Down Days For Jazz

The jazz business is in a bad way right now. “The talent level has never been so high. But jazz economics are at a nadir not seen since the late 1960s, when Miles Davis, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters and John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra went electric and brought fusion to rock-oriented baby boomers. In this attenuated climate, jazz sales accounted for about 2% of the total market, mostly from back catalogue and new product by singers like Diana Krall and Norah Jones, who helped their labels stay solvent by going platinum.”