nothing against these artists, but this thoughtlessly categorized. It is not a jazz recording. It has absolutely nothing to do with jazz. A few of the songs that are covered on this album are, Sam and Dave's "I Thank You," Tammi Terrel and Marvin Gaye's "(Heaven Must Have Sent) Your Precious Love," Otis Redding's "Mr. Pitiful," and songs originally recorded by Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin. During Pluto's closet apsis to the Earth; it is approximately 3-billion miles away from us; even that is closer to jazz than this recording! Don’t get me wrong, I dig Tower of Power. “What Is Hip” was recorded in 1974 and is still, by far, one of the baddist funk tunes ever recorded! It can give any groove today a run-for-its-money. But they are not a jazz band, and again, this is not a jazz album. Decisions are being made in today’s music industry that makes no sense what-so-ever. This is possible because the public simply accepts the music, artists and genres they are given and they learn to like it without question or complaint.
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As of June, 26, 2009 the Billboard Top-5 jazz albums are:
1. Diana Krall
2. Melody Gardot
3. Frank Sinatra
4. Frank Sinatra
5. Frank Sinatra
This is surreal! It is incomprehensible that sales, airplay and digital rankings would make these recordings the top-5 jazz albums in the United States of America. It boggles the mind how the aforementioned artists can hold these rankings when there are so many other “real” and gifted jazz musicians and singers. How and why do these musicians get ?
It saddens me as a musician to realize that the majority of the music-buying public cares very little about the diversity of talent that surrounds them. It is understandable that young people gravitate towards the music of their generation. However, adults, instead of exploring the many fine musical choices available, they continue to revert to roads well traveled. Another recent survey listed Rickie Lee Jones and Sinead O'Connor as jazz singers.
It cannot be denied that the sale of jazz recordings is traditionally poor in the United States. Therefore, to pad the statistics, music that is not jazz is thrown into that category anyway. Rather than signing and promoting the "real" jazz artists, an inclusion/exclusion marketing approach is used. The real reason for this remains a deeply guarded secret.
The music listening habits of many Americans is equivalent to living in a library full of classics and reading only five books repeatedly. Without public support most jazz artists will simply come and go unnoticed. The public will continue to be dictated to by a few self-proclaimed, young-hipsters at record companies. Jazz and Blues are the foundations of popular American music. To loose this precious artistry would be a great loss to us all.
We the consumer, often forget the power that we possess. In order to earn our dollars, the record industry will give us whatever we demand.
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