The NEA’s announcement about shrinking jazz audiences and New York journalist Terry Teachout’s subsequent article on the dreary future of jazz set the blogosphere on fire. For weeks, jazz bloggers argued about the existence of a younger jazz generation, taking both sides of the issue. Most people took issue with the point that young people aren’t interested in jazz, pointing out that a good number of young jazz musicians are making some serious music. Most people agreed that young audience members were disappearing and everyone held a different idea about the reasons behind this fact. It was an interesting but very long conversation that brought a lot of issues out into the open and at times offered some suggestions for the future. Still, as the fire spread through the blogosphere, it centered on lots of talk and very little action.

Fortunately jazz journalist and blogger Howard Mandel made a suggestion that utilized new technology, kept a connection to live jazz, and simply took a step forward. Mandel’s mandate was simple and accessible – when you attend a live jazz performance over the next few weeks, get onto twitter and tweet about it. By adding the line #jazzlives, the line of tweets could easily be followed, compiled, and turned into a massive voice for modern jazz. With the collection of jazz festivals over the next few weeks including the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival (last weekend), the Detroit Jazz Festival, the Chicago Jazz Festival, and the Monterey Jazz Festival, Mandel hoped to gather a large number of jazz fans instantly spreading the word about their concert attendance. The timing is certainly right, and Twitter seems like a good medium for this type of campaign – it’s free, quick, and easy for people to make their voice heard. It’s also searchable for later reference, so even if we miss the immediate statement, we can track it down later. It’s a good first step towards a new internet presence for jazz; Mandel should be applauded for his idea and large promotion blitz around it.

Making The Idea A Reality
I’ll be curious to see how this idea evolves over the next couple of weeks; despite good intentions, I’m not sure if it’s the right solution. I’m thrilled about the use of Twitter, I think that it’s a great medium that brings together conversation, broadcasting, and information exchange in a very real way. I’ve made lots of great online friends through Twitter, I’ve learned interesting facts, discovered new artists, captured news feeds, and become a piece of the jazz web. At the same time, I think that the greater jazz community has been slow to adopt Twitter, both on the artist and fan side. Once people take the leap into Twitter, there’s a bit of a learning curve as well; it’s a bit of a strange interface that seems too personal for some and too pithy for others. There’s a good deal of spam floating around Twitter right now as well with gig announcements, blog links, commercial interests, and more. Some members of the Twitterverse apply hash tags quite effectively, while other people simply attach them to anything and everything. Despite the great threads of information that can run through Twitter, there’s a good bit of noise that needs to be filtered in order to find the good stuff. The ups and downs of the Twitter community can make a campaign like this tough to sustain.

Still, I’d like to support Mandel’s idea and believe that #jazzlives will be successful, so I’ve been following the Twitter stream to interesting results. More often than not, I’ve simply found an abundance of announcements about the #jazzlives campaign. At this point, people are talking about the idea as a piece of news more than a piece of action. This can work – the campaign is still young and spreading the word extensively before the Labor Day weekend when we see lots of live jazz is a good thing. There’s been a bit of information about live jazz performances, which has been encouraging – I’ve read Tweets about live shows from Robert Glasper, Charlie Hunter, Cedar Walton, and more. Certain high profile gigs have drawn more attention while there have been a good number of comments about small venues and local gigs as well. Seeing the campaign draw this type of focused attention towards jazz makes things seem bright and positive. Unfortunately these messages have been overshadowed by the massive presence of people adding the hash tags to gig announcements, advertising, and simple comments about the jazz world. The idea seems to be taking off, but its being pulled in the wrong direction like wildfire; hopefully this trend will reverse in the upcoming weeks. There’s still a lot of potential behind the #jazzlives campaign.

A Great Opportunity To Spread The Word About Latin Jazz
This seems like a great opportunity for members of the Latin Jazz community to make major statements about the Latin presence in jazz. While I watched the Twitter stream flow this weekend, I noticed one of the few authentic Tweets in the #jazzlives campaign recognized a performance by Papo Vazquez at the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival. I sent that person a message and a conversation about Latin Jazz ensued. What if the #jazzlives campaign found itself filled with a massive number of messages referring to Latin Jazz? I’m not suggesting a sabotage of the campaign – I want to support efforts to promote jazz, not destroy them. Still, if Latin Jazz fans made their voice heard about live performances that they attended through the #jazzlives Twitter stream, we would make an undeniable impression upon the jazz world. Remember, Twitter is instant, but its also searchable for later reference; the proof for Latin Jazz support would be set in stone. Maybe make a statement about the lack of Latin Jazz at a festival with a Tweet like “I’m watching (insert jazz artist name) at the Jazz Festival, wish they had hired a Latin Jazz act #jazzlives.” Don’t move outside the boundaries of the campaign, but let your passion for Latin Jazz move into the forefront. If a good number of Latin Jazz fans took this approach, we could make a major impact.

Support #jazzlives!
I’d encourage everyone to jump on the #jazzlives bandwagon and help support jazz through Twitter. Stay on task here and use #jazzlives for its given purpose – Tweeting about live jazz performances that you are attending. Check out some live Latin Jazz and spread the word; that would be even better. Keep spreading the word and we could make a major statement about the power of jazz, Latin Jazz, and everything in between. Besides, it can be fun – interact about jazz performances all around the world and build relationships. It’s a win-win that can only help the cause.

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Are you going to be on Twitter spreading the word about live jazz through the #jazzlives Twitter stream? Connect with me @chipboaz I’d love to get to know you and hear about your jazz experiences! Check out my main Twitter page HERE.

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Check Out These Related Posts:
Is Latin Jazz On It’s Deathbed? A Need To Reach The Younger Generation
An Open Letter To JazzTimes Regarding Latin Jazz
More Thoughts About JazzTimes And Latin Jazz Coverage From Bobby Sanabria
Four Missing Resources In Latin Jazz Education

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