by Harold McMillan

In this issue we take a look at ourselves and some of the other nonprofit jazz presenters around town. It is tradition for us to devote our September/October number to the Austin Jazz and Arts Festival, which we, DiverseArts produce. This year we also thought it would be a good idea to offer you a glimpse of our peers, our fellow (and Sister) organizations/organizers, a sampling of the other folks in Austin who believe that producing jazz programming is important. Because jazz is more about art and culture than commerce, these local jazz presenters all face a common dilemma: How do we maintain and expand the audience for jazz in a city that is not really a "jazz town."

Even if Austin isn't known as a jazz town, there is an audience here. There are great musicians here and great musicians from around the world who want to play here. And, there really is the potential for a jazz community to grow and coalesce.

It is not as if there is no jazz here now, nor that the jazz tradition has no roots in Austin. It does and they run deep. Gene Ramey, the Sam Huston Collegiates, Kenny Dorham, Bobby Bradford, James Clay, Leo Wright, Grey Ghost and many other notable players have called Austin home in the past. If you've read the pieces at the front of this issue of Austin Downtown Arts, one of the common threads found in the interviews is this notion of "us and them," even in the jazz scene. I mention this for the positive aspect of the division, segmentation among the audience, players, presenters, clubs and promoters. In the long run, the fact that there is an "us" (swing, neo-bop, avant) versus "them" (trip-hop, smooth jazz, dixieland) means that there actually is an interested, diverse, multigenerational, jazz audience in Austin.

The challenge: Getting them to talk to each other, support each other, share audiences and resources with one another.

How do we do that?

I'm not quite sure. I have some ideas, but....both you and I are tired of hearing me go on and on about much of it. So, this time I'm not gonna do that. Short and sweet.

If we lived in Groovetown, Nebraska, a town that is not the Live Music Capital of the known Universe, doesn't have an opera and a symphony, doesn't have five colleges, doesn't have a Sixth Street (just five), and doesn't have 10 Clear Channel pop radio stations, we probably would not have much trouble marketing jazz programs there. The Creative Opportunity Orchestra would, no doubt, find a supportive banker to sponsor each season. The annual Groovetown Jazz and Arts Festival would be city-sponsored, supported with local and regional corporate partners. And even the avant concert series would find support. And, these art and culture programs would be something special to the citizens of Groovetown. But...there's just not that much going on in Groovetown. Fewer choices, easier decisions -- whether it's which concert to attend or what public art organization to support. I'd bet that the Austin Jazz and Arts Festival would find the sponsors and audience it needs, were it based in Oklahoma City. But, it's not.

Of course, the problem for us is that we are actually here in this live music capital. The competition is stiff, the opportunity great. There are, however, a lot of other projects to distract folks. Perhaps jazz is not as sellable/marketable as alt-country-singer/songwriter-texas-blues-rock. Perhaps most jazzheads don't drink as much cheap beer (hence are not as "beer-company-sponsor-able") as do the throngs who flock to Waterloo Park every other weekend.

So, OK, given this highly competitive market we are in, how do we "brand" jazz in Austin, so that it brings the community together, builds and keeps audiences, and finds sufficient support for nonprofit cultural organizations, without requiring them (us) to over commercialize what we do?

Maybe, just maybe, it's time for us to once again look at ways to bring funders, audiences, presenters, players, and students together for the sake of keeping jazz on the map in Austin.

Wouldn't it be great if some jazz heads got together, formed a society, and brought all of the various segments of the jazz community together for our mutual benefit?

I can dream, can't I?