One also wonders why Burns ignored the whole experience of the West Coast jazz scene in his series. All through the late '40s and '50s it was a major force in jazz. To not have mentioned Stan Kenton, for one, seems incredible.

Still, the series probably brought a whole new generation to this North American art form . So, one should not disparage it. Yet, it left the wrong impression of the development of jazz, and consequently it is a contributor to its trivialization.

The reason for this reference to Burns's series is that the 2005 Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival will start its 10-day run on June 24. Its correct name, of course, is now the TD Canada Trust Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival because the TD Bank has taken on the sponsorship of the festival from tobacco giant du Maurier. There had been an editorial decision made that this year Lancette would cover the event after having stayed away for a few years. There has, however, been a change of minds here.

This will be the 19^th annual Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival. There was a time when one looked forward to this event, but these days the spark has gone out of the festival, at least for us here at Lancette. While we have published a small feature on the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, we have done so more as a public service than as an enthusiastic description of the festival.

The lineup of performers is long, but most of the names remain fairly obscure or even completely unknown to those of us who once were avid jazz enthusiasts. While Peter Appleyard is well known to most jazz fans, it says much — or perhaps little — about the state of big bands when he leads as a featured event a tribute band to Lionel Hampton. Such a band merely imitates what Lionel Hampton once proudly stood for in the presentation of a fresh sound. The same can be said of another tribute band, the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Tribute Band scheduled for this event. While it may be a salve for those of us who have met Gillespie personally, not just as an audience member, to know that there are people who want to hear his music perpetuated, it is also a bit of a sad moment to think that the way he played and the way he led his band is now being set in stone.

Jazz, like any art form, has undergone changes. That is the nature of art in all its various forms if it is to survive. But, somehow, we don't feel that an imitation of an artist, or a band's sound, can be considered worthy of a major attraction at a jazz festival. Just imagine going to an opera and listening to a singer imitating the sound of Caruso, just to mention a household name of a singer long departed. The imitator would be booed off the stage. Yes, imitation can be said to be the highest form of flattery, but would it not be better if big bands found a new sound under some great leader and leave the archival music of great artists to the occasional inclusion in a repertoire? All of the tribute bands, including the Duke Ellington band, which for years was led rather lamely by his son, and the Glen Miller Band, can all be viewed as novelty acts that might draw people, who can't let go of the past. In other words, such musical acts, in our view, are pablum for the unimaginative mind.

Another major attraction is Sonny Rollins. The saxophonist is perhaps the one great name in this festival associated with jazz's golden age, before it was sideswiped by The Beatles and the music that followed them. But one big name does not make a jazz festival. Of course, there is also Diana Krall, Canada's attractive songbird, who has managed to capture the stages of the world. Good for her. But does the lady sing jazz? Well, if you call her 'smooth jazz' style jazz, then, yes, she sings jazz. But if that form of pab doesn't make you feel like you are experiencing jazz, then no, she does't sing jazz.

Krall has a beautiful voice, and one is glad she likes jazz. By doing so, she brings in a younger generation that might otherwise never discover jazz. But there is something lacking in her presentation. She is too schooled, she lacks grittiness, street smarts if you like, and she doesn't really seem to sing from inside herself. Shall we say, she lacks soul, to use a rather tired phrase? Krall's singing, even when she sings her own songs, appears to be all on the surface.

There are a lot of acts arriving from overseas. We have heard acts like them in past jazz festivals and really could not relate to them. It is almost as if jazz doesn't translate well into other cultures. It is so indigenous to the North American experience that it requires artists who know and understand the space, the culture from which it derived and still derives.

Jazz, to our ears, has now reached the stage where it has become gentrified, or its changes have roamed so far from its origins that, as a result, it has turned into something it wasn't meant to be. Jazz is now taught in universities, and the festival will feature three university bands. There is the part in us that applauds that young people want to know and want to play this music, and then there is the other part in us that bemoans the loss of the roots of jazz, an inevitable event, but a sad one nevertheless. While there is nothing wrong with charting the music of the greats, it still needs to be spontaneous. When you begin to study this music in university, the spontaneity is subconsciously removed.