http://ramseyssoundandstyle.com/wp-trackback.php?p=90
i was strolling through my earth, wind and fire collection and ramsey lewis – a well renowned and talented jazz musician – popped in my mind. i looked him up on google to see if there was any information about him out there. i happened upon his blog and i read the linked article which was a response to the WSJ article about jazz being a dying art form.
i want to make a few points here in response to the article. jazz is not dead nor is it dying. it is very much alive and listened to by many people; young people. i am under 40 and i have loved and enjoyed jazz my whole life. i am a very big fan of the cool era and my favourite artists are herbie hancock and dave brubeck. i have known many young people (ages 5 to 45) that love jazz. diverse people with no other similarities other than the love of jazz.
terry teachout of the WSJ points out the attendance at live jazz concerts has dropped significantly. he uses percentages and statistics to explain his point of view. he may have asked survey takers and pollsters, but i doubt he actually walked up to a young person and asked ‘hey, do you like jazz? what do you think of miles and coltrane? do you like the swing or are you more of a bop person?’
statistics are nice and informative, but like computer programs, they only give you the information asked for. statistics never give you more than exactly what you think you are looking for. sometimes you have to ask other questions in order to get the facts. many people stop looking once they get the figures they were looking for never realizing there is more to life than 13.5% are this and 12.98% are that.
you cannot quantify feelings and expressions. jazz isn’t a statistic. jazz is colours, jazz is movement. jazz is art. jazz is life. jazz is soul.
~adieu
many thanks to mr ramsey lewis