The Toronto Jazz Festival, set to unfold Friday, June 24 at Nathan Phillips Square, is taking heat for a lineup of musicians who may or may not actually play jazz, depending on how you look at it. As reported by Joshua Errett of the CBC this year’s lineup of artists like Sarah McLachlan, Grace Potter, Sharon Jones, KC and the Sunshine Band is causing some people to complain. The Toronto Jazz Festival is different from the Beaches Jazz Festival, which typically see players who represent fairly authentic jazz genres. “Our mandate is to book jazz, jazz-influencing and jazz-influenced music,” says Josh Grossman, artistic director, as quoted by Errett. “Most of the artists fit under that umbrella, but every year one or two artists do slip outside of that.” CBC
This is quickly becoming the norm in the jazz scene. Jazz is dead, unfortunately. Even Jazz FM91 is gradually shifting away from jazz and focusing on R&B and some other questionable music genres. The only way to listen to real jazz on the station is on Wednesday nights from 9 to 11 and Sunday evenings from 5 to 10.