The new cult of jazz

Jazz, unlike rock and roll, is not the type of music to die for. It is very unlikely jazz will ever draw serious devotion and adulation from its fans.

In fact, it is almost improbable a cult will form around trumpet player Wynton Marsalis or jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour. As far as I know, guitarist Pat Metheny never had a problem with groupies hounding his every show.

Fans of this musical genre are likely bookish grad school students, college professors who despise classical music, jazz musicians themselves and/or promoters of their shows.

As a result jazz performances tend to be an orderly affair in which the audience is present only for the bass solo or piano coda. A jazz show is merely an extension of one’s home library or hotel lounge — only more sizable — where jazz music is traditionally played.

Java Jazz has tried to prove this notion wrong. And it is safe to say that in the past five years the raison d’être of the jazz festival is to show jazz performances can be colorful events, no less vibrant that rock festivals populated by adoring fans and to-die-for musicians.

And if only Peter Gontha of Java Jazz had managed to bring rock legend Santana to Jakarta for this year’s festival, Java Jazz metamorphosis into a rock-heavy festival would have been complete.

But even without Santana or Norah Jones, this year’s festival will still be a vibrant cultural event for Jakarta as Java Jazz has in the past years managed to build a community of jazz lovers, if not a cult of followers.

Last year, albeit dogged by massive traffic jams, heavy downpour and inflated refreshment prices, more than 30,000 people showed up every day during the three-day festival.

The massive turnout was partly the result of Java Jazz’s strategy to give a crossover feel to the festival by bringing in pop performer Jason Mraz, R&B crooner Peabo Bryson and mixing them with jazz stalwarts like Dutch singer Laura Fygi and latin Jazz purveyor Matt Bianco.

Jazz purists may have cried foul against the lineup, but Gontha has an explanation for it. “No one wants to see a jazz performance if you don’t put big names on stage,” Gontha said to silence his critics last year.

But I believe that when Java Jazz brought — in its second year — the godfather of soul Bobby Brown, these jazz purists were more than happy to join the ride in 2005. And when the soul legend passed away one year later, everyone in Jakarta, jazz purists or otherwise, owed Peter Gontha a huge apology.

The same skepticism could be heard earlier this year, when Java Jazz organizers disclosed the festival line-up, which includes soul singer John Legend, R&B singer Toni Braxton, singer songwriter Diane Warren and Malaysian legend Sheila Madjid.

But even those who do not have a problem with soul or R&B singers turning up in a jazz show will still begrudge the fact that veterans like Braxton and Warren — whose top 10 hits were registered at the pop chart more than two decades ago — were invited to perform at Java Jazz.

But who are we to complain? At the very least Braxton and Warren are relevant for some of Jakarta’s well-heeled music fans as opposed to nameless, faceless, American emo bands that Jakarta music promoters have continuously shoved down our throats in the past couple of months.

We cannot be more grateful also because the shelf life of the Braxtons and Warrens of this world have not fully expired and the trails of their genius can still be felt today, unlike some hair metal have-beens who shamelessly tour the country for nostalgic purposes.

Java Jazz promoters, so confident this line-up would generate massive interest from Jakarta music lovers, decided to relocate the venue from the highly accessible Jakarta Convention Center in downtown Jakarta to the Jakarta Fairground.

A rock festival atmosphere will certainly transpire in this year’s Java Jazz with four of the 17 stages erected outdoors. Let the party begin.

Source : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/03/05/the-new-cult-jazz.html