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HERE A FRENCH MAN SPEAKING .

JAZZ IN THE US SUCK, EVEN THE BLACK FOLX DON T GO TO THE CONCERT TO SUPPORT THEYRE HERITAGE , IT IS MOSLY WHITE.
NOW DIANA KRALL AND MONHEIT , THEY ARE NOT GOING TO DO JAZZ FOREVER , DIANA KRALL IN FRANCE DOES NOT IMPRESS ANYBODY , IN FACT SHE DOES NOT TOUR THAT MUCH , PEOPLE KNOW THAT SHE IS A GOOD LOUNGE SINGER , ALL THE REST IS MARKETTING AND A LOT OF MONEY SPEND ON PRESS BY UNIVERSAL .
MONHEIT CUTE TOO ....
DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER , NOW WE ARE TALKING . I GUESS THE ONLY SURVIVOR , THE ONLY REAL ENTERTAINER AROUND , BOY IF SHE WAS WHITE !!!!!

This is a really interesting thread but I think the point might be is where is the jazz audience? Who's buying the CDs, who's going to the concerts? Where is the black youth audience? They aren't listening to jazz. That is sad. The big evil here is corporate profits. Look at the hip-hop labels. Maken millions. I think the problem is much broader than racism. It has to do with culture and greed.

This article in Jazziz basically says it all....
Generation X, Generation Jazz

When Im not toiling here at JAZZIZ as assistant editor Im stuck doing the real work while the senior editors jet off on junkets, er, fact-finding missions Im the adviser for the student newspaper at Florida Atlantic University in balmy Boca Raton. Nothing quite compares to turning 35 and being asked what its like to be so old. But then I remember that most of my students are younger than MTV and have never held an LP in their pink little fingers. What they know about jazz wouldnt fill one of their Altoids tins. For instance: Jennifer Sorentrue, the 23-year-old editor and a straight-A student, only recognized one jazz act as of last year. That was Ella Fitzgerald. Its the music my mom listened to. That was my whole idea of jazz, she recalls. I knew she was a woman, and I think I knew she was black. I didnt know she was fat. Then Sorentrue enrolled in FAUs only jazz-appreciation class. When I started, I thought Miles Davis was funk. But now I can recite his history, she says. Its probably one of the only classes at FAU where I still remember anything. She learned a lot (I have a much better appreciation of the evolution of jazz into rock n roll), but shes not yet a jazz consumer. Sometimes when Im in the car, Ill listen to smooth jazz on the radio, Sorentrue admits, but no, I havent downloaded anything yet. Two things concerns me here. First, Sorentrue and her friends will never buy a jazz CD because they dont buy any CDs. The FAU newsroom is cluttered with home-burned discs with labels like, Jens Mix, Dans Mix, and Jasons Mix. Second, this annual education issue of JAZZIZ celebrates schools that teach their students to play jazz. But after they graduate, who are they going to play for? Not Sorentrues crowd, apparently. If I dont get myself fired from JAZZIZ (I have a dubious employment record), Ive often wondered if Ill get laid off when all of its readers die off. Deeper intellects than mine are pondering how to save jazz from becoming as obsolete as the wax masters it was first recorded on. (Side note: A freshman once asked me if her friend was pulling her leg. Did vinyl records really have two sides?) But even an office-bound assistant editor like myself knows that the answer or enemy isnt Ken Burns. Or Wynton Marsalis. No, the future depends upon obscure guys with names like Dan Salmasian. Burns thinks hes surveying the jazz scene from high above it, while Marsalis thinks hes down in the trenches. But Salmasian is a mile behind enemy lines. See what I mean on page 44.

Michael Koretzky

Oct. 2001

I don't think I came to a conclusion. 1st.Education-aknowledge the problem, educate others(as we're doing), and continue educating ourselves: check out some of those other worthy artists(more to add to the bunch:Nnenna Freelon,Ghanniyah Green,Allan Harris)BUY THEIR RECORDS,support their concerts.Also we can educate the labels (when & where we can. A lot can happen from a letter sent to the company-or 100 letters).Start to learn more about the industry- so we can understand why they will promote a young, pretty white girl singer over an equally talented blk one (it's partly racism, but it's mostly dollars$$).Teach the next generation, it's not enough to complain about their lack of knowledge- tell'em, play something for 'em, I really think that's why jazz is in the sate it's in: More people don't understand it!

To Lyn and to Brat, you both have a valid point, I just got back from the IAJE in Long Beach and I saw a handful of blacks there (students in elementary, high school and college) as opposed to a great many white students. That just tore at my heart to see that.

If only there were good public school music programs that minority students could take advantage of. Unfortunately when funding is cut in schools, the arts prorgrams are the first to go. And unless students have parents or some sort of mentor who can point them in the direction of studying music as opposed to listening to the MTV and other garbage, they just don't get exposed. There are no easy answers I agree. Back in the day when I was growing up, we idolized Duke Ellington, nowadays kids idolize some rap star. The mass media such as MTV don't really promote young peoplestudying the music as an art and as a craft. If they made it hip to be an accomplished art, then perhaps more kids would be interested. I wish jazz artists had video as pop stars do.

That is why I wish the powers that be, the mass media, the conglomerates, the people who dictate to the public what is hip would be intelligent enough to elevate the music of jazz. If only jazz artists were treated as rap stars. If only jazz artist had videos. It is a catch 22, they say jazz doesn't sell, but then they and by "they" I mean the "powers in the music industry", don't invest in the art the same way they do in rap music, a music that perpetuates ignorance and continues to portray blacks as gangsters and demoralize women. I bet if jazz were back in vogue, then the industry would jump on the bandwagon after the fact. When I was growing up and also in my Dad's time, we wanted to be like the musicians, we didn't have television, only radio so Hampton, Ellington, Armstrong and later Davis, Diz, Bird were our stars. Now with t.v. the music has gone down. As you say, nobody wants to invest the time and discipline to be a musician. Because it is considered a "historical music". Somehow the IAJE and others in education have got to come together in some sort of musical summit to convince the industry and to do something to make this music assessible to young minority kids. It is a shame that we have given our music away and we are the creators of that music. They had a Sisters in Jazz band at the IAJE and not one "Sister" in the band, and these were girls from all over the world competing. I don't have the answers but it is a shame that we don't support our music. Who knows maybe there is a deliberate attempt to downplay the intelligent contributions that minorities have made to music. It is good that the young singer Alicia Keyes, who plays piano is getting acclaim, but we need to go a step more. If we can convince young minorities to invest in music, instead of the sex and violence and gangster that is portrayed on Tv. we would raise up an intelligent generation of youngsters. But when you see the heroes that are shown on TV nowadays, and getting paid to continue to show negative images of blacks, then something tells me that somewhere, something insidious but deliberate is going on with the message that the "industry" wants to continue putting out about minorities.