Klarinet Archive - Posting 000403.txt from 2003/03

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] RE: Jazz and Age
Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2003 12:46:21 -0500

At 10:03 AM 3/9/2003 -0600, Gil Guerrero wrote:
>I think that the lack of exposure to the music at a young age is a major
>contributor to the lack of "young" ones at jazz shows. Certainly, the
>music industry has turned its back on the development of new talent,
>unless they smell million-seller package (ala Norah Jones.) Even Norah
>says that she doesn't play jazz.
>
>Many of us "older" people (myself 40) were exposed to it by parents who
>had come up on this music as the "alternative" and/or popular sound for
>young people of their time. My Mom is a big fan of New Orleans traditional
>and revival jazz, so I got exposed to Louis Armstrong, Pete Fountain, Al
>Hirt at a young age. Later in my teens, as my tastes grew beyond the
>majority of simple rock-n-roll pablum, I returned to listening to all
>styles of jazz.

I think you are right about this. I got turned on to jazz (or at least the
big band variety) when I found my parents' old 78's in the closet. I was
probably 10 or so at the time, but I got hooked. I listened to and bought
records of pop stuff in my teen years, but always returned to the richer
musical qualities of the big bands. I still collect the records, spend way
too much time dubbing them onto CDs, and play sax and clarinet in two big
bands. In fact, if I had not heard Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw on those
records, I might well never have taken up the clarinet at all.

While I was in college at Notre Dame, I used to volunteer to work as a
stagehand for the annual Collegiate Jazz Festival held there, just so I
could hear all the bands.

I also discovered classical music in pretty much the same way (thank you,
Columbia Record Club!). It saddens me that kids are not exposed to quality
music any more. Back when the Warner Brothers studio was making the
classic cartoons, Carl Stallings would frequently quote classical as well
as popular compositions in his scores with deliberate, sometimes comic,
intent, with the assumption that everybody would recognize the tunes and
get the joke. I fear that goes over most peoples' head now.

>An anecdote about the age issue: at the youthful age of 37 I attended a
>Pete Fountain show with my new wife on our honeymoon in New Orleans. When
>we came out of the show and I was standing outside of the restrooms
>waiting for my wife, a fiftyish looking gentleman came up to me and said
>"I'm so glad you're here! I hate being the youngest one at these shows!"

That is a growing problem for the live big bands, too. Our audience base
is shrinking and growing older, and getting less able to dance what is
clearly dance music.

>I hope that perhaps the aging of the population (and the possibility that
>tastes will mature to this more "difficult" listening) coupled with the
>access to internet radio stations and satellite radio, will perhaps shift
>the tide a bit. I also think embracing some of the Europeans who are
>working in the genre would help people find "new" jazz that is interesting
>and compelling. I'm particularly taken by a newish group called EST (for
>Esbjorn Svensson Trio.)

"New" jazz, unfortunately, leaves me cold. If listening to it is
"difficult" then I am not interested. I listen to and play music for
enjoyment. Of course, I was not exposed to much of that type as I was
growing up!

Bill Hausmann

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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