Sex, Death and Jazz

I occurred to me as I was attmpting to come up with a "commercially viable" blog post to instead ruminate on what exactly defines a "jazz fan." Is is someone who listens to live jazz on a regular basis, or can someone who only has access to recorded jazz still be considered a fan? And if the jazz fan can only be defined by actively seeking out and attending performances, where in the world are we supposed to do that? I live a hundred and fifty miles from the nearest A-list jazz club. And believe me, I love hearing the real thing as much as the next person, but when I see the sorry state of jazz in our country today it makes me want to throw up my hands and retreat back to my Tina Brooks CDs. That A-list club I mentioned--the only one in my state, by the way--is now top-heavy with groups like Tuck and Patti, Willie and Lobo, and Peter White. (I'm sorry, but I wouldn't go to see Peter White for free.)

In the most recent issue of Jazz Perspectives (May 2007) author David Borgo goes in-depth on the subject in reviewing a couple of the latest reissues by Coltrane and Monk. "But as a player, educator, and researcher, I continue to be concerned over the extreme canonization of jazz in our schools and the necrophilia that appears to be on the rise in the record industry." Saxophonist David Murray often described the listening to of jazz records, even his own, as necrophilia. (But then he even calls merely playing jazz standards necrophilia). Even so, have these gentlemen a point? Is jazz like sex? Is it all about that night's performance? What seems very apt about that analogy is that, like jazz, you never know on any given night just how well you or your partner are going to perform. It may be great, and it may be . . . well, not so hot.

Given that, who among us wouldn't love to have access to that ultimate in virtual-reality sex-tape loop from the film Brainstorm. Save your greatest perfomances on tape (I guess it would be digital now) and replay them when you have an off night. Doesn't sound a lot different to me than throwing a couple of Art Blakey dics on the changer (I guess it would be a playlist on the iPod now) after listening to a so-so quintet in your local B-list jazz club. The thing is, while the national labels are dead to jazz, I know there are still some incredible musicians out there playing incredible jazz under the radar, Jake Langley for example, but you have to mine your way through an awful lot of slag to find the gems these days. So much so, it almost isn't worth the effort.

So please, someone out there, give me some good news. Turn me on to someone great. And I don't mean some Ornette/Dolphy/Coltrane avant-garde wannabe necrophiliac, I mean someone still playing straght-ahead bebop and hard bop. As much as I'd love to spend the next two years listening to music samples on CDBaby to find one great disc, I just don't have the time. So, if you're already hip to something great, let me know. And I'll keep trying to do the same.