Our Mission is to become the Ultimate Online Music & Art Exchange. As Artists, we must create ways to express, share and expose our Vision and Voice at all costs. The Art Lounge and Music Lounge is the first step toward achieving that goal
in front of an audience is invigorating!....K. Reilly
Keeping Jazz Music Alive
To many die-hard musicians, and music enthusiasts, pop culture seems to be inadvertently alienating real musicians who feel passionate about composing non-commercial work, or playing the music of the Jazz greats. Sadly, there are fewer and fewer venues for Jazz, and those venues that remain loyal to the genre are way too expensive.
Here we have a snapshot of a Magical evening at JW Jazz Forum's Open Mic Jam Session. The Friday Night Jam Session in Harlem, at Perks Uptown, become a hot spot for Jazz Musicians and aspiring Singers. The Forum has been discontinued, but hopefully the founders, Walter WIlliams and Johnny Johnson will find the right location to launch a new installment. They are dedicated musicians,committed to keeping the Jazz Flame burning.
Thankfully, there are celebrities and non-profit organizations that feel urgency for sponsoring annual festivals throughout the country. Jazz Festivals are more important that we may give them credit for. They are Jazz music's best chance of staying alive. There are small venues throughout the city that have jam sessions, and open mic night for Jazz and R&B(another genre heading toward being an endangered species).
It doesn't help that club owners are squeezing the blood out of musicians - trying to get more show for less and less money. You don't need a crystal ball to see that the future for live Jazz is looking bleak.Of course, as an eternal optimist, I believe that Jazz Music will make its way back into the foreground, and thrive once again! The good news is, outside of the US, Jazz is extremely popular. It is a hailed as a supreme form of musical expression - sharing in the level of respect reserved for Classical music in this country.
Check out JW Jazz Forum's website to take a peak at what they're up to. www.jwjazzforum.com
Coming soon, doARTorDIEwill post Original music from the founding members, as well as featured outside Music by unknown artists. As the Music & Art Exchange forum grows, we will open the forum up to outside submissions.Stay tuned.
