FISTFULAYEN

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1. The Triumphant Return Of The Tuesday Link Dump | My Blog on 08 Sep 2009 at 1:59 pm

   [...] Wake-Up Call To The Jazz Internet: The CEO of Topspin, Ian Rogers, has written a post at his own blog which you all need to see. Rogers is a long-time music follower, and a jazz fan — but also [...]

2. Studio Manifesto Follow Friday Pick | Studio Manifesto on 11 Sep 2009 at 9:28 am

   [...] Rogers, CEO of Top Spin. Check out Ian’s blog FISTFULAYEN, and especially last Tuesdays post The Jazz Challenge here’s a quote: I’m surprised the jazz community isn’t yet benefitting from the [...]

3. Adderall. on 07 Apr 2010 at 10:10 pm

   Adderall abuse….

   Adderall overdose. Adderall….

4. Percocet. on 07 Apr 2010 at 10:29 pm

   Percocet….

   Fun with percocet. Percocet. Percocet dosages….

Comments

1. Howard Soroka wrote:

   Hey Ian,

   Someday we should have a long talk about jazz. The biggest problem it has is that jazz is about musicianship. It’s an art form that is by musicians, for musicians. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s not usually aiming at anyone else, so the pedestrian audience is pretty hard to attract. And musicianship, sadly, is increasingly rare, so players are more outnumbered by pedestrians than ever before.

   Wanna make jazz more popular in the future? Make more musicians (people who play instruments, not turntables).

   But rather than bitch all night, I’ll save it for some other time, with beer or something. And go out with these recommendations for you, in case you haven’t heard them (because there’s a good chance that you haven’t):

   Larry Young: Unity (Blue Note)
   John McLaughlin (pre-Mahavishnu crap): Extrapolation (Polydor)

   (By the way, everything you suggest about jazz on the Web is correct. But it’s not enough to save the art form.)

   Peace,

   Howard

   Posted 07 Sep 2009 at 11:52 pm ¶

2. Yair Yona wrote:

   It’s too bad, as modern jazz artists have a lot to offer, and some of them are true revolutionists. However, I think that overall jazz should exapnd its boundaries beyond jazz or free jazz, and of course out of the ethno-jazz circle. I would love to hear a jazz band playing post rock elements, for example. It’s fusion time again, baby.

   Posted 08 Sep 2009 at 12:11 am ¶

3. J T. Ramsay wrote:

   Do you read Destination: Out? It’s a pretty great free jazz blog, but it’s not aiming at being Pitchfork for jazz. I’m guessing that P4K’s Joe Tangari would be happy to review more jazz, fwiw.

   Ben Ratliff is a good ‘out’ music critic @ the Times, too. That is the problem as I see it. When Wolf Eyes ‘broke’ I thought more people would get into weird stuff. Next thing I know it’s Fleet Foxes everywhere.

   Posted 08 Sep 2009 at 2:44 am ¶

4. Matt Brown wrote:

   Surely people like Gilles Peterson – and what they’ve been doing for jazz over the past twenty years – deserve a mention here. Great post though – puts me in mind of Wayne Bremser’s plea a few years back.

   Posted 08 Sep 2009 at 4:38 am ¶

5. Joe Germuska wrote:

   My question about this study is “how are they defining jazz?” I wouldn’t be surprised if in 1982 they included hugely popular bands like Spiro Gyra and Manhattan Transfer. Did they include Tortoise in 2009? (Admittedly no where near as popular as SG or MT.) Members of Tortoise play in groups which people call “jazz”. What is the substantive difference which makes Tortoise not-jazz?

   BTW, Dave Holland’s big band smoked at the Chicago Jazz Festival on Saturday, and it was a capacity crowd. Not sure what the median age was. And right before it William Parker played a knockout set of Curtis Mayfield’s music. Is that jazz?

   (PS WNUR-FM (Evanston/Chicago, IL) has 37.5 hrs of jazz programming a week, although admittedly sometimes the station goes off the air when students can’t make shows. http://www.wnur.org)

   Posted 08 Sep 2009 at 9:09 am ¶

6. Josh Cooper wrote:

   Sadly, the Jazz Bakery is gone as of earlier this year … but hey, maybe having an online community would help facilitate them getting a new space.

   I enjoyed reading about your high school/college brain making comparisons between jazz albums and funk music. I remember doing the same thing at the time, and it certainly helped draw me in deeper.

   Posted 08 Sep 2009 at 9:33 am ¶

7. Bg Porter wrote:

   The suggestion that what jazz needs is a larger number of skilled practitioners isn’t reflective of a reality where the University of Miami, Berklee, New England Conservatory, whatever they call North Texas State now, and dozens of other programs send a fresh crop of hundreds of pro-quality jazz players into the scene every spring.
   In effect, there are more incredible jazz players than it’s possible to listen to, making the supply effectively infinite. However, unless you’re already a devotee and spend time staying abreast of the scene, the opportunities to spontaneously discover new stuff are minimal. It’s easier as a listener to just spin “Kind of Blue” again.

   If there aren’t places to play, or the venues that do exist are only booking styles of jazz from 50 years ago, there are other, systemic problems — I hope that jazz artists hear Ian’s advice or think of it on their own and act on it. Some do, e.g. Darcy James Argue has been aggressive about using the net to publicize (and fund!) his work, gigs, and many many free MP3s.

   Posted 08 Sep 2009 at 9:38 am ¶

8. Shane Tobin wrote:

   I think the jazz scene has also changed a lot in the last 15 years. You’ll see a lot more musicians that are considered jazz artists playing in rock clubs because it’s a more vibrant scene. Medeski Martin & Wood don’t play at Yoshi’s when they come to town, they play at the Fillmore. Last time I saw John Scofield he played his Ray Charles tribute show at the Independent in San Francisco.

   These artists don’t want to play in clubs where people have to sit down. They want their audience to experience the punk rock spirit that jazz was back in the early 60s. They want fans to scream out if the solo is ripping, not a polite golf clap.

   The “new” jazz musicians are mostly classified as jam bands these days. See Benevento/Russo Duo, Garage a Trois, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, MMW, Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle, any band that Skerik is in, Greyboy Allstars, Galactic, etc.

   Jazz is out there, it’s just not in the same clubs it used to be. And these artists do use the web to market, promote and reach their fans. Jazz is alive and well, just under a different name these days.

   By the way, if you have never been to Jazzfest, you need to be there next year. This is where musicians come to jam, sit in with each other, watch each other’s set and settle in to a real artist’s paradise.

   Posted 08 Sep 2009 at 10:50 am ¶

9. Christopher Lars Carlson wrote:

   Ian,

   You couldn’t be more right. I’m going to try and get as many students at Berklee to read this. There is an opportunity here, which excites me.

   There needs to be a way to make it cool. I’m making an attempt at that right now with Project K-Paz. They play Spontaneous Music. No composition. It grooves pretty hard though. It’s definitely not jazz-jazz, but a cool hybrid of a bunch of stuff. We have a 60 min. movie about the whole thing coming out soon, too. Would work really well as a Topspin release

   Chris

   Posted 08 Sep 2009 at 11:51 am ¶

10. Scott McDowell wrote:

    This is a huge bugbear since “jazz” is like porn, different strokes, er, metaphor explosion… but you get what I mean. Jazz has infiltrated all corners of music and our listening in myriad ways. What was once easily called “jazz” isn’t so easy to describe.

    The above mention of Tortoise is on the right track. Tons of people go to shows in NYC that no one would call jazz but in which the music comes directly from the American improvising tradition. Is it jazz? Who the hell knows. My point is I think the NEA numbers are misleading.

    That said, I wholeheartedly agree with everything you’re saying here, Ian. There is a huge digital hole for this music, and someone had better fill it. Darcy James Argue (who I recently had on my radio show) is someone who has embraced the reality and used some of these moves to great effect, and to help fund an 18-piece big band to boot. Along with Destination:OUT, Bad Plus, Dave Douglas and a few others, there is a strong yet small community of belief and a great opportunity for other bands, artist, bloggers to really be a part of that.

    I have a great interest in this conversation. A lot of the continuing interest in jazz/improv is of an academic nature, and mine isn’t. As Ian’s, my interest is as a fan of music. Jazz is a music that inspires devotion, maybe not of huge #’s of people, but a firm devotion nonetheless. Because I love lots of different kinds of music and because I want to be exposed to lots of different things, I have a hesitancy to want to talk about jazz apart from other “genres” but for this conversation it is appropriate and important. I would love to continue a discussion with others about how to further the music’s mechanisms using the full breadth of possible tools.

    As for releasing, selling, promoting music, I crushed on Topspin in a blog post back in March and touched on its possibilities with “fringe” music incl. jazz (forgive the gratuitous self-promo, thx): http://lovegloom.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/my-crush-on-topspins-big-fan-approach-to-digital-music/

    also a follow up post in response to the great Jeff Stern: http://lovegloom.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/update-my-crush-on-topspin%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cbig-fan-approach%E2%80%9D-to-digital-music/

    Thanks again, Ian, for a thoughtful post.

    Scott

    Posted 08 Sep 2009 at 12:20 pm ¶

11. garrett shelton wrote:

    To be clear, the NEA numbers are dubious at best for me. The methodology was never that clear, but enough to raise a eyebrow.

    What is clear, however, is that while the jazz audience could be bigger than that study suggests – an overwhelming majority of artists & institutions haven’t capitalized on their ability to reach their fans directly online in a meaningful way. Some have and Darcy James Argue is a wonderful example which folks have mentioned. (Hey, Ian..his record is on your list!!!).

    Several people have pointed out that jazz is a broad term – using examples such as Tortoise & the myriad jam bands that populate the larger genre. In fact, if you listen to the records Ian listed – e.s.t. and James Carter in particular – they are about as far apart as one can get. However, I’m not sure the NEA went so far as define the types of artists they associated with jazz. I’m also not sure how many respondents would have known Tortoise well-enough to debate whether or not their music could be considered jazz. (Actually, if you dig Tortoise, check out e.s.t’s “luecocyte.”)

    The “what is jazz?” argument is so charged & divisive within the community, it sucks the oxygen out of the room – and potential new fans with it. It also obscures fundamental problems like the one Ian writes about here.

    The music’s diversity & its influence on other genres is its greatest asset. I think what we’re after here is a clearer expression of that fact. Right now, on the web, it’s tough to see – in my opinion.

    Posted 08 Sep 2009 at 1:55 pm ¶

12. Howard Soroka wrote:

    Re: BGPorter’s comment in #7 above: “The suggestion that what jazz needs is a larger number of skilled practitioners…”.

    You’re right, there’s no shortage of players, but there’s a huge shortage of listeners. So when I say “make more musicians”, I don’t really mean “make more jazz musicians” so much as I mean “make more musically literate people”. Please forgive me for not being clear.

    As for the number of graduates – well, I’m one myself (B.Mus in Jazz from NTSU – now called University of North Texas – Class of ‘81. Egads.). But they were graduating hundreds of players every year then too. I doubt the numbers of graduates has significantly increased since then, but even if it has, we’re still talking “hundreds”, and that’s still an insignificant number.

    What HAS increased, IN MY OPINION, is the prevalence of musical illiteracy on the part of the general population. Or in other words, our culture has been so musically dumbed down that proportionally fewer people have the capacity to appreciate what we call “jazz” than ever before. My opinion – not scientific.

    So Ian’s certainly right, but I think we have a systemic, cultural problem at work here as well. Solving it is not going to be easy, but it’ll start with recognition that the problem exists in the first place.

    Howard

    Posted 08 Sep 2009 at 2:03 pm ¶

13. Phil wrote:

    10 years of missed opportunities is what we’re looking at. In the last 10 years we have seen every major label drop its jazz operations and push pop artists onto the former jazz domains such as Blue Note and Verve, thereby limiting the number of slots on the roster available for instrumentalists. While indie rock bands, labels, magazines and radio stations gravitated toward to Internet, the jazz world pouted and booked another tour of Europe and Japan where they’re “respected.”
    While other niche styles found ways to have an online presence most smaller jazz labels have stuck with same old, same old. Whether Wayne Shorter has a well-made and maintained website does not really matter, but every musician who plays with him should have a site that blows away every visitor with music and information. Shorter provides the introduction, but once a listener goes looking for more about the musicians they heard with him, it had better be easy.
    I find it interesting that one comment suggested that you need to hear Larry Young’s “Unity.” That’s what happens in jazz: Every new artist has to not only cut through the new release morass but they have every legendary album/artist as their competition. It doesn’t work that way in other music forms – people are not deciding between Foo Fighters and the Rolling Stones but plenty of jazz buyers are opting for Miles reissues over Dave Douglas and Jeremy Pelt.

    Not that it is necessarily a “cool website,” but it does have good info for LA.

    http://www.cityoftheangelsmusic.com/index.shtml

    Posted 08 Sep 2009 at 2:39 pm ¶

14. Willard Jenkins wrote:

    The best response to that specious (at best) NEA arts audience survey (and remember, the pessimistic news was hardly confined to the jazz audience) was Nate Chinen’s excellent follow-up column in the New York Times Arts & Leisure section; an apt response to Terry Teachout singing the all-too-familiar blues “Oh jazz, ‘po jazz, woe is jazz…”.

    See also the interview series I’ve begun with jazz presenters who are doing something about audience development in diverse communities; check http://www.jazz.com and read the interviews with such good folks as John Gilbreath of Earshot Jazz in Seattle, and Tom Guralnick of Outpost Productions in — of all jazz hotbeds — Albuquerque, NM. And don’t sleep on Bill Anschell’s hilarious piece “Careers in Jazz” at http://www.allaboutjazz.com or the follow-up he wrote over the furor in The Independent Ear at http://www.openskyjazz.com/blog. And check that site for more news & info on folks who are really DOING SOMETHING, besides gnashing their teeth and crying in their soup over yet another salvo in the ongoing ‘death of jazz’ melodrama that seems to overtake us every five years or so. Remember what the great NEA Jazz Master Jackie McLean always said “…jazz is like the roach, you can’t kill it!”
    Peace,
    Willard Jenkins
    http://www.openskyjazz.com
    Home of The Independent Ear

    Posted 08 Sep 2009 at 3:02 pm ¶

15. Minister_t wrote:

    Well, jazz is dying because music is dying. More to the point, the definition of music is changing.

    When you read 100% of music publications, websites, blogs; what you’re really reading about is musical entertainment, musical culture and music-driven art. But not music. Music is too hard; it takes more than a set of ears to get into it as deeply as one gets into, say, record collecting, or even music history. It’s too hard for anyone who doesn’t actually make, compose or perform music to begin to comprehend it as deeply as one comprehends, say, the all important conceptual framework behind any half-dozen bands from Brooklyn, or the so-called literary merits of one-hundred indie singer-songwriters. Language is easy; everyone uses it. Art, what the artist says is art, is as easy as calling something art; bad art though it may be. But music? Music is hard; you can’t hide behind it.

    Music qua Music just doesn’t seem to hit people the way it once did. Jazz is dead? Why? Because music appears, to your average Joe/Jane/jam jar, to be all it has to convey, at least since the pork-pie hat went out of fashion. Classical suffers a similar fate. Symphony halls everywhere survive, but only at the grace of grant structures.

    “Music” in the current culture is a metaphor for something much more than music. Sure, it has music in it, but also contains show business, performance art, race and gender politics, mental illness passing as ambition, ambition, demagoguery, self-interest, insecurity, escapism, blood-sport and tribal instinct. All of which are fine subjects for critique. Just don’t refer to the subject of your critique as music.

    More music education is certainly a start, but I’m not entirely inclined to despair. There’s a bell curve to these things. Who knows? We could be on the way back up. It can’t possibly get any worse.

    Posted 08 Sep 2009 at 6:58 pm ¶

16. Chris M wrote:

    A lot of good points being made above here, among them bringing up the point of Tortoise and what is being labled jazz.

    Now, I’m not conservative and have little time for Marsalis, Burns and their ilk, and I find that one of the great things about jazz has been the musicians willingness to break barriers and the music’s ability to change and take on board other influences. Hence, some of the more interesting young musicians today (to my mind) are ones that, like myself, have grown up on and have a shared interest in e.g. punk, avant-rock and hip-hop as well as jazz. In my experience – maybe because listeners pick up on these links – a host of younger listeners are becoming interested in jazz, both new and subsequently older stuff (hey, what’s more punk than Mingus?). But that may say more about the people I surround myself with than the actual status quo.

    A problem, of course, can be lack of distribution and that many records are hard to come by (a lot of jazz has to be imported to where I live, in Norway), plus the fact that many titles are now out of print. Destination-Out! has been mentioned above, and those guys are doing a excellent job in spreading the word. But there are several others specializing on mp3s of out of print records (I won’t mention names, since several of them post records of in-print music too). I personally find a lot of interesting material on Point of Departure as well as Stef @ freejazz (blogspot), Tom Hull, and a few of the guys at NYT, to name a few. So there are interesting things on the web, too.

    One more thing, I find Howard Soroka’s definition above too narrow, but that’s his opinion. Mine is, musicianship, as he puts it, can be a great variety of things. I get the feeling he is concerned with skills, as if jazz was a sport, but to me the ability to create interesting music including jazz transcends what can be meassured. E.g., Bud Powell may have played faster than Thelonious Monk, but I find Monk’s music a whole lot more interesting (not that I don’t like Powell). Nor do not think musicianship (I’d prefer the term musicality) is becoming increasingly rare, but rather that music including jazz has evolved and is still evolving into many different things, something conservative listeners may not like or pick up on. Every time jazz has tried to break out of it’s barriers it has been criticized. Not that I like all strains of jazz myself, but it’s worth noting.

    Anyway, (good) jazz deserves more listeners. Heck, good music period deserves more listeners.

    (PS: apologies for spelling mistakes etc. I wrote this on th spur of the moment)

    Posted 09 Sep 2009 at 8:31 am ¶

17. Roslyn wrote:

    This conversation is hardly a new one. In the 1970’s, I remember an article in New York magazine, stating that what was needed to revive jazz was more of what rock had – in those days it was onstage light shows and the like. Yes, better Web presence would help, but jazz is still swimming upstream against music that is perceived as cooler.

    Posted 09 Sep 2009 at 10:01 am ¶

18. Joseph Hayes wrote:

    Jazz musicians, to their credit, aren’t any more versed in the mechanics of websites than writers or visual artists; they just want to create.

    That is to say, a few know enough to ask for better (or – gasp – do it themselves), but most are in the hands of teenage friends or mercenary template jockeys who throw up (literally) uncoded text and bad rehashes of already bad sites. It’s not easy to put up a good page, but it ain’t hard either, and stylish and useful doesn’t have to be shackled to expensive and ugly.

    I think the major problem is that musicians want to say so much and think they have to offer everything to every possible one. Sites become unwieldy with samples, photos, transcriptions, workshops, attempts at social media, pet grooming tips – well, you get it. I design for musicians, and every one wants 57 pages and a bibliography.

    Simple is cool. It’s the music, baby. Everything else comes later.

    Posted 09 Sep 2009 at 10:14 am ¶

19. Spencer Crandall wrote:

    Love the discussion. At PDX Jazz, the organization that produces the Portland Jazz Festival in February, we’ve been struggling with similar issues, but have found a way to deal with it (to some degree), from a festival perspective. We combine artists who are more mainstream (Regina Carter, Dianne Reeves, Charlie Hayden) with others less mainstream (Nik Bartsch, Trygve Seim, Cecil Taylor, Bill Frisell, John Scofield). This allows us to bring in an audience of varying demographic and for people to discover new artists pushing the boundaries of jazz. Last year was an anomaly for us with Blue Note’s anniversary celebration. But for 2010, it’s back to our regularly scheduled programming with plans for some interesting and challenging music. I hope that we can contribute to the scene in a way that is positive and moves jazz musicians and listeners forward, otherwise we’re all in trouble.

    Posted 09 Sep 2009 at 10:42 am ¶

20. Lois Gilbert wrote:

    When I started JazzCorner.com almost 13 years ago, it was to level the playing field for jazz musicians and organizations. I also wanted to create a unifying portal for jazz. I never look to jazz sites for inspiration but to hip hop, indies and non music sites. But, as perhaps Garrett can attest to a lesser extent than me, the comprehension & willingness of most jazz musicians to realize that they have the best marketing tool possible to ensure their proliferation as well as their music. – the internet is still a continuing challenge. You can still see Dave Holland’s former site: Pre-blog – we created an area for him called Dave’s Place. Note what the content is in Dave’s Place – basically text I wrote saying Dave will update soon. He never did. I’m joyous that people like Garrett are around to stimulate and convince artists to market jazz and use technology as one of their tools. Each month, I send a report from the trenches to the artists on JazzCorner asking them for news and input for our monthly newsletter which goes to more than 17000 people. Each month, I tend to have the same 15 or so people (out of close to 200) responding to my request. I also realized early on that if you build it doesn’t mean they’ll come. The artists you cite are established entities – they have good advisors – like Garrett is to Dave. But it’s not just the website that’s at issue. It’s marketing and the willingness of jazz artists to get out of their comfort zone and it’s the industry. It’s making sure that their own music is on Pandora and Ilike, Reverbnation, Artist Direct, etc. I have jazz publicists telling artists they need 6 weeks advance to promote their music, and send records to me by UPS with more paper like press releases and their artists bios. The industry in general is holding on so tight to an old paradigm. Jazz writers and reviewers are preaching to the choir, even those with blogs. I’d like to see jazz talked about on Huffington Post, on travel blogs, etc. Tell me again, why reviewers and critics need physical records! And the musicians don’t realize that they can create their own campaigns anytime they want and do it often much better.

    Each artist, sponsor and organization associated with JazzCorner can log in to our fan page on facebook which has more than 5100 fans – how many have taken advantage of this extension of what I would like JazzCorner to do for their marketing… Less then a handful.

    I really don’t want to control anything, but propel jazz moving forward. So your answer as to where’s the portal to give you the 411 in one place with the websites, with the only video sharing site where fans and musicians can upload their own videos, epks, videos blogs, etc is at JazzCorner, but rather than telling musicians to wake up, it’s educating the whole industry, and the established stakeholders need to take more responsibility in abetting musicians and the music to move forward.

    I love that you wrote about Garrett and making great websites, etc. I’ve been telling folks this for years. If it’s ok with you, I may use excerpts from your blog because you’re not preaching to the choir.

    Not a shameless plug:
    check out http://jazzcorner.com and http://jazzvideos.net

    Peace
    Lois

    Posted 09 Sep 2009 at 11:54 am ¶

21. Cb wrote:

    Great discussion. I agree with the contention that “jazz” music isn’t dead, it is just one of the types of music that the popular masses will never get.

    With the advent of the Internet and related 21st Century Technologies, we are better able to connect with and develop our own audiences. It has all become relative.

    There are billions of people on earth. The Internet allows any musician to reach lots of them, regardless whether we are well known in the mainstream jazz economy or not. Some among those billions are going to like my music and odds are that it will continue to be enough to enable a worthy living…

    Being online simply lets all of us present our work to the world without having to have someone else’s permission to do so… In this paradigm, the listener decides what they want and how to filter it, just as it should be, actually…

    Peace, Cb

    Posted 09 Sep 2009 at 3:27 pm ¶

22. Howard Soroka wrote:

    To Chris M. above, re: “musicianship”…

    I could see how you’d read what I said as “musicianship equals technique”, but that’s not at all what I mean. “Musicianship”, to me anyway, is a lot of things, some of them intangible. Technique is nice to have, but not crucial.

    So I’m with you. Monk is no less awesome than Bud Powell – maybe more so – despite his more modest chops. And I prefer both of them to Oscar Peterson (for example), who was technically astonishing.

    In fact, the thing that made me start to hate being at North Texas State, years ago, was the way they treated music exactly like athletics. It’s funny how you express exactly the same thing.

    I think we may be cut from the same cloth, mate.

    Howard

    Posted 10 Sep 2009 at 12:57 am ¶

23. sarah demarco wrote:

    I am going to spread your post everywhere I can. I am so glad that you took the time to write on this great topic, and start a discussion. Having previously worked with the Topspin platform while at Berklee as an upright jazz bass player and Music Business/management major student I was just waiting to see when and which artist in the jazz community would first use the platform. It was something that I felt the jazz world seriously needed. When I found out that Dave Holland was working with Topspin I couldn’t have been more excited. I hope that other jazz artists see how important it is to connect with their fans, and take advantage of the tools out there. Working at a Jazz venue and non-profit organization I know that amazing jazz is still being made today not just by the greats who have been around playing for years, but also by solid young new artists. The listeners are out there they are just looking for the music in new places.
    The first thing I do when I get home after an amazing concert is go online to get the artists music and to join their mailing list. Far too often do I try to get the artists info and music online, and it just isn’t there or their sites aren’t updated. The artist then loses out on an opportunity to fully hook and keep a fan that wants to buy their music and follow what they are doing next.
    People in the industry who work with jazz artists need to make sure that they are keeping up with what is going on in the music world around them. They need to see and learn how musicians in other genres reach out and connect with their fans on and off line. To make jazz thrive today you cant be afraid of change. You must embrace it. As a Jazz Fan I still like the physical jazz CD with the art and liner notes, but that’s what is great about Topspin. I can download the music and order the physical product if I want at the same time in a bundle for one price. Its a perfect tool for a jazz artists website because you can please both the traditional jazz fan, and the fan who wants the digital track to put on their ipod immediately.

    Ian, I hope your post reaches a large number of people in the jazz community to facilitate a much needed change. I also want you to know that there are young people like myself coming out of school who love jazz, realize that a change is need, and want to help do something about it.

    A few artists to check out if you haven’t already:

    Gretchen Parlato
    Lionel Loueke
    Esperanza Spalding
    Aaron Parks

    Posted 10 Sep 2009 at 6:16 pm ¶

24. iancr wrote:

    This one came in via email, for some reason WordPress wasn’t letting him post:

    Matt Merewitz writes:

    Ian,

    I think what you have to say is mostly valid and had to be said. Many jazz artists I work with don’t seem to understand that the most basic power of the web is email lists and harnessing your power that way through regular updates to your fans. But there are a lot of other positive things going on that were not brought up – namely Philadelphia-based presenter Ars Nova Workshop (and its website http://www.arsnovaworkshop.org) which is not just a place to look at local concerts for Philly but a much larger resource on the creative improvised music scene with an eye towards educating the public on the jazz that you don’t necessarily read about on AllAboutJazz.com or in the mainstream US jazz press.

    Also notable is NY promoter/renaissance organization Search & Restore (and its website, http://www.searchandrestore.com, which I truly hope will become that Pitchfork of jazz – they just started a zine in NY called The Jazz Pirate Press which they’re currently handing out at popular shows with long lines full of jazz’s version of indie kids).

    And most importantly, you failed to mention the vibrant jazz blogosphere. I don’t know where I (as both an enthusiast and publicist) would be without it in the last 3+ years. It’s been a constant source of inspiration/networking and turning me on to new and old records I didn’t have that I wanted.

    Some key jazz and sometimes-jazz blogs to start off with:

    - composer/bandleader/Brooklynite Darcy James Argue’s Secrey Society: http://secretsociety.typepad.com/

    - The Bad Plus’ Ethan Iverson does most of the blogging at Do The Math: http://thebadplus.typepad.com/

    - Dave Douglas, the esteemed trumpeter/tastemaker/thinker/festival founder/label founder, etc. waxes eloquent every now and then about music and the business of musicmaking along with a small team of fellow artist bloggers (bassist Michael Bates) and label folk (Jim Tuerk, Rich Johnson) at Greenleaf Music (the aforementioned label Douglas founded after he left the majors in the mid 00s). The blog is located at http://www.greenleafmusic.com/blog/ and is an amazing resource for discussion and new music.

    - Time Out New York’s esteemed associate music editor Hank Shteamer has an excellent blog about freer jazz and other interesting topics at: http://darkforcesswing.blogspot.com

    - For the avant jazz vinyl collector (and now those who are also interested in new avant garde), there is the godsend, Destination Out: http://destination-out.com/

    And then there are a few blogs by well-known jazz writers that are particularly informative and well-written even if the guys writing are in that typical “jazz” demographic (aka old white dudes).

    - There’s Doug Ramsey’s excellent “Rifftides” which mixes old and new (with surprises consistently thrown in the mix): http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/

    - Howard Mandel’s “freelance urban improvisation” blog called Jazz Beyond Jazz, which takes its name from Mandel’s latest book on Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor: http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/

    - And finally there is the always informative and indie-rock-like tongue-in-cheeck “A Blog Supreme” from NPR which is relatively new and written by a blogger under the age of 25, Patrick Jarenwattananon (a recent grad of Columbia University and former jazz director on WKCR): http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/

    From those you should be able to find a host more of great activity online from musicians, fans and established writer types.

    Posted 12 Sep 2009 at 7:23 am ¶

25. Matthew Merewitz wrote:

    thanks Ian.

    Posted 12 Sep 2009 at 12:57 pm ¶

26. Chris wrote:

    I second everything Ian said. I’m working for Search and Restore and our main mission statement is exactly what you’re talking about. We want to make jazz more accessible to the younger generation (that we’re a part of) and we do that by using the magical tools of the internet.

    I try to be extremely active on twitter and we’re constantly posting audio and video clips as well as show reviews on our site. So far, the response has been great.

    Posted 12 Sep 2009 at 2:01 pm ¶

27. Chris wrote:

    I actually meant everything Matt said, but I agree wiht most of what Ian said as well.

    Posted 12 Sep 2009 at 2:08 pm ¶

28. Adam Schatz wrote:

    Ian, great thoughts. I too mourn the current state of most artist’s website.

    For the public record, I aim to make SearchAndRestore.com completely the oh my rockness of the jazz world. In the future we’ll have much more media components as well, video, live audio etc, the necessary arsenal needed to turn people onto the music that’s happening all around them.

    Posted 12 Sep 2009 at 2:31 pm ¶

29. Lyn Horton wrote:

    Record labels:
    CIMP
    AUM Fidelity
    Roguart
    Porter
    Firehouse 12
    Clean Feed
    Okka
    Not Two
    ESP
    and more….
    Blog: http://www.avantmusicnews.com/

    Posted 12 Sep 2009 at 2:55 pm ¶

30. Brad Barrish wrote:

    Here are a few you should definitely check out:

    Avishai Cohen – Gently Disturbed
    http://awe.sm/1VjC
    (Israeli Jazz, no less!)

    E.S.T., who I know you mentioned, but wanted to second that. Viaticum Platinum is the one I liked.
    http://awe.sm/1VjH

    Pat Metheny may not be as hip as some of the other newer artists, but do yourself a favor and pick up One Quiet Night -http://awe.sm/1VjJ

    Posted 13 Sep 2009 at 1:57 am ¶

31. Matthew Merewitz wrote:

    I’ve always wondered who compiles avantmusicnews? It’s got to be someone in the press who is hip b/c all the hip shit is re-posted there (both news articles and press releases).

    Posted 13 Sep 2009 at 8:32 am ¶

32. Clyde Smith wrote:

    1) It is kind of mind blowing when you encounter great artists whose web presence is incredibly weak.

    When I’m trying to figure out what’s up with current hip hop artists, I pretty much always check for their MySpace page. After a few years of trying to check for the artist’s or label’s website and seeing over and over again that they weren’t updated, I just gave up on those sources.

    That might have changed but previous failures took such sites off my list of sources. I can’t speak to other genres on that issue.

    2) @Howard Soroka

    “Wanna make jazz more popular in the future? Make more musicians (people who play instruments, not turntables).”

    I can see you were adjusting your comments in the dialogue but I didn’t catch any clarification on the turntable concept.

    To be honest, hip hop turntablists at various periods of hip hop have done more to expose young people to jazz than actual jazz artists seemed to have done. At least that’s what I’ve observed over the years and I’m older than hip hop!

    I’ve encountered numerous young folks involved with hip hop who talk about being turned onto jazz by certain hip hop artists and have gone on to become fans.

    3) An interesting web radio experiment undertaken by a friend of mine is worth checking out though it’s not all jazz music:

    http://www.taintradio.org

    Here’s some background:

    http://www.metronc.com/article/?id=1731

    Peace

    Posted 13 Sep 2009 at 6:12 pm ¶

33. garrett shelton wrote:

    To Matt’s comment – Ian didn’t “fail” to do anything. I think he was looking for suggestions & comments – for his benefit, and most likely for his readers who may not be as familiar with jazz.

    Posted 14 Sep 2009 at 11:14 am ¶

34. Jason Crane wrote:

    Wow. Good stuff all around, Ian. Thanks for the smart look at this issue.

    And thus begins my shameless plug: I interview jazz people who are making music I like on my online show The Jazz Session (http://thejazzsession.com). The 84 episodes of the show have been downloaded 300,000+ times, which I think speaks to your “build it and they will come” point. The design of my site is not particularly sexy, but I think it’s functional and easily navigable. That said, I always welcome critical feedback (or design assitance!).

    And I’ll also second your opinion of Garrett Shelton. He loves the music very much and is fiercely committed to expanding its audience. Great guy.

    Thanks again for this insightful post.

    Jason

    Posted 17 Sep 2009 at 12:52 pm ¶

35. Neil Alexander a.k.a. the NAIL wrote:

    Excellent post, and I agree: Jazz needs to Wake the fuck up. I am a jazz musician by trade; I psend a hell of a lot of time on the internet; but it seems not many people “get it” – it’s as if “Jazz” = “no need for an online presence”. I will take a very close look at Dave Holland’s site for sure. Meanwhile, as a jazz player who DOES Twitter, blog, and etc. allow me to introduce myself: Neil Alexander – Jazz Synthesist. Believe me – they don’t get that, either.

    Thanks – !

    Posted 17 Sep 2009 at 2:18 pm ¶

36. patrick wrote:

    Once upon a time, jazz was dangerous.

    Posted 04 Jul 2010 at 3:21 pm ¶

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