>i'm talking more about the niche and beyond. maybe not to the
>scope of millions of sales, but what is a niche when it comes
>to classical and jazz when those were the prevailing genres
>for so long?

subject line. the coolness of bop came from beatnik's who appropriated in the same vein hipsters do (thankfully they had talent in other arenas, like writing by example. but i digress...). but the masses who loved jazz, when the jazz players couldn't afford to tour big bands and play the dance stuff they liked, those masses all scoffed at the idea the musicians would play the music that they like. which is why there was the mass european exodus of jazz musicians. why the patrons of jazz came less from the masses and more from the princesses and baronesses (who had ways with money they way beatnik's had ways with words).

and lets not delude ourselves into believing that jazz is accepted in some open ended realm. you can play a records by the biggest names in jazz to the 'masses' which would cause them to turn of the stereo and proclaim it noise. and yet there's a genius to it that is a part of the overall genius which the jazz umbrella.

let's not wynotnize jazz into this beatuiful picture of music that everyone can get into and appreciate. playing the ken burns 20 volume Jazz barely touches the surface. step to far beyond it and the masses turn a deaf ear. and while i'm jabbing at wynton, the same is true for classical, but perhaps because of a movement like jazz or atonality or other off kilter sound in music, rather than someone saying lets close it all up to protect the sanctity of what we subjectively call classical, those ideas forced them to open up to all the wealth that existed prior, and recontextualize it as a part of the broad history that it truly encompasses.

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