Who's really killing jazz?

A promoter for Live Nation was quoted in the Sun-Sentinel yesterday saying that not only was his company not going to bring jazz to a newly proposed music fest on Fort Lauderdale Beach, but that they were doing their damnedest to drive a stake through the heart of America's indigenous art form. "We're doing everything we can to eliminate jazz from American culture, so no jazz!" Mike Luba announced at a City Commission meeting Tuesday. (Check out http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flblive0618sbjun18,0,1550220.story)

Today, the Sentinel printed a story clarifying that Luba was just joshing. Ha! Good one, Mikey! Luba insisted that he loves jazz and that Live Nation presents plenty of jazz concerts, but apparently, this wasn't overwhelmingly obvious to readers who flooded Luba and the Sentinel with angry e-mails. (Link to http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbjazz0619sbjun19,0,4756900.story)

Regardless, even if Luba and Live Nation really were plotting in some smoky backroom to put a shiv between the ribs of the genre, the public may already be doing their dirty work for them. A collective shrug seemed to greet the closing of Arturo Sandoval Jazz Club earlier this year, only one of the best (if perhaps priciest) jazz venues down here. And where was the outrage when the long-running Hollywood Jazz Fest, which presented the likes of Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Betty Carter and Gerry Mulligan to name just a few, called it a day? And what the hell was the JVC Jazz Fest thinking booking such a lame lineup for its Miami edition, favoring tropical and R&B acts over real jazz? I can tell you exactly what they were thinking: Most of South Florida could give a rat's ass about jazz.

Sure, there are some bright spots on the horizon, such as the upcoming Jazz Roots series at the Arsht Center (beginning in November), the fine program at the Coral Gables Congregational Church (check out the mighty Irvin Mayfield on July 17), and South Florida Jazz's Jazz Impressions series, which wraps up Saturday night (6/21) with Larry Coryell. But if people don't go out and support these concerts, then the real assassin won't be Live Nation but rather an apathetic public.