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Where Have All The Jazz CDs Gone?
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Mostly, this site attempts to take a positive view, but enough is enough. The Jazz CD bins in my local
CD (we also knew them as Record - ed.) stores are getting pretty thin. And we know it is not that CDs are not being made ;-).
Sure, times are a little tougher, we've just had a war, and the CD buying public has other things to spend its money on,
or perhaps less money to spend. All that being said, where is the passion for jazz?
Anybody remember the Commodore Music Store (the touchstone for New York's record buying public for
several generations)? I'd like Jazzspot to be the virtual equivalent of that.
A contributor to Jazzspot who works for a large CD reseller, says his sales are actually better than most jazz sections of large retailers.
But I freely acknowledge that he and my friend Sumter Bruton at Record Town
in Fort Worth, Texas (a knowledgeable Jazz and Blues guitar afficianado - see a list here) carry
things they likes and know will sell, and special-order everything else. I buy from Sumter whenever I go to Fort Worth because I want him
to be there the next time I come in. Am I crazy, or do others feel the same? (Wanna post a response - send it here.)
And my point is...I'm tired of waiting for retailers to get it, and I'm tired of the few glitzy, yet unimaginative jazz sites with
narrow viewpoints and a real paucity of new information. Some of them are the best of the genre, and effective sources for news,
but they still cater to the BIG (LOL - Laughing Out Loud) money from the largest labels. And apparently even that doesn't get it done,
because the CD bins are still empty, and so the readers are not buying - I guess.
Retailers are not going to get it - because the numbers of jazz listeners are too small. We need to unite to have a voice, and I think
we need a collective. Maybe a buying group (not MLM - please don't get me started), but a band of several hundred or a thousand people who
want to share thoughtful information about CDs (edited by Jazzspot) for others and posted here. I've tried to do it with a small crew
of folks, and now it's time for others to help. Musicians, small retailers, fans, freelancing journalists, friends of the music, etc. Maybe a
voice in the thousands can make a difference.
I suggest we meet at Monterey during the jazz festival. Those who cannot meet there, we'll host the meeting online. Or suggest another place
(I just happen to go to Monterey every year, and many jazz journalists do also, and we are a lot more likely to generate some noise
in a place other than New York IMHO). I honest want this to be different than a "Jazz CD service" - I want real information sharing about
new music and collective buying based on interest. I also want savings for the group, and to provide an outlet for small independent labels
and local musicians to be considered - because they are not being considered now, to say the very least. And let's make it international - that
gives us much more music to consider!!
Tell me what I crazy idea this is, or vote yes by sending e-mail to Jazzspot and we'll start this moving.
We only have three months until Monterey, and I want at least 25 of us to meet there. I'll be making up T-Shirts for the
group - everybody needs a T-Shirt. And we'll have a newsletter within 30 days.
I don't want to wait any longer to get to know many of you formally through this group. And I believe many of you who are
musicians -- Nancy King, Diane Hubka, Steve Christofferson, Marcel Ivery and others -- can benefit directly by getting your
music into the hands of more people through a cooperative like this.
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