A Voice for Jazz Unity

Kudos to Don Heckman for his article about the need to create an umbrella organization for the support and dissemination of jazz in the Los Angeles area (“With a Bit More Synergy, We Could Really Jam,” June 16). The leaders of the many jazz organizations, schools and clubs should join and act toward a common goal rather than continuing to splinter their efforts.

A model for this kind of cooperation exists in the organization Theatre LA, which nurtures member theaters and holds a yearly awards ceremony, the Ovations.

It is time for jazz interests to do likewise. In union there is strength.

HILMA CARTER

(Mrs. Benny Carter)

Los Angeles

I wholeheartedly agree with and support Heckman’s idea for a centralized, nonprofit umbrella organization that would support jazz of every style. Indeed, there already exists an organization that provides at least one of the possible services of the Academy of Jazz Arts and Crafts that he mentioned: pro bono legal advice.

California Lawyers for the Arts, or CLA, is a statewide, nonprofit organization that provides lawyer referrals, educational programs, publications and a resource library to artists and arts organizations of all disciplines, including jazz artists. For the price of membership ($25 for jazz musicians and other artists), artists can consult with an expert attorney on a variety of entertainment- or arts-related business problems, including copyright and trademark protection, contract review and negotiation, etc.

Moreover, CLA has long-standing relationships with most of the entertainment guilds and unions, including ASCAP, BMI, and the Professional Musicians Union, to name a few. CLA regularly seeks additional avenues through which it can continue to provide quality legal services and education to jazz musicians.

GERRY BRYANT

Secretary, board of directors,

California Lawyers for the Arts

Santa Monica

Heckman misses the point of Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center completely. Wynton’s personal strength and will are phenomena that transcend jazz. Wynton says jazz is “culture” and people outside the jazz community want to believe him. That’s how he fills Lincoln Center. It’s no longer about the music, it’s about Wynton, and jazz becomes just the ambience for a personality cult. Wynton is neither “art” nor “crafts,” as Heckman supposes; he’s simply entertainment. Is that what Heckman wants for L.A., for jazz to be simply entertaining? I never thought so before.

Heckman also called for a “free database” of information about jazz in Los Angeles, something that already exists in many forms. Isn’t The Times itself a repository of that information? There are dozens of other daily, weekly and monthly periodicals, in print and on the Internet, covering the jazz scene in L.A. And now there are two jazz radio stations with hotlines and Web sites doing the same. The easy availability of this information does little to fill the venues as Heckman supposes it might.

LEE M. COHEN

Belmont Heights