The sharpest eyes in jazz blogging are almost certainly those of Peter Hum of the Ottawa Citizen. Peter has spotted a lively debate on Facebook about the virtues and failings of jazz education, with contributions from, for example, John Escreet (who returns from New York to the UK and teaches at both the Royal Academy of Music and Birmingham Conservatoire), and Vijay Iyer

HERE’S THE LINK

Here’s a contribution to the debate from Vijay Iyer:

I for one am not summarily dismissing all jazz programs. The real problem is not their existence, or even their quality (which varies), but their abundance. It’s primarily a supply-and-demand issue; there simply isn’t enough work for everyone, and the system leaves too many with too few options. As this problem fails to be addressed year after year, it starts to look like criminal negligence.

And if you can’t get enough of this topic, also head for Barry Dallman’s PlayJazz blog where the action moves to the courtroom :

The People versus Formal Jazz Education.