by Patrick Jarenwattananon

If you are in New York, you might consider going to the Vision Festival benefit this weekend, a 28-hour marathon of music and art. I mention it in part because I was invited to participate on a panel about the plight of young artists, but cannot attend. I also mention it, because it frames our first link:

—The Jazz Economy Of New York: WNYC's Soundcheck hosted an interesting discussion with Nate Chinen yesterday about the central paradox of the jazz economy in New York: it's a phenomenally creative time for the music, but a terrible time to be a jazz musician. Or, as Chinen puts it on his blog, "It's a fantastically open time to be a jazz consumer in the city, and a borderline oppressive time to be a jazz artist (economically, not creatively)." It has to do, he says, with the "broken infrastructure" of the whole operation: there's no way to make a living playing sparsely-attended door gigs when the cost of living in New York is ridiculous.

Art exerts a powerful and mysterious pull, but it's not immune to economics. If being a jazz artist is so unsustainable, why don't more people weigh the cost-benefit analysis and quit? Why do people keep going into jazz performance studies at record levels, and apparently staying on the scene? An economist might tell you one of two things: the supply curve is high because artists are supplementing their performance income with other pursuits, or that demand is coming from forces which aren't reflected on the surface of a sparsely-attended door gig: public grants, corporate underwriting, etc. I would venture to say both are probably the case.

Anyway, the Vision Festival benefit is relevant because it's a classic case of musicians taking business into their own hands. The DIY approach of Arts for Art, the organization behind Vision Fest, has relatively low overhead, and fosters a community which understands the importance of throwing into the bucket. The Soundcheck blog muses on this. And speaking of jazz on WNYC: check out the Jazz Loft Project. We'll have more on this fascinating series soon when NPR starts to air some of the radio stories.

—The Jazz Audiences Initiative Awarded $200,000 Grant: Here's something that could be a great thing. A Columbus, Ohio non-profit called the Jazz Arts Group has been awarded $200,000 by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to "tackle fundamental questions about how and why people engage with jazz," with a view to building audiences in the future. Here's the press release, and here's more information about the project. If I may send a note of unsolicited advice, I earnestly hope that the Jazz Arts Group seriously consults many young people (and young musicians) about this — the alternative seems like an incredible waste of time.

—Rock Meets New Orleans Jazz: Tom Waits, Andrew Bird, Jim James (of My Morning Jacket) and many more are currently recording a benefit album with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. At least those are the artists Pitchfork Media led with: Pete Seeger, Dr. John, Steve Earle, The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Merle Haggard and others make the disc too. (I'm told through the grapevine that Waits just recorded "Tootie Ma Is A Big Fine Thing" yesterday.) Speaking of Pitchfork and jazz, here's their review of Vijay Iyer's Historicity — given a score somewhat uncommensurate with its glowing review, but I presume Vijay'll take it.

—More On Jazz.com: Howard Mandel speculates — and in the comments, digs a little deeper — on the post-Ted Gioia future of the site.

—Michel Camilo's Piano Concerto No. 1: Was the centerpiece of the Dominican-born pianist's performance last night with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. As in, he wrote it and performed it. Preview here, review here. The performance inaugurates his role as jazz creative director of the DSO, a two-year stint. Related: the Michel Camilo trio, recorded live at the 2009 Newport Jazz Festival.