Post #603329 by Angry Idol on Sun, Aug 21, 2011 2:09 PM

Sven, et al, I understand the frustration and scorn. I really do. I grew up in a household where jazz was king. I was quizzed, at age 7, whether a song was bebop or west coast, whether it was Miles or Chet Baker playing. I knew a world of Dizzy, Bird and The Duke.
Flash forward to adulthood, and America loves "jazz", because Kenny G is burning up the charts, and Yanni is some kind of musical guru.
WTF?
Yeah, jazz traditionalists would rather get "Thelonious Monk" branded on their ass than listen to 2 minutes of Kenny G, but the whole country knows him as "Jazz".
Just like any kind of movement, the smaller it is, the easier it is for it to be pure, and done at a high level. Once 'polluted' by popularity, the inevitability of the Lowest Common Denominator takes over. Tiki has become more and more popular, and you, dear Bigbrotiki, are a huge reason for it. People without the ability or inclination to do tiki the "right" way still want to be involved, in as lame of ways as they care to.
Sadly, there's not much to be done. If there was, there would be no Kenny G, and all the jazz cats would not have had to go to Europe to get respect.

The Angry Idol

P.S. it was great to finally meet you, a couple weeks back at the Tiki-Ti. In my first trip to LA I get to meet you, Mike Buhen AND Leroy and Bob. Not bad. Not bad at all.