Malta Jazz Festival

I refer to Mr Jonathan Sorrell's letters on the Malta Jazz Festival (The Sunday Times, August 4 and 18). Even though I find it futile arguing with someone who finds it acceptable for the Malta Jazz Festival to be reduced to a mere social event, and who insists on judging its merits in terms of audience appeal, I would like once more to express my views concerning the subject.

In his arguments, Mr Sorrell is excluding the possibility that anyone with no musical education might develop a liking for contemporary jazz.

This fundamentally elitist view, expressed in comments like "fairly normal people struggling and probably failing to make sense of what they are listening to" (which I personally find to be insulting towards the Maltese audience) is based on the cliché that jazz is a music restricted to musicians, and anyone who does not possess the necessary theoretical baggage is denied access to it.

Such elitism condemns any modernist creation to insularity, and in Mr Sorrell's view only those musically erudite enough to digest a "higher level of music" would be able to appreciate Don Byron, Paul Bley or Ornette Coleman.

I could never agree on such a discriminatory viewpoint and I would gladly introduce Mr Sorrell to people who are musically illiterate but who still have a penchant for modern jazz.

Even more pessimistic is the image Mr Sorrell wants to project of modern jazz as an "obscure and highbrow", decaying art form desperately struggling to survive in jazz clubs doomed to closure.

I am not acquainted with the London jazz scene but since I am currently residing in Paris, considered by many as the European capital of jazz, I can speak with a certain authority about the state of affairs of jazz over there.

The Parisian jazz clubs are not having problems in attracting an audience. Paris enjoys a healthy jazz scene and clubs such as Sunside, Caveau des Oubliettes, New Morning and Duc des Lombards are always packed with people.

I have seen crowds queuing for acts such as Carla Bley, Jean Michel Pilc, Marc Ducret and Kenny Werner, which are far from being your run-of-the-mill, mainstream band. Steve Potts' residence at the Sept Lezards jazz club on Wednesday nights never fails to attract a substantial audience, and again, Steve Potts is quite an uncompromising artist.

There are also clubs enjoying considerable success solely dedicated to experimental music, such as Montreuil's Instants Chavires, the hub of European free jazz.

Although there exists a rich jazz tradition in Paris, audiences and critics were not always as receptive towards modernism as today. As an example, 40 years ago the iconoclast Ornette Coleman was subjected to harsh criticism in the French journal Jazz Magazine and John Coltrane's quintet with Eric Dolphy stirred similar reactions.

Today, the French critics and audience revere Ornette and Coltrane. The acceptance of modernism was not immediate, but fruitful in constructing a healthy cultural environment.

And, as I said in my previous letter, that's why one should emphasise the importance of the Jazz Festival's role in educating the Maltese audience, especially in a country where jazz does not form part of our culture.

The Malta Jazz Festival is above all a cultural event, not a social event. I hold nothing against those people who come to the Jazz Festival to socialise, but it would be ridiculous to base the festival's policy and stylistic criteria on that particular crowd.

One should be cautious not to sacrifice the festival's integrity for a larger audience attendance.

And to conclude, I still fail to understand how the only redeeming factor Mr Sorrell managed to find in Don Byron's performance was "his technical dexterity". It is quite a surprising criticism, coming from someone of such deep musical understanding.