Jazz as a Living Art Form


So much of the music we hear in the Jazz genre is made by of musicians and artists trying to recreate the music of another era or of an already existing sound. This is understandable in many ways, as audiences want to know what they are getting and so providing music that is familiar can be useful in the marketing of Jazz, (think Ella, Frankie or Billie etc), which has a smaller market share to begin with. Actually I don't have any issue with this, in fact there are times when I am attracted to the idea of creating an "old school" feel in my work…

…but my personal journey is to reinvestigate Jazz and Blues as a living art form. For instance, during the writing of our upcoming "New York Stories" disc I was living in Harlem and writing down in Midtown near Time Square with Manhattan's energy and musical history swirling around me and filling me with inspiration.  However I was also going through a great deal of personal upheaval and risk while romancing a new partner who was living and working in New York. And the upcoming disc certainly reflects both my romantic love affair and my love affair with New York.
  
The early days of a relationship are an unsure and unsettling time (as well as very exciting and romantic of course) and luckily for me I have songwriting as a way to express and process my experience. 
Coming from the confessional singer-songwriter tradition has made my kind of Jazz & Blues a very personal mode of expression that I hope communicates to the world; A living art form that looks both forwards and backwards at the same time. One listen to "New York Story" says it all!



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