Monday, July 09, 2007

bill dixon - forgotten?


Stephen Haynes asks why Bill Dixon's Vision Fest concert has received so little mainstream press attention (Haynes, a cornetist, participated in the performance):

Nate Chinen's thoughtful appreciation of the concert premier... has been the only review devoted solely to the piece that I have found to date in the mainstream press.

The silence has been shameful and somewhat puzzling. If one believes in the notion of the "community" in this music, one wonders who has chosen not to comment and why. Food for thought.
I'm feeling rather innudated with it, myself, having read three or four different accounts. Haynes blames the mainstream press, but who apart from the NY Times, Village Voice, Time Out NY and JazzTimes is supposed to cover such an event? The NY Sun reported on a couple of non-Dixon days. And the "community" was there (nowadays, is the "mainstream press" still a part of the "community"?), as Vision was all over the blogs: Darcy twice, Brian, Dan twice. Destination: Out had a Dixon tribute. AAJ probably has a zillion articles, and there are probably blog posts I'm forgetting or haven't seen. How much more is necessary? (A question for The Dixon Society to answer?) Also, the demand that the article be "devoted solely to the piece" is a little weird, in the context of a festival emanating feel-good hippie collective vibes and the multi-set bill.

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A rather different jazz event that has perhaps not received all the attention it deserves: the Diana Krall wine list.