Daniel Glass-Part 5

PART V

JAZZ AND THE FUTURE

World class drummer, author, clincian, producer and recording artist Daniel Glass delivers an address of Jazz in the modern age, American culture, and survival of the fittest musicians.

Click the above graphic link to visit www.danielglass.com

--------------------------------- September 2006 ---------------------------------

Q: Where is Jazz in 2007?

DG: On one hand, I suppose I could be pretty down about it. Not a lot of people buy Jazz records. Labels like Blue Note and Verve are becoming increasingly Pop and cross-over oriented. There’s not a lot of room left out there for pure, straight ahead Jazz. In terms of record sales, it’s kind of a dour outlook. Part of it is that the tradition is getting lost in the shuffle; a lack of education. The other part of it is that it’s all been done. People have heard it all. A lot of companies today are selling music to make money. They’re thinking about it in that kind of business model. So, only the very middle of the road music is going to get out there; or musicians are editing what they’re doing. That being said, there is some cool music out there. Most of the good Jazz music I’ve heard recently combines a lot of really cool elements. Christian McBride’s band. Christian plays both upright and electric bass. They play everything from Weather Report to Funk to Rock to all kinds of music. The keyboard player is playing piano, Fender Rhodes, and synth patches. Billy Childs is another example. The music that he’s doing now is just incredible. I think it’s tremendously original and interesting. Beautiful and melodic. His most recent record had a drummer, guitarist, a reed player who mostly played soprano or flute, a harp player, and Billy. I recently saw Wayne Shorter’s quartet with John Patitucci, Danilo Perez, and Brian Blade. They were really interesting; a little more on the avant-garde side of things, but, in my opinion, really deep. It’s out there. Of course, the conflagration of Smooth Jazz has taken over what was the Jazz market. A lot of people can go to a Smooth Jazz concert and feel as though they’re appreciators of Jazz when what they’re really hearing are two-chord Funk jams that don’t challenge them as listeners. It’s more about showmanship than it is, I don’t know, reaching for anything.

Q: What do you think is the end result when the music industry tries to sell an artist such as Norah Jones under the heading of Jazz, even though her music isn’t really of that style?

DG: The end result is that she sells a lot of records for Blue Note.

Q: Why do you think that Americans, in general, don’t gravitate towards Jazz in the same way that Europeans do?

DG: As a society, Americans have mastered the art of being a consumer. Sadly, it means that Americans don’t appreciate things that take a little more than a two-minute attention span to appreciate. They’re just short on it. Our nation as a whole does not support culture as something that is good for the society. Therefore, there’s very little government backing or finance for culture or our cultural heritage. It’s looked at as a commodity. Obviously, the government that we have today, really since Reagan, has been corporate-dominated. You can see it very clearly; and I think that’s why Americans aren’t hip to Jazz. Whereas in other countries, there is a lot of government money for cultural awareness; not only for those countries’ individually unique cultures, but for culture in general. The governments are still interested in giving their people culture as a part of their development in becoming well rounded citizens. As a result, people are a lot more balanced in those places. They certainly are a lot more relaxed; and they live more fulfilling lives than Americans do; because we’re chasing the almighty dollar 24-7. As you know, it’s an empty thing to chase.

Q: What do you think is the future of the successful musician and recording artist?

DG: The ones I see that are successful are real renaissance people. That’s what I’m trying to do. You have to be good at a lot of things. You have to be market savvy. You have to not be afraid to work hard in order to hit those areas. It’s hard to make it as a one dimensional person unless you’re a virtuoso, really good looking, or both. It’s going to be tougher and tougher to break into the mainstream. If what you’re about is in any way shades of grey, then you’ve gotta be driven to find your way.

Q: Hasn’t it always been that way?

DG: I suppose; but more and more what breaks through in our society is something that’s shiny and attractive a la Jessica Simpson or something that you can talk about in two words or less. These are the things for which people have the attention span. The more involved, the harder the sell.

Q: Where are you, personally, headed as an artist, musician, and even as a person for that matter?

DG: To me, it’s all one in the same. Living in this post-911 world where the government, in my opinion, is just preying on its citizens, let alone the citizens of other nations, it’s very easy to become extremely bitter, cynical, and hopeless. I definitely battle with those feelings. By the same token, the thing that is my savior is the fact that I believe in what I’m doing. I believe that I have something good to offer the world. Basically, what I have started doing for the last 15 years is just planting the seeds for what is growing now. So, I plan to continue doing it. I feel as though things are beginning to come around in a cool way, especially in terms of the drum history/educational/book writing type of endeavors; but that’s certainly not going to stop me from creating as an artist. That’s something I’ll always be doing, whether it’s writing songs, books, playing in a Jazz group, or whatever. In addition to being a renaissance person, you have to be incredibly patient. Even if at the beginning of your career you get on a major label and have a hit, the people who succeed are the ones who are left standing at the end of the day. It takes an insane amount of perseverance no matter what you’re doing at what level. If you keep doing something over and over again, eventually, you’ll figure it out. That’s my philosophy.

--- Greg Debonne