To Atlanta Jazz Festival Staff:
Alonzo Craig, Festival Manager
Manager, Performing Arts Division
David N. Mitchell
Manager, Public Relations & Sponsorship Development
Nnena Nchege
Project Supervisor, Music Festival Programs
Tiffani Bryant
Project Supervisor, Art in Education
Monica Prothro
Project Supervisor, Contracts for Arts Services
I am writing out of concern for the way that the great art form of jazz music is represented by the City of Atlanta.
In my experience, many people that I come across do not know a lot about jazz music. They know some of the names, many of which have long passed--Ellington, Monk, Armstrong, Coltrane, etc., but don't know a lot about their music. Even less are they familiar with the music of modern day masters, some of whom have performed at the Atlanta Jazz Festival, such as Benny Golson, Percy Heath, Roy Hargrove, McCoy Tyner, Geri Allen and Herbie Hancock. Therefore, I believe it is incumbent upon the City of Atlanta to properly represent jazz music at a so-called "jazz festival", which by it's own words, state:
It is the mission of the Atlanta Jazz Festival to expose and entertain a diverse audience of jazz aficionados, young jazz enthusiasts and musical artists to the rich heritage and variety of jazz as an authentic form of traditional music.
Looking at the lineup there is only one act, Atlanta resident, Freddy Cole, that helps to fulfill the goal of the mission statement quoted above. Of course, this is only my opinion, but it is not unshared by others (i.e. http://www.iwasdoingallright.com/atlanta_jazz/216). The rest of the acts are all non-jazz acts or performers who have performed jazz at some point in their careers, but as presented at the festival only have some peripheral connection to jazz music.
My earlier point that many people do not know a lot about jazz music was made to illustrate that by having a major American city to mischaracterize America's great art form leads to not only to a continuance of the lack of knowledge about the music, but actually advances that ignorance about the essence of the music, its progenitors and the many varied forms that it comprises (i.e., swing, bop, post-bop, cool, avant-garde, etc.).
This letter is written with the hope that, in the future, the City of Atlanta presents a festival that is worthy of being called a "jazz festival". Is there any other form of music that is more disrespected? I doubt that we'd would see country, reggae, hip hop, classical, etc. festivals given the same treatment of not actually presenting the music they purport to represent--so why is this done to the jazz genre?
Regards,
David J. Boutte
3 comments:
I appreciate your post. The line-up made no sense to a jazz festival. And what's more, the great talent in Atlanta (like mentioned in iwasdoingallright.com) wasn't even tapped. What a shame. I hope that you get a response.
Thanks for mentioning the local talent--which I neglected to do. There are some very good artists here which makes it even more puzzling that there was nearly a complete lack of jazz at the festival.
Jazz music is wondeful, is a comfortable rhythm. Every time that i am listen this kind of music i usually fell relax. Actually i am reading about it frequently becouse i love it. In my search i found a site called costa rica investment opportunities it seem interesting, so i invite you to go there.
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