Jazz Evasion

During a discussion of the use of jazz in television commercials to promote a variety of unrelated products, a musician once suggested to me that jazz is capable of selling everything but itself. 

I recently learned that the word “jazz” is likely to be expunged from the name of a prominent area summer festival as part of a rebranding campaign.  A mainstream jazz artist hasn’t headlined at the festival in years.  Even so, the explicit shunning of the word is foolhardy.  Although practitioners of the form are often relegated to the bottom of the bills, popular events including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival maintain “jazz” as part their names.

In New Orleans as in Kansas City, people like the concept of jazz even if they don’t necessarily want to listen to the music.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)