The bullmarketforvocaljazzranon in 2004
YEAR
INREVIEW,
I SingerswereeverywherewithDianaKrall, sold nearly 150,000 units in

NorahJones,andCassandra
Wilsonleadingthe pack
BY GREG BUIUM

Consensus isn't something
•jazz communities find easily, if at all. Friction, a bit of
push and pull, these are the
things that have helped give
birth to some of the music's
finest moments over the
years.
So, too, in 2004.
That's not to say this was a
watershed
year by any
means. But when the bickering bubbles to the surface
you know everything's humming along just fine.

Just start with singers, a
trend once again in 2004 really a bull market for vocal
jazz that doesn~t seem to be
breaking anytime soon.
Despite a near perpetual
howl from purists, singers
are everywhere· - leading
with Diana Krall and Norah
Jones, of course, and followed by Cassandra Wilson,
Jane Monheit and a whole
host of men, too.
Recently, however, people
are starting to see how far
most of this music is pulling
away from anything resem-

bling jazz per se.
Krall's migration to the
very soft centre quickened as
she covered Joni Mitchell
and wrote originals with husband Elvis Costello on her
new disc, The Girl in the Other Room. Jones, too, made it
clear that she's alwaysbeen a
child of Carole King rather
than Sarah Vaughan, despite
being on Blue Note, Qne of
the music's legendary labels.
Still, their cumulative
effectkeepsturningthejazz
economy upside down.
The Girl in the Other Room

Take the continuing
its first week, entering the brouhaha over Bad Plus, an
Billboard charts at No. 4, American piano trio signed
while Jones's FeelsLike Home to Columbia records.
has already sold more than
Here you have blue-chip
four million copies in North jazzers acting as pop culture
America alone..
weathermen. Plucking bits
In a genre that accounts for and pieces from their own
just three per cent of all CD musical lives, they've creatsales, it's easy to see why ,ed a kind of postmodern
every label wants the next drama, jumping from
"It" girl (or boy). At best, brnette Coleman to Black
their more successful instru- Sabbath to the Pixies.
mental artists might sell
"Is the Bad Plus bad ass or
just plain bad?" asked
10,000discs.
Odd, then, that jazz listen- Chicago's Down Beat magaers can muddle their way zine in a piece earlier this
through the distinctions
year.
between celebrity and greatness as much as anyone.
See VANCOUVER'S C6

American piano trio Bad Pius's music jumps from
Ornette Coleman to Black Sabbath to The Pixies.