Dan Jacobs, a professional trumpeter and frequent commenter on this site, recently featured and article by Dyske Suematsu on his site. In the article, Suematsu, a Japanese-born writer, discusses his thoughts about why jazz is more popular in Japan than it is here in America.

Suematsu argues that Japanese people (and other non-English speaking people) have become conditioned to listen to, and to appreciate, the instrumental/melodic side of music because they routinely listen to music in other languages (e.g. American Pop music). Unable to understand the lyrics, the instrumental side naturally takes center stage. Americans, on the other hand, typically listen to English-speaking music and are more likely to gravitate to the lyrics. For many, the lyrics become the most important part of music, making it difficult to relate to music WITHOUT lyrics. That being the case, jazz doesn't stand a chance. It's just a bunch of random noise...

You can read the original article here, or here. It's an interesting view that I hadn't considered before, but now that I've read it, it makes a lot of sense. By the way, I disagree with Suematsu's last paragraph. I'm not exactly sure what Suematsu is trying to say about the death of "Jazz", but to compare it to a Civil War reenactment doesn't jive with me. A Civil War reenactment, by definition, is intentionally NOT creative. It strictly adheres to previous events, reproducing them as closely as possible without deviation. Any form of jazz improvisation, however, is creative by nature and intention. While it may not always be innovative, it is at least a personal expression of creativity.