Jazz Competition Opens Vote to the Public

If there’s still such a thing as a good American Idol joke, there’s probably one in here somewhere. We’ll spare you of all that and just say that, thanks to the magic of the Internet, you can help decide who the next jazz star will be. Or, considering that using the term jazz star is a bit daft, here’s a fun way to kill some office time listening to jazz. Euroclub de Jazz, another Web site covering this lovely art form, has begun a search for jazz talent and has invited all interested parties with a Net connection into the decision making process.

Hope your Internet connection is fast. You’ll need the quickness to download the 50 clips of the competition’s Round One Finalists for evaluation. The idea is that you’ll listen to these artists, decide on the five finalists you like best, rank them from one to five and submit your vote by December 30. The clips are posted at http://www.euroclubdejazz.com/talentsearch/files/rd1finalists.htm.

The 50 finalists will be cut to 30 after this round of voting and will later be cut to 20. In the end it will come down to a dozen artists who will each be awarded with a track on a future Sony Jazz compilation album.

It’s a strange competition, what with all the different instruments lumped together and us having to judge a trumpet player against an organist against a guitarist-there’s even a pan flute player, who plays a version of “Caravan.” Whether this improvising Zamfir makes the cut or not is up to you.

Originally Published December 6, 2003