Jazz, secure, shrugs off “joke” threat

Too hip to be rattled by ignorant, idle, defensive — and of course, revealing – threats, the greatest living musicians are basking in hard-earned recognition and producing inspiringly energized, not necessarily mellow music. Undeterred by Live Nation-like commercial disdain, jazz festivals are thriving throughout North America under nominally non-profit organizations run by a coterie of canny impresarios. Jazz clubs — not only in NYC, I saw it in Chicago, too — are hosting eager audiences, maybe because the cheap buck has lured international tourists. But the buck’s not cheap Canada, which is also promoting jazz. Jazz is always endangered, but right now it’s in high bloom. 

Detailed evidence of jazz’s elevated spirits, at least in New York last week:

• The JVC Jazz Festival-NY was launched with a party at Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s official (but unused) residence Gracie Mansion and a Cecil Taylor solo piano concert wherein the lion of the avant-garde revealed his tender, lyrical (no less distinctive and superficially dissonant) side in a series of caprices, improvisations from motifs he’s developed in a manner unique in piano literature (including but not limited to jazz);
• The Vision Festival, a community-based effort of the stubbornly uncompromising non-commercial jazz fringe, has just ended, with a crisis over not enough air conditioning but generally good reviews for its ambitious programming of intense international improvisers. A Vision rump festival, the fourth annual New Languages concerts series, occured at the nearby Living Theatre;
• ASCAP etched new names on its Jazz Wall of Fame, and SESAC presented ribbons to some of its highest earning artists;
•  An unusually high degree of self-celebration was evident at the 12th annual Jazz Journalists Association’s Jazz Awards (full disclosure: my thing), as a host of worthies gathered in a virtual group hug. National Endowment of the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia bellied up with 83-year-rhythmic Roy Haynes, 90-year-elegant Hank Jones duetted engagingly with tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano, 88-year-cool conguero Candido was recognized as percussionist of the year, 90 year old Marian McPartland was announced recipient of a Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Award, 82-year-old fest producer George Wein was there to present it (though Marian had sent regrets), Musician of the Year Herbie Hancock couldn’t be make it because he’s on tour (with Up and Coming Musician of the Year Lionel Loueke), comparably young composer-arranger-orchestra leader Maria Schneider did speak gratefully upon copping four awards linked to her suite Sky Blue, a full house of winners (Jane Ira Bloom, Joe Locke, Anat Cohen, Nate Chinen, Hank Jones! Roy Haynes!!) players, writers, broadcasters, photographers and jazz record company survivors (the latter noticably rumpled) schmoozed merrily, and there were calls of “God is in the house!” when the ghost of pianist Art Tatum seemed to be playing via a new high-tech re-mixing software developed by Zenph Re-Performance.

Live Nations’s dingbant producer Mike Luba ultimately recanted his slight of jazz, claiming “it was 100 percent a joke . . . Our company does thousands of jazz shows a year, and it is the foundation of everything we do.” Yeah, that’s right, you owe jazz, Mouseketeer. How you plan to pay up?