Posted By:
Bruce BabcockI agree with Jim's comments but also with Barry's. I have not been as interested in jazz since the 1970s, and I picked the college I went to based on their jazz program at the time. I was luck enough to know and work with J.J.Johnson (the Josh Gibson of the trombone, and arguably the greatest trombonist of the 20th century). Nowdays, pop music in all its forms has overwhelmed the market place, to the detriment of most other types of music. Wynton Marsalis is doing his bit to keep the legacy alive, and is very involved in helping the musicians who lives were turned upside down by Katrina. But the economics of the jazz life, always difficult, are now almost impossible.