I think jazz is dead in the sense that it no longer attracts a broad audience, like big band music did. It happened because the most brilliant jazz musicians b

I think jazz is dead in the sense that it no longer attracts a broad audience, like big band music did. It happened because the most brilliant jazz musicians became elitist and avant-garde and destroyed melody. This happened for philosophical and ideological reasons. Melody was seen as beourgois and restrictive, and destroying it a means of achieving spiritual and cultural freedom. The problem with this idea is that human existence is by its very nature finite, and so the avant-garde is trying to live a lie. This is not to say there are not many fine jazz musicians out there today producing interesting music. It is just that they don't write melodies that ordinary people can appreciate.