There's Something Here To Delight (And Possibly Offend) All Of Us
Got this today from Hagerty's new Community Editor, the one and only Sajeev Mehta. Every track on this mix slaps, as the kids say nowadays. Certainly a few of my readers will be annoyed by the cultural implications of Japanese musicians playing fusion with a header image of a "JDM"-style C3 Corvette at a Japanese trackday. The irony is that Japanese listeners are all but singlehandedly supporting jazz and blues nowadays. I've read more than a couple interviews with both fusion and trad-jazz types where they say something along the lines of "You have to tour America because that's how you maintain credibility, but the venues are half-empty and the people who do show up are a pain in the ass. But the Japanese audiences will sell out a concert hall and make you glad you got on the plane." Certainly a not-so-close look at the published touring itinerary of any jazz player will reveal as many Tokyo dates as there are "flyover country" gigs --- or more.
Oh well. At least the Japanese like the good stuff. A friend of mine spent several years working for Sheryl Crow. Said that any time she needed to fill up her mad-money account she'd head to China for a corporate gig. What's it cost to have Sheryl Crow play "All I Wanna Do" in China? Fifteen years ago, it was a million dollars PLUS EXPENSES. Imagine having seven figures to pay for music... and buying Sheryl Crow!