I am on vacation, so I intend on doing some shorties this week.
Jazz has always encouraged conflicts of interest. It’s a tough place to make a living. And I suspect that these days, as I have complained before, the power of publicists is at an all-time high. There are many reasons for this; first they make critics’ jobs easier:
“Who is trending? Well, look at this press release. That’ll tell me who to write about.”
“Who can I write about so that the record company will then hire me to write liner notes for other releases?”
“Who can I write about so that the record company will then hire me for their promotional department?”
“Who can I write about so jazz publications will be reassured that they are still relevant and woke?”
“Who can I promote so that jazz festivals will hire me?”
This relationship, between critics and publicists, is called a symbiotic relationship, which is, in my opinion, the OPPOSITE of what an independent critic ought to have with the people that have an economic interest in promoting particular musicians. Otherwise how can we trust what they say? Should journalists write stories based on info given them by the staffs of politicians? No, but this is jazz – and this is why so many of the year-end lists you see have the same musicians on them over and over again. Not to mention critics’ poll rankings in jazz magazines.
The other aspect of this is jazz’s desperate and futile search for the musical equivalent of The Youth Vote. So instead of looking for true new developments, which are NOT dependent on age, they look for younger musicians to promote who, to them, look and sound the part; are young, authentic, and sociologically appropriate.
But there is an irony here, because in doing so THEY MISS OR IGNORE THE BEST PLAYERS AND COMPOSERS OUT THERE, all of whom fit their criteria. And herein is the real problem, and I add this because I have been called a curmudgeon, which is an effed-up, age-ist label. I have spent the last 10 years working with younger musicians, many of whom represent, to me, the best players of the day. I don’t seek then out because they are young; I hear them and I hire the because they are the best people for the job: Aaron Johnson, Colson Jimenez, Carolyn Castellano, Nicole Glover, Lisa Parrott, Elijah Shiffer, Ray Suhy, Ethan Kogan, James Paul Nadien. Just for starters. And who are these people? You may have heard of one or two, just in passing. But they are some of the best players of this jazz era, and what they have in common is that you have either never heard of them, or, most likely, never read about them in the jazz press or other places that have relevant coverage.
Stylistically they cross the line from “straight ahead” to “new music” to open improvisation over complex themes. They remain outside of the mainstream of jazz coverage because they don’t have $2000-$3000 a month to spend on a publicist. They are the most creative players in jazz. They struggle, often working other jobs or commercial gigs or otherwise under the jazz radar. And over the next few weeks (starting when I return home in about a week) I will post some performances of theirs to give you an idea of what you and a lot of the rest of the world, are missing.
And to call me a curmudgeon, as some have done because I dare to be critical of some music? Well, I wouldn’t be working with and promoting what amounts to something like three generations of players younger than me if I was.
At the top of this post is a piece I recorded last year with Elijah Shiffer on alto, James Paul Nadien on drums, and Will Goble on bass. I am on tenor. It is called Laughin’ With Louie and based on an old Louis Armstrong solo as I transcribed it. Listen to everyone on this – after the old solo is played, Elijah and I and the rest of the band play without any pre-conceived harmonic notion except the thought of Louis Armstrong’s amazing solo. And if I need to say it, Shiffer, Nadien, and Goble are all “young,” and never get on those ubiquitous yet useless critics’ lists.
Share this post