I was the only journalist to show up when the American Jazz Museum held a press conference to promote a concert by the jazz giant Randy Weston in 2010. The situation has since grown even graver. Jazz coverage fell off a cliff when newspapers, radio and television stations gained instant access to audience analytics. The click-throughs and ratings driving editorial decisions and programming just aren’t there for jazz.
That’s why Plastic Sax- an outlet that neither solicits nor receives any outside financial support- has long been the most comprehensive outlet for Kansas City jazz news and reviews. Indifference to Kansas City’s jazz scene is one thing. Fully engaging in Kansas City’s jazz scene without monitoring Plastic Sax is impossible.
Ironically, my status as the primary source of forthright coverage subjects me to slights and digs from musicians. I don’t think a less-than-glowing review was written about a Kansas City jazz artist until I came along. My refusal to join the inveterate squad of cheerleaders is heretical in an ecosystem dominated by mutual admiration societies.
The provincial perspective fosters abuse and ignorance. Few object when a very fine jump blues band is promoted as a jazz act. No one bats an eye when Kansas City’s most prominent jazz institution hails a beloved hometown soul balladeer as a “global jazz star.” Cast in the best light, such obfuscations are merely misleading. Viewed cynically, the willful deceptions could be interpreted as schemes to misappropriate funding.
Next week: the inadvertently incendiary four-part K.C. Blues series concludes with eight reasons for optimism.