So apparently International Jazz Day is a thing, a REAL thing, and why not I guess. Unsurprisingly it was thought up by Herbie Hancock, which descent into mediocracy has lasted almost a half century. Jazz IS dying some would say - and yes, it certainly feels like jazz as a genre is devolving; if it doesn't feel antiquated as many new releases do, it might be because it isn't jazz at all. There's a thriving impro scene out there, but for the most part it fails to connect with an audience in this streaming age. Still IT IS THERE for you to find. And there's so many cool people out there doing cassettes, vinyls, usb-sticks and what not. Just look up labels like Rune Grammofon, Relative Pitch, Trost and many more.
Jazz has transformed itself into an event. Today it is International Jazz Day, but later this year here in Denmark we have Copenhagen Jazz Festival. One week each year in the start of July there’s outdoor concerts and all of sudden everyone seems to love jazz. Like it’s a summer thing, or maybe just as an excuse to sit down and drink beer guilt-free because… culture. But be sure that it ends as abruptly as it started.
Just as our facebook feeds are filled with pre-conceptions about you, so are our music consumption software. From the early days of Last.Fm and the similar artist-feature to Discover Weekly, Daily Mix or other algorithm-based playlists, these features are designed to feed you what you already like after the same, but different-doctrine. If you want to really broaden your musical horizon, you sadly still have to do your research yourself: finding playlist’s to follow, searching the web, reading reviews or message boards (yes, message boards!!).
Why not sign of with some Kamasi Washington - if not today, when would you just sit down and use 14 minutes of your life to listen to some new jazz music?