Is yesterday´s popular genre today´s elitist art form?

: the analysis of the evolution of Jazz through contemporary festivals

Abstract

This dissertation aims to analyse the evolution of jazz, a musical genre that was oncepopular with audiences but is, arguably, presently considered by many to be elitist.Why was jazz more popular with a wider audience in the past? Why does it tend tohave an elitist perception nowadays? Are contemporary artists, artistic directors, andprogrammers trying to break these attitudes towards the genre, and if so, how? Thesequestions will be answered through a socio-historical study of jazz, while directlyreferencing contemporary festivals programming of the art form. Further to this, ananalysis of the way popular culture is infiltrating this art form and how this can beused to reach a wider audience will be carried out. In this dissertation, a close insightinto the methods of how festivals and artists are delving into novelty to reach awider audience will be discussed to eventually offer insights of how jazz could bemade more accessible in contemporary society. Such a study will be carried outthrough various research methods, mainly through qualitative analysis of literaturedealing with the subject, interviews with jazz practitioners, my observation of the artform, and an analysis of quantitative data. All of this will then lead us to look at reaccessibility,a concept which emerged through the development of this dissertation

Date of Award	2 Feb 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Diana Gonçalves (Supervisor)