Festival Productions & the End of Jazz

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I read today's New York Times' article about Festival Productions, and the fact that there won't be a JVC Jazz Festival this year. I worked with John Phillips and George Wein a few years back and am greatly saddened that this cultural institution, supported by corporate sponsorship, will be missing. I am perhaps even sadder that I think it represents the fact that jazz will lose an important forum, even though Jazz at Lincoln Center has had some good programming.

What's happened to jazz? Why is it so irrelevant? Why is it niche? Why can't young people name a single jazz standard? Not one.

It seems that as soon as jazz entered the pantheon of American culture, it became staid, boring...art music. Few - very few - people want to hang out at the museum everyday.

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