Is Jazz Still Relevant?
As a member of several jazz bands, I always wondered why it was so hard to get fellow students and friends to attend our concerts. It’s not like we were bad. In fact, we managed to be national finalists three years in a row and all our concerts were free. People thought we were “weird” because we weren’t up to date with all the newest rappers, but instead trapped in our 1950’s time machine. I’ve tried numerous times to introduce my world to my colleagues, but no one seemed interested. After realizing how unpopular jazz was, I began to wonder if it even mattered anymore. With new music being produced everyday, is old music like jazz even relevant?
Jazz is officially the least popular music in America with only 1.4% of all records sold being jazz. This statistic alone nearly convinced me that jazz was irrelevant. In addition to the stats, Generation Y and Millennials have had little to no exposure to what we call “America’s music”. With the jazz scene on a steady decline, I can see why people could see it as nonexistent or useless.
Curious as to what makes something relevant, I came across an article that has been accredited to the relevancy of several products. Charles Alaimo’s article titled, “Being Relevant”, explains his formula to achieve relevance in 5 simple steps: Keep focus during chaos, Be open to differing views and perspectives, Surround yourself with people that will challenge you, Kill the Comfort Zone, and Be plugged in. Although this might work for tangible items or mainstream media/topics, I knew this guideline has not, and will not work for such a complex genre like jazz. The article focuses on the competition aspect of music. As a jazz musician I can attest that this would take away the integrity of jazz and certainly not make it relevant.
So how do we determine the relevance of jazz? I remembered when a friend of mine asked world-renowned jazz musician, Wynton Marsalis, how musicians can stay relevant, he said,“the first thing is to be relevant to yourself, that’s number one…Establish what you’re interested in doing and what means what. The meaning of things is very important to what makes you relevant or not” He says, it doesn’t matter if jazz is the least popular or most popular genre in the world, as long as the musicians performing the music believe there is a purpose and a meaning for what they’re creating, it will always be relevant and important.
After reassuring me that jazz is still popular, I asked a friend what he thinks will happen to jazz moving forward. Two time Grammy award winner Chad Lefkowitz-Brown grew up in New York playing traditional, straight ahead jazz, but is currently experimenting with a “modern” jazz album consisting of electronic instruments with more of a pop sound inspired by his work as a sideman. He said this modern take is “more reflective of himself as a person” and says since “jazz is in a constant state of evolution this kind of expansion is totally acceptable” and still lies in the boundary of jazz. He chose this path based on how he can better serve the music. The meaning behind this album is the driving force of his expression in the music, the genre overall, and the key features that makes jazz so unique and special
With jazz being such a minuscule part of the 21st century, it is more important than I, or maybe you thought. Regardless the album sales or the popularity, the jazz community is still present and stronger than it’s ever been. As long as musicians think their music is meaningful, jazz will never be irrelevant.