ESSAYS

This section includes essays on various jazz subjects, written by a number of writers. Contributions are welcome. Writers interested in contributing are welcome to contact the editor by filling out the form in the CONTACT tab. Photographs to illustrate those essays are welcome. Readers can click on the INDEX button for a list of articles in this folder.

ALL WHAT JAZZ?

by Kevin Jones

The Australian, October 6, 1995

The most important date in the postwar resurgence of jazz among the public was Sunday, December 8, 1957. It marked the television screening of the program The Sound of Jazz in the United States, part of the CBS series The Seven Lively Arts. It was the music form's most important step towards the public consciousness since television had replaced radio as the medium of mass entertainment. Nearly 38 years later, in a completely different world of popular music, pianist and composer Paul Grabowsky told me we were "in the golden era of Australian improvised music". Maybe, but is anybody listening?

ALL WHAT JAZZ? SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY?

by Bruce Johnson & Kieran Stafford

JazzChord, Oct/Nov, 1995

Kevin Jones's recent piece ‘All What Jazz?' (The Australian, 6/10 /95) presented a bleak and depressing picture of jazz in general, and jazz in Australia. Many working in jazz found it unrecognisable: the alleged decline of the jazz scene since Kevin's high period of 1958-1962; the disappearance of jazz from commercial radio; the failure of jazz CDs to sell; and the gloom of the Sydney scene, with out-of-work musicians and lack of venues. A number of Kevin's claims were demonstrably or apparently false…

WHEN WILL THE BLUES LEAVE?

by Ian Muldoon

March 18, 2021

I opened the New Yorker (8/2/21 Edition) and went to the section called GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN (GOAT). This section is my first port of call in this magazine because for a moment - just for a moment - I can transport myself to what may be, along with Melbourne, one of the greatest (jazz) cities in the world and imagine - just for a moment - I’m in an apartment on East 53rd St. It’s mid-afternoon and we’ve got the evening ahead of us. We may wander along to MOMA and spend an hour getting in the mood. Have a coffee at the Terrace Cafe in MOMA and later take in Smalls, or the Vanguard, or Birdland and hear some great live music. But it’s Covid time and live music is hard to come by, made evident in the GOAT section of the New Yorker…