Comment from my wife who saw the title of this video: "I don't think people hate jazz so much as they hate people who like jazz."

My car got broken into.  The next morning, I found all my CD's had been taken out of the glove box and left on the front seat.  None had been taken.  They were excellent Jazz albums, the only things of value in the car.  The thief did not steal them.

"America hates music, but loves entertainment."

--- Frank Zappa

At 66, and not a musician, every song I hear again from my youth is strongly attached to "memories" (a place, a person, an event, etc..) and instantly that song became a precious belonging, and it was tucked away in my brain for all time.  Each time I hear it, I'm taken back to relive the memories.  At the time I first heard it, that song subconsciously became mine; a cherished memory not to be changed or messed with.
 
And hence, one of the reasons jazz never appealed to me, is for exactly the very reason most folks on this forum liked it;  the improvising.  For me that meant the jazz song is never played the same twice.  Each time the jazz group plays it, it changes.  It's like trying to attach a memory to smoke that gets blown away with each breeze, and the song is never played the same as you first heard it.  Some like that, but nothing upsets me more.  Two summers ago, I went to a concert to listen to Steve Miller only to discover he changed my favorite song because he got bored with playing it the same way, over and over.  

In my mind, he had no right to do that.  When he placed that song in vinyl, it became mine - just as it was.  And my memories were attached to every note and lyric and it was lovingly placed in my brain's scrapbook.  When that artist changes it, I feel violated.  It's like he took a treasured musical photo, and cut out some of the figures and background that meant so much to me.

I don't share this to say my feelings are right, for they are not right or wrong, just different.  I share this simply for the sake of understanding... why a few of us (who process the world differently) can't get into jazz. Perhaps if I had been a musician, I might have understood the desire for improvising.  But knowing my personality, I doubt it.

"Jazz was essentially a people’s music, as rock is, and it was taken up by the intellectuals and built up to the point where they said, well, you can’t appreciate this because you haven’t got a college degree, have you?" - John Peel , Melody Maker, 1971.

Stevie Wonder is playing his first gig in Tokyo and the place is absolutely packed to the rafters. In a bid to break the ice with his new audience, He asks if anyone would like him to play a request.
A little old Japanese man jumps out of his seat in the first row and shouts at the top of his voice "Play a Jazz chord!Play a jazz chord!"
Amazed that this guy knows about the jazz influences in Stevie's varied career, the blind impresario starts to play an E minor scale and then goes into a difficult jazz melody for about 10 minutes.
When he finishes the whole place goes wild. The little old man jumps up again and shouts "No, no, play a Jazz chord, play a Jazz chord."
A bit irritated by this, Stevie, being the professional that he is, dives straight into a jazz improvisation with his band around the B flat minor chord and really tears the place apart.
The crowd goes wild with this impromptu show of his technical expertise.The little old man jumps up again. "No, no. Play a Jazz chord, play a jazz chord!"
Well now truly irritated that this little guy doesn't seem toappreciate his playing ability. Stevie says to him from the stage "OK, mister, you get up here and do it!"
The little old man climbs up onto the stage, takes hold of the mike and starts to sing...
"A jazz chord to say I ruv you...".

They didn’t grow up with mom and dad playing Lady Day, Wes Montgomery, Benny Goodman and on and on. I play drums  but anything I have produced has a a groove because of listening to jazz as a kid. Same with my guitar playing. Thank God for Jazz .

I love Jazz; my husband says I listen to elevator music. I say no, I've been gifted this music that I have never experienced, and  I love Jazz, allowing me to enjoy and be in the moment and be at peace. I'm glad I found jazz music. I love it. Thank God! I can listen to it all day, 24/7. When I listen to Jazz, I enjoy it; I welcome all the sounds that come together and then go their own way and come back in a wave of musical instruments, and Jazz just relaxes me and gives me a sense of peace.

"Jazz isn't dead. It just smells funny!" - Frank Zappa.

I was 17 yrs old when I started listing to jazz. My friends always got upset and said stop playing that boring old man crap. I still listen to it today at 52. I just really got tired of listening to rock in my youth but jazz excited me. I became sort of an outcast and still to this day, I’m still listening to it being an outcast

"There is two kinds of music, the good, and the bad. I play the good kind." Louis Armstrong

Why is jazz not part of the pop scene anymore?

Herbie Hancock: “Because it's not the music that matters anymore. People don't care about the music itself anymore, but about who makes the music. The public is more interested in celebrities and how a certain artist is famous than music. It changed the way the audience relates to music. They no longer have a transcendental connection to music and its quality. Just want the glamour. Jazz doesn't want to be part of it. Do you know why? It's not about humility, or arrogance or a posture, ‘we don't want to be famous, we're underground .’  None of that. Jazz is about the human soul, not about the appearance. Jazz has values, teaches to live the moment, work together, and especially to respect the next. Jazz makes people feel good about themselves.”

~ Herbie Hancock, Prose Magazine

I've never stopped loving Jazz. I actually hosted a Jazz Radio show in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. It was an amazing little station in a town of 8,000 people.

I've been a Industrial/Metal guitarist for almost 20 years and I have nothing but respect for Jazz players because everytime I've seen a good band performing, each musician was an absolute fucking monster at his instrument. I mean, the genre itself simply doesn't speak to me in any level, but GOD DAMN those guys can play...

Jazz has been completely taken over by academia. It's over intellectualised to a point where all the new hip players since the 80s have had to be absolutely extreme virtuosos to be considered notable. The focus is on the theory and technique. Electronic music and rock music overtook jazz because those genres explored something that was unachievable with jazz instrumentation / sensibilities. Jazz in its heyday was that generation's 'pop music'. It may be more complex than most popular music but it's still pop music. Like any popular music, the next best thing comes along and kills it off. That's just how it is. There's also an overemphasis on the 'tradition' of jazz; ie learning all the standards which aren't relevant to anyone who isn't "in" the scene anymore. This idolisation of history makes it difficult for the genre to progress to towards anything new.

Jazz was able to win over the masses at one point because it was so interconnected with the American songbook and showtunes.   These were songs people knew and, in a lot of cases, were playing around the family piano after dinner.  The American songbook and pianos in the living living room faded with TV in the 50s.  So, basically everyone carrying the torch of this forgotten Era was born in the 50s.  Sting, who you reference in this capacity, even penned the song "born in the 50s".  Those born after the 50s were raised on TV and rock and roll.

I love jazz but I've heard a lot of jazz musicians who play for themselves and not for the audience.

I’m watching this video BECAUSE it has “Jazz” in its title!

People I ask say: "it sounds like all the players are playing something different".  lol

It has taken me over 40 years to finally get jazz. Now at age 58 I can't get enough of it and I feel like my Dad and Grand pa watching them sitting around on the deck smoking a cigar and having a scotch while listening to jazz back in 1972.