fortune review

(I recently visited the One Step Down to see Sonny Fortune on June 30th and ran into my old pal Louis Scherr who bemoaned the fact that people weren't using the msg board- this is my attempt to engender some discussion).

Is jazz dead? As a longtime professional Jazz musician myself I can't allow myself to believe it's dead yet, but I'm inclined to agree with Frank Zappa who said in the 70's that "Jazz isn't dead but it smells funny." I hadn't been out to a club in a while so I decided to drop in on Sonny Fortune at the One Step. He was backed up in typically fine fashion by Nassur Abaday, James King and Bob Butta, however sitting through the set I found myself becoming slightly depressed. First of all, the club was half empty on a fri night-(this is not a stadium after all), but more depressing was the music I was hearing. I mean no disrespect to Sonny and company, who played very well-Nassur in particular, but it struck me that I could have heard the same set in 1970(!) by McCoy Tyner's group (Sonny's ex-leader) among others. It's 30 years later, folks! How did Jazz, the music of cutting edge creativity and supposedly relentless forward motion, allow itself to becomes so stagnant?

I remember reading that Charlie Parker, just before he died, said that he was becoming bored with conventional bebop changes and was considering abandoning the whole business in favour of greener pastures. Why do the legions of Parker devotees ignore this essential aspect of his persona, his passionate search for fresh ideas, and instead immerse themselves in the slavish imitation of his playing in a style that he himself considered virtually dried up? I would say that the true student of Parker and his Spirit should sound virtually nothing like him. And it's not just Parker- Miles, Coltrane, Herbie, Chick, Keith Jarrett, Rollins etc. etc. have all produced similar followers.

As I was sitting listening to Sonny, I remembered a Downbeat review of one of his albums from the early 70's-something to the effect that "Sonny Fortune continues to mine a small vein of Coltrane's Legacy". I remember thinking that the review was accurate if a little unfair, as I had enjoyed the album but sitting in One Step it was clear that that review was still right on the money nearly 30 years later.

As Jazz audiences continue to shrink one can look at many factors that may be responsible- the mass marketing of Corporate created Culture-the failure of our educational system to expose our young people to intelligent music and so on but I think we musicians should take a hard look at ourselves and ask ourselves, have we bored our audiences right out the door?

I realize this is not a new question but it's one that, more than ever, deserves to be asked. There is a lot more I can say on this subject but I'm curious as to your thoughts on these important questions.