I’ve been having a few free weekends with my family recently, as a result I’ve been able to watch a few of these reality talent shows recently – X-factor, The Voice etc. All very entertaining. Obviously they hardly ever choose the singers that impress me to go into the final rounds, but that is not my real concern about these programs.
I do not seek to cast blame, and cannot criticise the program makers, but it is a natural and  necessary quality of these programs that they keep the song structures short. I find it is a new experience for me as a jazz musician to complain about this, as I am an advocate of shorter arrangements in almost all the jazz that I am involved in making, but in these programs the songs are reduced to the level of adverts for the singers. My hope is that this does not filter through into pop music in general as I think it may damage the art of popular song-writing.
