Rappers and Sting at Stockholm Jazz Festival?!

Okay I may be missing something here…..But since when do rap stars and pop music stars get billing on a major jazz festival? I just read that Kayne West and Sting will be performing at the Stockholm Jazz Festival.  This is exactly what the article said: “Rapper and producer Kayne West will be one of the main attractions at this year's Stockholm Jazz Festival, organizers said Friday.”

 

So what…..they couldn’t find enough good jazz artists? Come on!   I remember a few years back, friends of mine (jazz musicians), would bad rap the Chicago Jazz Festival because the bookings seemed to be straying from what we considered good jazz artists.  And I agreed at the time.  Little did we know that 10 years down the road we would have rap stars and pop stars like Sting getting headline billing at a jazz festival in Europe.  Don't get me wrong, I think that Sting has some good music, but to get booked as a headliner at a major jazz festival is going way over the top in my opinion.

 

This really surprises me.  I could understand it maybe a little better  if it was in the United States. Europe always has seemed  to have a little more sophistication in the way of jazz than the United States anyway.  That's why a lot of American jazz artists went to Europe in the  60s and 70s.  They could make a living, they got respect on the jazz scene and generally it was a much better scene than the US at that time anyway.

 

If they want to book these types of acts then just call it something else, NOT a jazz festival.  It's hard enough being a competent jazz musician, let alone having to compete with rap stars or an established pop star like Sting.  Imagine how much money they must be paying these people when they could be spreading it out to many more jazz acts and solo artists.  Does anybody else have an opinion on this? Quite frankly, it pisses me off. 

 

On the other side of the coin, maybe we can start getting booked at rap festivals.  Comments are welcome!