I wrote this to Rick Kessell, the editor of JazzEd Magazine after a recent editorial of his bemoaning the fact that the jazz audience is getting older and young people are not listening to jazz.  He said he would print it in the next issue and when it wasn’t there, they said they would print it in the next month (last April).    I noticed that Essentially Ellington became a prominent advertiser in that very issue, so I can see why they didn’t want to publish this.

Your point in the latest editorial, Passing the Torch, is well-taken. You are lamenting the aging of the jazz audience. I think you’re absolutely correct to observe that “jazz was a rebellious music which pushed against social norms” and, consequently, was much more appealing to younger audiences. As you expressed, with jazz being elevated to the level of classical music/opera and funded in a similar manner, we have younger people not viewing jazz as a music where “artists are constantly trying to bend the rules by adopting new styles under the broad umbrellas of music that we call jazz”

In my opinion, the Jazz at Lincoln Center/Essentially Ellington/repertory jazz model may be contributing to the problem. It seems strange to me to hear Essentially Ellington described as the Super Bowl of Jazz (as it was in the movie Chops). In the press release of this year’s EE Festival, one of the musicians from the ‘winning’ band said that he felt they just couldn’t be beat that day.

We can all agree that Duke Ellington was a genius. The goal is honorable as an educational tool and the free music EE provides is priceless, but might there be a better pedagogical path to keeping jazz alive and current than having hundreds of high school jazz bands trying to sound like Duke’s band did on one night when Dave Berger decided to transcribe the arrangement. Duke’s band was a living organism that constantly evolved, made up of unique players he chose to interpret his music. As a saxophone teacher, I see nothing wrong with teaching a student to imitate Johnny Hodges (if it can ever be done), but when I’m judging a student combo at a jazz festival, for example, I want to hear something of what that alto player sounds like, not how well he can imitate Rabbit. Clark Terry said it best. “Imitate, Assimilate and Innovate”. By reducing everything to imitation we might be losing a valuable opportunity to keep jazz alive as a music of NOW. Even if these young players made it to “Assimilate” there sure isn’t even the goal to Innovate. (Duke already did that ).

I’ve performed with the Smithsonian Masterworks Orchestra and GAME, another long-running repertory band and I know how hard it is to really play the music authentically. Professionals can struggle for a correct interpretation and one almost has to put one’s self in the era (or better yet the month and year) and understand all the styles which came before, and which ones had not yet happened to make an authentic realization of the arrangements. Not to mention the issue of solos – do you attempt to play written solos with the same phrasing, etc applied to the arrangement, make up your own solo, or something in between. I once asked David Baker in a Smithsonian rehearsal if I had to play Harry Carney’s solo in the chart, and he said playing my own solo was great, as long as it was in the style and at least as good as Carney’s! What should we teach our young players and what is of the most value to their development as future artists?

I’d like to see Essentially Ellington include original compositions into its program. Let’s hear what the young composers of today have to say! Or how about having Wynton or members of the band contributing original, modern arrangements for young bands that can be given away as Duke’s (Basie, Henderson) music is.There’s certainly a need for good HS arrangements (and even more of a need for beginning charts).

I have the utmost respect for what Wynton and JALC and his/our gargantuan efforts in keeping jazz alive but if we really want to develop the next generations of jazz fans, we may need to encourage our young musicians to stretch the music and express themselves today. Spend hundreds of hours learning and realizing your own music, not Duke’s, and we may catch the ear and support of younger fans.