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other press. >>> CULTURE

Has Jazz Lost Its Intrigue?

Tyler Bradford
Culture Editor

Surveying the crowd in
Gastown for the opening week-
end of the Vancouver
International Jazz Festival, it
became apparent that jazz has
retired to the pastures of tepid
music—a fallow field where
few risks are taken—and its’
audience is filled with mem-
bers whose lives are as mun-
dane as the Ford expletive
SUV's they drive. That's not to
say that this year’s festival
wasn’t a success, as it was—at
least in respect to atten-
dance-with record numbers
turning out for the free events
in Gastown and at David Lam
Park. But, as | sat on the red-bricked pavement at the corner of Water and
Carrall among a plethora of middle-aged white folks listening to the unad-
venturous sounds of Oslo, Norway’s Atomic, it occurred to me that while jazz
has nearly run its course in terms of new ground to be broken, it has simul-
taneously lost its romanticism. And although the first is not too surprising for
a genre that’s over 100 years old, the loss of jazz’s romanticism is, in a way,
the genre’s death knell.

Gone is jazz's mystique. For a genre that got its start as an expression of
defiance—its artistic peak was played after-hours in smoky clubs; its
stars were often the miscreants of society, well known for their use of drugs,
womanizing and self-destructiveness—the jazz scene has taken an about
face. Now, jazz musicians typically study their “art” at prestigious music
schools and often perform in aurally pleasing soft-seated venues where
smoking and drinking are frowned upon, if not disallowed altogether. The
result is music that, despite being well played with note-perfect accuracy, has
lost its grit, passion and soul.

Bill Frisell’s set at the Vogue was a perfect example of this. Frisell, a
guitarist’s guitarist to be sure, played a technically astounding set with his
Intercontinental Quartet, a group comprised of dobro and pedal steel ace
Greg Leisz, Brazilian singer-songwriter Vinicius Cantuaria, and acclaimed
Malian percussionist Sidiki Camara. But despite the group’s technical
brilliance, worldly sound and improvisational interplay, they failed to make
a connection with their audience. Disappointingly, much of the festival left
audiences with similar sentiments—impressed by the performance, but
without feeling a connection to the artist or the music.

Two exceptions, if in a slightly different guise, seem to have been perform-
ances by the Herbaliser (who doubled as the Gastown “Mystery Groove
Band”) and the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. Both large ensembles play
jazz-influenced music and their performances brought catcalls and elicited
mass dancing from the sold-out crowds that were there. These are signs that

 

the audience felt moved by the music.

While Costal Jazz and Blues media rep, John Orysik, may feel that the
younger crowd seen at this year’s festival as a result of acts such as the
Herbaliser and the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra may translate into these
younger fans attending other shows, maybe artists should be the ones
crossing over. ‘

As Wesley Snipe once said in Spike Lee’s Mo Better Blues, “The people
don’t come because you grandiose mother-fuckers don’t play shit that they
like. If you played the shit that they like, the people would come. Simple as
that.”

While the telling statement was made in reference to the lament that black
people don’t support jazz, the comment transcends to all people and all
music. Perhaps jazz artists need to realize that playing note-for-note music
that was successful 50 years ago isn’t the “shit that they like” anymore, and
it neither engages nor brings out the people it once did, so perhaps they
should move on.

 

 

 

 

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