A second group revels in the new, creative notions of jazz of recent decades their more flexible structures, new instruments and rhythms, and a freer, more uninhibited sense of expression. This second group may be in a minority, but they make a strong case that if the jazz world turns it back on current innovators, jazz will die a museum death. It s a difficult art form, and he agrees with people like Wynton Marsalis and Joshua Redman that to appreciate jazz, a listener should study it, just as one would to improve appreciation of classical music. Yet Ollman parts company with Marsalis, who as the main artistic consultant for Ken Burns documentary and the head of jazz programming at Lincoln Center is widely viewed by many interviewed for this article as a strongly conservative force in today s jazz world. Ollman says, for him to say jazz must be bluesy and danceable is just wrong.
Jazz is much, much more than that.
Ollman found fault with Ken Burns trying to cover the last 40 years of jazz evolution in a single 2-hour segment, several parts of which were taken up with further discussion of Louis Armstrong. In Central Vermont, there s a fair amount of jazz in the capital city thanks to a recent growth spurt in spaces that host live acoustic music. The Vermont Jazz Ensemble, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, often performs at J. Morgan s on the fourth Monday of each month. This 17-piece big band recently recorded a CD which will be released in March or April. A new venue for jazz in Montpelier is the popular Capitol Grounds coffeehouse, located at the site of the defeated McDonalds proposal on the corner of State and Elm streets.