Re: Pheonix Festival (England)

Elson Trinidad (elson@westworld.com)
Fri, 14 Jun 1996 16:57:14 -0700 (PDT)


On Fri, 14 Jun 1996, Banez, Caron wrote:

> i'm not saying it's useless -- we should still attempt to promote it, but i
> guess a lot of it has to do with music background/history. england and
> japan have always had a deeper fascination and appreciation for american
> funk/jazz, moreso than americans.

Yes. Shame, especially since all these forms of music really
originated in the US (jazz, blues, soul, funk, hip-hop).

The biggest enemies are US record companies, who like to force-feed their
packaged Prefabricated R&B, talentless (and discretely exploitative)
Gangsta-Rap and So-Called 'Alternative' music to the under-30
demographic, and similarly the blandness of yuppified "jazz" to the
over-30 crowd. Our radio stations (who are most likely bribed into
playing these kinds of popular music) are culprits as well. Most of you
might not like 80s music, but you have to admit that even back in the
80s, even Top-40 stations were much more musically diverse than they are
today. In fact, there's no such thing as a Top 40 station in America.
It's more like "Top 4".

The reason I bring up the Top 40 format is that to be honest, listening to
most Acid Jazz music, it's entirely catchy and accessible, but for some
reason people don't catch on to it.

> once in a while, though, you see that promotion has made a difference. for
> instance, the coffee shop in my building has been playing a tape called "in
> the mix" from the Acid Jazz label that was circulated around town. I saw it
> in second hand thrift stores and restaurants being given away for free. and

I have that tape too. I already owned the repsective JTQ and Quiet Boys
albums whose tracks are featured prominently on the tape. But it really
got me hooked onto the New Jersey Kings (JTQ's alias band) and I went out
and bought "Stratosphere Breakdown" (still can't get over the horrible
cover art though :)) Hey, it worked for me...

Elson

-30-
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Elson Trinidad, Los Angeles, CA * elson@westworld.com
http://www.westworld.com/~elson
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JIBE - Get on up - let the rhythm put you out of control
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