[JPL] LIVE NATION: 'WE'RE DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN TO ELIMINATE JAZZ FROM ...

[Larry Appelbaum]

It's great that Mike Luba loves jazz and he may have been kidding with his remark, but his attempt to make the case for Live Nation's embrace of or commitment to jazz is a bit disingenuous. I just looked on Live Nation's website for upcoming Live Nation concerts in the Washington DC metropolitan area. Through March of '09 they've got 164 concerts listed. Of them, the only one remotely close to jazz is George Benson at Wolf Trap. With his track record in DC, I'm puzzled how he can claim "jazz is the foundation of everything we do."

Is the situation different elsewhere? Where are they doing "thousands of jazz shows a year"?

Larry Appelbaum
 
> FORT LAUDERDALE A promoter seeking city approval to bring a musical festival
> to Fort Lauderdale beach said Wednesday he was only joking when he said Live
> Nation Artists wanted to do away with jazz.
> 
> But Mike Luba's offhand remark to city commissioners set off jazz
> enthusiasts, who rallied to defend a treasured American art form.
> 
> Luba said he was flooded with e-mails from people who read the South Florida
> Sun-Sentinel's report Wednesday about a proposed annual weekend concert
> festival that would start next spring. Jazz lovers were offended by Luba's
> joke that, "We're doing everything we can to eliminate jazz from American
> culture."
> 
> Luba said he loves jazz and plans to include jazz music in the festivities.
> 
> "Our company does thousands of jazz shows a year," he said, "and jazz is the
> foundation of everything we do."
> 


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