Should We Care What People Think of High-End Audio?

I've been reading audio magazines and jazz magazines since about 1976, and people were questioning the commercial viability of jazz way back then. I remember as a teen (and budding jazz guitarist) reading a column by some pop-culture writer in the Chicago Tribune talking about how jazz is dead and its fans should just move on to ... I dunno, Donna Summer or whatever the big hit was at the time.

They're still saying it. When they're between Kanye West albums and desperate for something to write about, pop music journalists routinely dust off the "jazz is dead" meme. We can find rambling blogs in which artists vent about the state of jazz today. If the music-industry mags write about jazz at all, it's usually with an air of dismissal, inspired by the fact that jazz records barely sell, even in comparison to other neglected genres.

I read that Chicago Tribune column in the late 1970s, when the author was probably in his 50s. So he's probably dead. But jazz is very much alive.

Open an issue of JazzTimes, and after you've finished reading the excellent audio column, check out the huge ......

Continues HERE