Klarinet Archive - Posting 000414.txt from 2003/03

From: "Angelina Lopez-Frank" <shadowcatofdeath@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] RE: Jazz and Age
Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2003 19:49:26 -0500

I'm a bit late on answering the question about young adults and concerts,
but here's the latest that I've heard: Maynard Ferguson, last spring. There
was quite a number of young adults there, mostly because this was Maynard's
"High School Cross-Country Tour". Curiously enough, almost all the members
of his big band were under 30, with his nephew playing trumpet. This summer
I had the great opportunity to see Sonny Rollins in Chicago, at this I most
likely was the youngest audience member at 16.

>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 went to a jazz festival this summer in which there was about a hundred so
under 20 in an audience of about 1,000. The Count Basie Big Band was the
huge draw, and the leader encouraged everyone to get on the dance floor.
All the couples were forties and older, although I did accept a dance with a
kind, middle aged, jazz lover.

>
>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.
>
I discovered music from my parents, we were all exposed to various styles of
music and each of my siblings went his or her own way. My brother is huge
with opera, one of my sisters works in Broadway shows, another brother is
almost exclusive with Jazz (studies at New England Conservatory) and while I
love jazz, I am more into classical music. I have another brother for whom
this early exposure to music clearly passed, he vehemently dislikes anything
the rest of the family enjoys, and insists on blasting a socialist rock
band, KMFDM. As for Looney Tunes, which I still wake up for the 3 hour
block at 6am on Saturday mornings, the importance of music in the cartoons
does not go unnoticed. Although I have to admit, due to the cartoon "What's
Opera, Doc?", (Kill the Wabbit! Kill the Wabbit!) I always thought that
really was the original format of Ride of the Valkryies. The problem isn't
the lack of exposure to kids, its whether or not they're looking for it.

Angelina Lopez-Frank

Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*.
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail

---------------------------------------------------------------------