Rome is burning you can taste the embers

11 June 2009

Rome is burning you can taste the embers

OMG you guys did you hear JazzTimes is going under? I can't believe no one in the blogosphere is talking about it!

Kidding, of course. In the event that rock you've been under has been feeling really, really comfy... rumors of financial troubles at "the other jazz magazine" began last week on Howard Mandel's blog and were confirmed on Monday when the magazine's management posted a brief note acknowledging that they had ceased (sorry, "temporarily" "suspended") publication and laid off all of their staff. Apparently they are also not planning on paying the money they owe freelancers for previous assignments (i.e., work that has already been published), which totally bites. Howard also wonders aloud if the unsurprising but depressing demise of New York's JVC Jazz Festival was the final nail in the JazzTimes coffin -- his inside baseball perspective about "advertorial supplements" gives a slightly surreal look behind the curtain of the jazz publication industry.

There is a tendency in jazz, as in all fringe endeavors, to make the perfect the enemy of the good. "The politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small," etc. And so while I certainly understand the schadenfreude felt by those who take a grim satisfaction in seeing the former pillars of the jazz establishment immolate in such spectacular fashion, it does seem to me that it's a whole lot easier to attempt to reform the jazz-industrial complex while some of it is still left standing. "Burn it to the ground and start over" is a fun notion to entertain, but as a viable growth strategy it leaves a little something to be desired. Also, as David Adler points out, the lazy jab at "NPR fern bar jazz" seems particularly out of step with the times, although it's nice they have a sense of humor about it. (I am not sure what species of mutant space-fern you'd need to domesticate a front line that includes Bill McHenry and Andrew D'Angelo.)

On the other hand, William Parker can be justifiably proud of what he and his wife Patricia have built with the Vision Festival, now in its 14th year and still going strong. This year's Vision Fest kicked off on Tuesday -- Magnet Magazine has a great writeup of opening night. It's also nice to see some love for the VF over at Brooklyn Vegan. (The BV commenters also inevitably bring the snark, but that is all part of the love. Really.) The festival runs through June 15 -- I'm going to try to make it down on Saturday night.

But on Sunday afternoon, I'll be heading up to the Northside Festival -- specifically, Public Assembly, where the Search and Restore crew have stealthily inserted a slice of fresh new jazz into an event otherwise dominated by indie rock. Starting at 2 PM, S&R will be presenting the awesome quad-bill of Steve Coleman and Five Elements, Andrew D'Angelo's Gay Disco Trio, Ken Thompson's Slow/Fast, and Kneebody. This is the way of the future, I think... if our own institutions are crumbling, we might as well infiltrate someone else's.

Also, a reminder that Infinite Summer is just 10 days away. Have you secured your copy yet? How about your t-shirt?

Posted at 07:54 PM in The Jazz-Industrial Complex | Permalink