A love supreme
Jazz Times continues to spread love for an American pastime
by Ivy Farguheson
To Glenn Sabin, the currrent CEO and Publisher of Jazz Times,
jazz is "America's classical music." It is a high compliment, but perhaps
Sabin is being modest. In its heyday in the 1940s and 1950s jazz was
a lifestyle. Jazz changed American culture. Louis Armstrong was
as powerful a cultural icon as any rock star. Regardless of your
age, gender, race or class you have probably been infused by the influences
of jazz.
 Variations of jazz can be heard today in movie soundtracks, TV commercials
and in the wide range of hip-hop that is the musical and cultural successor
to jazz.
Sabin, whose magazine is based in Silver Spring, grew up in a
household devoted to jazz, and his mission is to remind us
not only about the soulful sound of the music but its longlasting importance.
He is a DC area native whose family has run the magazine from
its inception 36 years ago. Sabin's father was a be-bop jazz drummer
who was a part of the first racially mixed band to perform
at Constitution Hall. He also owned a record store in Southeast
DC, where he started Jazz
Times. Originally called Radio Free Jazz, this magazine
was intended to be a device for the radio industry in order
to communicate with record labels. Sabin's father was passionate
about jazz music and built relationships with jazz artists, R&B artists,
and comedians, allowing him to have a legitimate connection between radio
and record industry folk. The magazine moved its base from DC
to Silver Spring, MD in the early 1980s and has been in the area ever
since.
Jazz music and its popularity have changed considerably since the elder
Sabin's day, however. Currently the magazine, which is known as
one of the best jazz magazines around, is dealing with a musical genre
that is not growing in the manner it once did. When asked about
jazz music's potential for growth currently, Mr. Sabin stated "it's missing
a breakthrough artist like a Coltrane or Miles Davis. An icon
would help." It is not as if jazz is long forgotten in this musical
realm, especially in hip-hop. "There are several hip-hop artists
that sample Blue Note [Jazz recording company] jazz samples," he states,
and suggests that "it would be helpful if jazz artists collaborated with
hip-hop artists to expose them [new people] to their music." Sabin
and Jazz Times do their part to educate jazz aficionados and
neophytes to this important musical fashion. He is a part of Jazz
Alliance International, which works to reach wider audiences and educate
them about jazz music, and the website, www.jazztimes.com, has free MP3s
of recent artists and reviews of concerts and CDs.
Jazz Times also helps to sponsor roughly 40 jazz festivals
in the United States, Canada, and Holland. Locally, they are a
sponsor of the Silver Spring Jazz Festival [September 9, see Voice calendar for details], where Sabin says "it's good to support the local community." Festivals,
for Sabin, not only support the local community, but "can bring together
parents and kids. Festivals are viewed as a healthy environment
for community...and can help the local economy." In many ways, this
is very different from many other musical genres, especially hip-hop
music, which is not seen as a space where many adolescents hope to spend
time with their parents and vice versa.
When asked why people should in fact listen to jazz, Sabin says that "jazz
is a four letter word that encompasses many different styles." From
be-bop to swing to acid jazz to fusion, jazz music appears to have transformed
itself to meet the diversity of audiences, creating different genres
within itself to survive the changes of American society. In truth,
hip-hop music takes much of its beats, rhythms and cultural power from
jazz's heyday. There may not have been a Ludacris without a Miles
Davis. There may not have been The Roots without Duke Ellington's
bands. There may not have been a Lil Kim without a Billie Holiday.
And there may not have been successful hip-hop artists without jazz superstars. Hip-hop
may be dominating the cultural landscape at the moment, but it owes much
of power to the pioneers before it.
 Jazz music has not gone away,
however. With the help of magazines like Jazz Times ,
America's classical music can continue to have its glory
and beauty recognized by those who love it and encouraged
by those new to it. Then perhaps
jazz can become the four-letter word we will all love to
hear for years to come.
For more information about Jazz Times Magazine, see www.jazztimes.com
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