Why has the image of jazz been ruined and wussified over the years?

Jazz and swing used to be cool, ok? It was jivin', hep and happenin'. It was HOT! But somehow over the years the image of jazz has been completely ruined and the media turned it into this nerdy snobby kind of thing. Nowadays when people hear "jazz" they think Kenny G and that lame weather channel crap, not the cool awesome 30's/40's stuff.

Because hardly anybody knows what jazz is anymore. All they know of is what is called light jazz, or smooth jazz. I don't hear anything even related to jazz in this music. It's easy listening pop. And since this is what is played at most jazz festivals anymore, people think, oh, okay, this is jazz. And since it's so bland and lifeless, then they think, well, jazz sucks. It burns me up when they call Kenny G or Dave Koz jazz. Just because it's instrumental does not make it jazz. Listen to some Mingus, or Monk, and see how jazz is absolutely NOT boring or lifeless.

Maybe because the acknowledgment of instrument use and talent has declined 50 fold since then?

To me, Jazz is boring.
I listen to Punk Rock, and Ska, hip-hop etc. So obviously I'm not out hunting for extreme instrumental talent.

The invention of television was the beginning, and MTV is the icing on the cake.

Also, the invention of electric instruments and, therefore, rock n' roll blasted jazz at of the mainstream. Volume not talent.

I think it happened about the time "smooth" started being used as a modifier for jazz. Jazz should have an edge IMO..the "smooth" stuff bores me to tears.

lemme tell u somethin-jazz is stupid

Well, I think it all has to do with what you CHOOSE to listen to. If you choose to listen to 'smooth jazz', you get a bunch of lame mamby-pamby BS. However, there is plenty of good jazz out there to listen to. Just switch stations or buy and play the classics on CDs or MP3s. It's all there for you to choose.

I think the "snob" image comes because jazz and popular music moved in opposite directions. Starting with bebop in the late 40's, jazz moved away from being popular dance music and became more complex and experimental, and harder for the average listener to understand. Popular music, meanwhile, has become much simpler than it used to be - songs consist of no more than three chords, with an endlessly repeating hook.

The smooth jazz phenomenon is an effort to combine the perceived "hipness" of jazz with the simple-mindedness of contemporary pop. I think this is a separate issue from the "snob" thing, though - nobody can claim intellectual superiority for being a Kenny G fan.

The truth is that people don't like music that they are required to shut up, sit down, and listen to. Jazz was never really popular to listen to, it was just there to dance to, and to serve as backround music in clubs. Don't get me wrong, people did listen to it, but it it served the same purpose as the music in the clubs today to most people. I'm not saying saying Jazz wasn't musical, or great. I'm just saying when it was popular, most people didn't really "listen" to it.

I disagree. Just because jazz is not one of the so called main stream musical currents of our era it doesn't mean it is not cool. I actually think that it makes it even cooler. Nowadays jazz has evolved, as has society, but they simply evolved in two different directions. Not everyone can listen to jazz because it doesn't tell them anything. Jazz has become more elevated and you need a certain level of culture and education to really understand it's message.

Unfortunately, many people do have a terrible idea of what jazz is. People don't even realize that most of the popular music they listen to is rooted in jazz...Often, when people hear jazz, they love it, but they never had given it a chance. The other problem is artists like Kenny G and Chris Botti, who call themselves playing jazz, but they are really playing snore...I'm just glad that down here at TROY University in Alabama, jazz in huge and in your face, not that smooth sleepy junk...