Polling is not confined to presidential politics. I’ve been taking one of my own lately: “How come fans don’t get off their fannies to support live jazz?”



In one of his final Village Voice columns, fellow jazz observer Gary Giddins, referring to the state of live jazz, mourned, “Jazz musicians have virtually no access to the machinery of capitalism.” This is a sentiment echoed locally by Rich Wetzel, especially in challenging club owners and other symbols of capitalism, trying to push his agenda for drawing live audiences.



“We need a real jazz club in the south end (of Tacoma). When I set up a regular jazz night somewhere, long enough, it gets some following; then the club owner decides to try ‘wet T-shirt night,’ or ‘country night’ … it boils down to … ‘consistency, consistency, consistency’  … .  Jazz Alley is truly a jazz club 365 days a year,” Wetzel says.



Jazzbones is truly a club for the same number of nights, but when you glance at its marquee virtually any one of those nights, you wonder why it isn’t called Rockbones. As Jennifer Johnson, entertainment director for Jazzbones’ parent company, SM Management, sighs, “To be candid, if we knew the answer, we’d be doing much better.



“We have six clubs in Western Washington, including a Jazzbones in Oak Harbor and Wild Buffalo in Bellingham, and we’d love to be able to feature more jazz. We’ve booked some good folks here in Tacoma, doing everything we can with advertising, but nothing hurts more than seeing half a house.”



Asked to comment on the vast numbers who don’t turn out, KPLU-FM’s droll advocate of straight-ahead jazz, Dick Stein, responds, “I guess my immediate answer would be ‘Who says they don’t?’ There usually seems to be a decent crowd at the venues I attend.”



From his colleague Nick Morrison at the same jazz station: “I think Puget Sound area jazz fans DO go out and support the music they love. The problem, unfortunately, is there just aren’t very many people who get it.”



A similar perspective is shared by much-in-demand recording engineer David Lange, who humbly describes himself as “a troglodyte here down in my cave” (his studio in Edgewood): “Jazz takes education … . It takes a great deal of listening to get it. The discipline to master this music is immense. Players who take this path want to be taken seriously … but the people who might be drawn into the music from an entertainment perspective have been lost in many cases.” We need more thinking troglodytes.



There are some thinking chanteuses out there who reflect a healthy cross section of opinion. None is healthier, or more infectious, than Maia Santell’s. This Lakewood lark has a fan database as large as the Pentagon’s. Most of them are dancers who’ll follow her to Siberia as long as the club has a dance floor. 



“Clubs continue to book the bands that have fans and followers who spend money on alcohol, or in my experience, bands whose fans will pay a cover charge to dance on a decent dance floor,” claims Santell.



The young, very experienced jazz singer Sommer Stockinger, who knows her way around disco, can croon a torch song with all the authority of a cabaret veteran. She knows how to get her message across. “Most audience members want to be entertained and don’t want to have to get their master’s degree in music just to be able to grasp something. Unfortunately, with 20-minute ‘outside’ horn solos, instrumental ‘pissing contests,’ songs that go on and on to oblivion, and musicians who virtually ignore their audiences, many (jazz musicians) have alienated their audiences.”



Saxophonist Cliff Colon also offers a serious commentary.



“Jazz is too complex for the average person … . They would rather be a fan of a dumbed down version of music where they don’t need to understand chord progressions,” explains Colon. “There may be a few left in the world, but I think most are either in an Elks Club or staying at home listening to their old records.”



Another tenorist, arranger/educator Kareem Kandi, focuses on promotion. “Resources are available for both performers and clubs via radio, newspapers, e-mail, Web sites, and mailing lists. Tacoma has many great jazz fans, but if they’re unaware of what’s going on, how can they possibly support them?”



Sheryl Clark has never met a reed instrument she hasn’t conquered. (No wonder her e-mail address is “Saxxy.”) She can outlast most male jammers, which she often proves Thursday evenings at La Fondita, in Tacoma’s Procter District. Clark presented me with her list of grievances: “club owners’ concerns about profits; not paying musicians what they’re worth; loss of union support (only applies to symphony players or top recording artists); those musicians willing to play for food or tips, not real cash; the onset of technology allowing karaoke and one-man shows; audience impatience with new music; audience worries about drinking and driving; lack of support for any live music; the need to be entertained.”



Another reed master, Don Miller, fronts the kind of big band that appeals to Clark: the tight-sounding Swing Reunion Big Band. They’re a popular unit, but one never knows where they will turn up; it’s not easy to find venues willing to shell out the bread for a big band. But they still rehearse every Monday night, 7 to 9 p.m., at Washington High School, near Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland. Miller readily admits he’s confused. “Jazz has become so convoluted, so bastardized — East Coast jazz, West Coast jazz, fusion, rock — I don’t go out anymore,” he says.



This reminds me of the reaction by Overton Berry, the Northwest’s most sought-after accompanist for singers. “The older jazz fans, like yours truly, do not frequent clubs like they did in their youth. They ‘Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.’ (And one more rim shot.) They are not of the hip-hop generation. Their hips won’t let them hop too often.”



There’s another swinging comedian out there, trumpeter/saxophonist Jay Thomas. However, he chooses the serious path in his response, talking about “the lack of social infrastructure: There is less free time and money in our society, and most kids are not getting much music education. It used to be thought of as part of what it means to be civilized. Now music is thought of as trivial entertainment — and expendable.”



The upbeat Vince Brown, who fronts Hot Club Sandwich and plays and teaches guitar, banjo and ukulele in Olympia, maintains, “I’m finding club owners to be quite receptive to diverse musical styles.” He plays regularly at Cielo Blu and Swing and admits, “It‘s often hard to define what you’re hearing onstage, but that’s good. It encourages creativity and musical experimentation … .  I’m making a living playing jazz, so things can’t be that bad.”



The same can be said by Lance Buller, the trumpeter/singer/showman who is a reincarnation of trumpeter/singer/showman Louis Prima. It also accounts for Buller’s mantra: “Three things are important — the band, the club, the fans.”



I’ve seen him energize half a house many times by walking off the stand, trumpet in mouth, serenading each table in the club. I can recall the night at Jazzbones when he walked right out to Sixth Avenue, still blowing, whereupon his sensuous jazz stylist, Stephanie Porter, sauntered over to the mic and calmly announced, “Mr. Buller has left the building.” What I admire about him and his quintet is they’re all business, all the time, and yet, they play first-class jazz, all the time. They are the very essence of jazz — total spontaneity. Buller and Porter break each other up trying to top each other. They thoroughly enjoy each other’s contributions; yet, they never forget to take care of business.



Following a hard day’s swinging night, Buller expands on his mantra: “All three are intertwined. Sure fans have to come out; the venue has to present the show well. But most importantly, the musicians must take more responsibility.”



My sentiments exactly.

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