Last Wednesday, James McBride made an appearance at ETSU to speak about his upcoming book and end the evening with some jazz. His band of four played some great jazz classics by Miles Davis and Duke Ellington.
All of this great music reminded me of my time spent in Washington, D.C., jazz clubs. My first time visiting a District jazz club was in 1998. Ron Holloway, who used to play with Dizzy Gillespie, was playing with the Johnny Artis Band, a local District main stay, at Blues Alley.
This was a small establishment, very dark and smoky, fitting the stereotypical picture of a night in a jazz venue.
The music that night was great and from that point on I was officially addicted to jazz music.
While the James McBride Band was playing I wondered what the future of jazz music to would be. I did a brief interview with bassist Calvin Jones last Wednesday night and he had some interesting viewpoints on the future of jazz.
Jones said that jazz ultimately changed when the funding for music programs was cut from inner city schools during the late ’70s and the early ’80s. “All the instruments that the kids had to fool around with were turntables,” he said. Jazz has always been a predominately urban-based music.
After the ’50s and early ’60s many jazz musicians started experimenting with their music most unsuccessfully. A true jazz aficionado will most likely have most of his music collection before 1965.
Calvin Jones pointed to an album recorded by Herbie Hancock and Dave Holland in the ’80s called New Standards. Jones explained the importance of this work to the future of jazz. Herbie Hancock, who is still producing music today, has been a legend in the world of jazz since the days of the greats like Miles Davis. Most of Herbie Hancock’s music is innovative and groovy still to this day.
The jazz market is on the decline and makes up only 1.5 percent of music sales each year. Jones said, “The lack of creativity in the work place and schools is stagnating the future of jazz.” He believes that the creativity in both school and work will overflow into music. He referred to the pressure put on students now to go beyond a four-year degree with all the creativity being sucked up in a vacuum.
A great album that came out in the summer of 200l called the Philadelphia Experi-ment has many jazz critics wondering if it has the sound of the jazz future. All who are searching for this new sound in jazz should pick this album up.
Whatever the future of jazz is be sure the “classics” will remain in all the playlists. Don’t put away your Miles, Mingus or Duke albums yet. A revival in jazz may require a revival in our own creativity as a society.

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