'Jazz has become so many different things': Is Vancouver's festival jazzy enough?

The Vancouver International Jazz Festival begins today, and it features an eclectic artist lineup that is not necessarily all jazzy. This has been a trend with other jazz festivals around the world.  

This year in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz music, Katy Perry headlined the city's festival. Perry is a popular artist, but it may be a stretch to call her a jazz artist.  

Meanwhile, in Vancouver, the jazz festival features Montreal-based Inuk singer Elisapie Isaac, who has influences from indie rock and traditional Indigenous music.

There's also a Mexican band called Troker, who mix jazz, hip hop, and traditional Mexican mariachi music.

And finally, there is the Wu Tang Clan, the legendary Staten Island rappers, who are headlining this year's show. They're not the only hip hop act at the jazz event. The Roots, who fuse jazz, rap and a whole lot of other genres as a live band are headlining as well. 

The Jazz Festival's artistic director, Rainbow Robert, says the festival's mandate is still all about the jazz, but it must stay relevant to stay afloat.

"It's because we want our festival to be sustainable so that we can better serve the pure jazz and the more challenging jazz."

Re-branding

What does this mean for local jazz aficionados. Does the eclectic lineup take away the focus from traditional jazz or the heritage of jazz?

Gavin Walker, a renowned local saxophonist and longtime host of CiTR Radio's The Jazz Show, says it might be time for jazz festivals to re-brand themselves.

"Jazz has become so many different things to different people now. It's so broad in its definition that maybe it might be a good idea to cease calling it a jazz festival, and just call it a modern music festival."

The festival still has plenty of traditional sounding jazz , including local jazz acts like the Jen Hodge All Stars and the Oliver Gannon Quartet.

Few performers of colour

While jazz icon Herbie Hancock is on the headlining roster as well, he's kind of on his own in terms of black jazz musicians.

Most of the traditional jazz artists that are performing are not people of colour, despite the fact the music comes from African Americans and traditions of the African diaspora, or those living away from their ancestral land. 

Tonye Aganaba, a Vancouver soul and R&B artist and jazz fest performer, says festivals need to develop the genre's community and recognize the real roots of jazz.

She suggests events give black jazz artists the opportunity to speak about what jazz is and what it means to black artists. 

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With files from The Early Edition and Rohit Joseph.