Does Every Jazz Musician Find an Audience?

[Brownian Motion]

Fourty years ago, when I began listening to jazz, the music was embroiled in controversy. Such figures as Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and John Coltrane were accused by establishment critics of being at best misguided and at worst charlatans and hustlers.

Now some of the hostility toward these musicians was simply racism. That's undeniable. But some of it wasn't. Accessability was and is a problem with many or all of the aforementioned.

Yet today each one of these musicians is firmly ensconced in the pantheon of jazz greats, with a very vocal cadre of champions eager to convert others to their cause and fill holes in their collection of the Great Man's Works

So what gives? Does every jazz musician eventually find an audience, even if it's as "the most under-rated jazz musician of all time"? Or are there extremist musicians whose vision was so personal and so peculiar that they never developed a critical mass of adherents? If so, who are they?

And have there been fakers in jazz so transparent in their knavery that they were left by the roadside as jazz history rolled on?

[Rooster_Ties]

And have there been fakers in jazz so transparent in their knavery that they were left by the roadside as jazz history rolled on?

WM??

[Michael Fitzgerald]

I am shocked. How you could sully the good name of Wendell Marshall with this unsubstantiated accusation is beyond me. Where do you think jazz guitar would be without the incredible influence of Wes? Though as bassists go, I'm personally a more a fan of his brother Red - that album with Jim Hall is beautiful. And in addition to being a fine trumpeter, Manone was a humorous singer, as well.

Oh - wait - were you talking about Mozart? Never mind.

Mike