This one right here made my heart pitter. If I had any talent whatsoever for playing jazz, I most definitely would have become a professional saxophonist. Good thing these writing gigs keep panning out.
With that, here’s a survey of the jazz landscape in Augusta, leading up to a popular smooth jazz fest in the city.
Augusta and all its jazz
Karen Gordon pondered the question she posted to Garden City Jazz’s Web site earlier in the week.
Just what, exactly, is the state of jazz in Augusta?
“I don’t even know where you begin,” said Gordon, a jazz vocalist and piano player. “In one word? It’s complicated.”
Gordon founded Garden City Jazz in 2003 to promote, book and produce jazz in the Augusta area. She’s found that opinions on just what jazz is in Augusta — and what jazz should be in Augusta — vary.
As soon as she posted the question, responses poured in.
“Nobody agrees, but at least they’re all eager to talk about it,” she said.
Depending on who you ask, jazz is alive and well, tired and forgotten, or dead and gone.
That’s because jazz exists in a paradox.
There are always acts and big names who draw crowds while local musicians can hardly pay their bills. Shiny young talent breaks through while the community mourns the passing of one of its greats, as Augusta did recently with the death of Tommie W. Gulley, who founded Jazz Unlimited, a non-profit in support of jazz.
It’s easy to reminisce about the old days and about what jazz must have been like here in the ’50s and ’60s, Gordon said.
“Live music was huge then. They played at clubs and people danced. It’s just different now,” she said. “All the dances you dance today, you dance by yourself. People think they don’t need jazz.”