The battle for the future of jazz is joined. Wynton Marsalis has become the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. The Marsalis’s are in essence the first family of American jazz. Saxophonist David Murray, in this month’s Jazzwise magazine, issues what the Independent describes as a “declaration of war” against Marsalis, for stifling “the creativity of a music which is inherently about change and improvisation”, by focusing largely on the loving recreation of the classics, especially Ellington, and wielding the power to exclude those not sharing such a conservative agenda. The counterargument is that jazz is “America’s classical music”, finally beginning to be afforded the respect it deserves, and that a reverent approach is appropriate.

“We have great jazz musicians out of work because of this stuff,”
continues Murray. “It’s awful, a whole bunch of musicians who don’t
play the styles he likes are now totally intimidated. It has got so bad
that a real jazz giant like Freddie Hubbard came up to me and said
‘Well, I’m sure glad Wynton likes me!'” Of course Marsalis likes
Hubbard, who is acknowledged to have been the biggest influence on
the early part of his career. But for Hubbard to be grateful for kindly
words from the younger player is like David Bowie having to be
thankful for approbation from Kylie Minogue – absurd.