The State of Jazz

@Don - I have certainly heard of fusion Jazz - Return to Forever, Tony Williams Lifetime, Dreams, Weather Report, etc. The fact that people are still playing something doesn't mean that its time of maximum creativity and artistic merit is not over. I'm sure there are thousands of kid trying to play Bach pieces for solo violin, but that doesn't mean the Baroque period hasn't ended.

But again, getting back to the OP, Diana sings old songs because people pay to hear her sing old songs. If they would pay to see her puke in a bucket, I'm sure she'd do that on stage as well. Bad example - People would pay to see her puke in a bucket. I forgot for a second how sick the world is.

Don_c55, before Roy Hargrove Miles Davis was incorporating HipHop into jazz

I guess it's easier to make a blanket statement about Jazz ending blah, blah, blah.... than to do a little digging for yourself. Some people need to be spoonfed and some like to cook their own meals, just sayin'!;)

The tendancy to declare that any creative period is "over" just mystifies me, although I realize people need to quantify and catalog stuff...as shallow and innacurate as that might be. I currently work mixing live jazz shows (and other shows)...lucky me! There are BRILLIANT jazz musicians out there playing as good as anybody has, and standards are simply a platform for musicians to play together...Krall has the chops to be taken seriously by the musician community (that's good enough for me), as does the intensly creative and category defying Norah Jones. The current jazz scene is packed with "maximun creativity" and to listen to Jason Moran, Brad Mehldau, Avashai Cohen (either one), Bill Frisell, Bill Charlap, my Uncle Bill (well, maybe not him), Jeremy Pelt, etc. etc., all of whom are writing brilliant stuff that could very well join the legacy of "standards", you can't help but be diggin' it...one needs to merely pull one's head out of their wazoo to see that Jazz is currently doing just fine.

Current jazz performers are just not promoted by the media in the good ole USA! They would rather debate if "Kind of Blue" is the greatest jazz recording(lol)! Even the acclaimed Ken Burns jazz series had very little to say after Miles or Coltrane. If Krall is to watered down for you check out Eliane Elias or Roberta Gambarini if you desire to hear a true current female jazz vocalist. BTW nice shout out(Wolf Garcia)for the Bill Charlap Trio!