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Possibly. A lot of the problem is that most kids/pre-teens/teens are sheep, they follow what the media tells them.
So baisically, if it's "cool" they like it. So, we must find a way to make the media deem jazz "cool".
The only problem with that is that they wouldn't be fully appreciating jazz as a genre, they'd just be listening because they were told to.
So there's hope, but there isn't.

You may be right about that.

Goodness, I just got back from vacation in California and Costa Rica and when all of my cousins looked through my CDs they came to a dead stop on Frank Sinatra. "OH MY GOSH! You NEED to move back to California to get things straight! Why are you listening to this old stuff?!" Pressure I tell ya! But tough for them, I am very content with my music choices, lol.

I don't think the problem is that any certain genre is crap. There is definitely REALLY good hip hop out there, as well as really good rock that's being made right now. Unfortunately, "good" is not what sells. "Catchy" is. One of my good friends is a program director for Clear Channel. He's told me himself that he hates what he personally is doing to society with the music he sets up, but he has no choice because of the way the industry works. Big names sell songs, whether or not they're even AT ALL good. Case in Point: That one R. Kelly song about having an affair and being in the closet and stuff.

i think its hard to. the reason kids are drawn to rock and rap is because it popular and music has become a lifestyle and money making scam rather than a preference. i think the kids can be persuaded to like other genres (jazz for example) but i think that in the long run there goint to have to make the desicion themselves to listen to it or not. i think that people should more get the awareness of wat jazz is more then to try to get the kids to listen to it. i think alot of people have the idea that jazz is only smooth jazz or jazz-pop as opposed to free-jazz be-bop and avant garde to list some sub-genres. if good jazz was exposed to kids i think more would listen to it.

also people dont always like complicated music. id say jazz is one of the most complicated genres to learn and also acquire a taste for but some people would rather hear a meduim tempo song with four chords and a catchy 5 note solo then listening to a song with countless key changes useing weird time signatures and other things like that.

in the end it all comes down to preference.

Hmm. I think this is a moot point here. Jazz will always exist, whether it be mainstream or not, there will always be someone to pick up the banner and fight the good fight. It can't be forced... No, if children wish to find jazz, they can get direction to the right place, but beyond that, there is nothing you can do. Because of where jazz has gone, it will NEVER be popular again I'm afraid.... Well, it could still become popular, but we're years away from that. But, as I said, there will always be people who find jazz and make it their own. Do you realize that jazz is more popular among people my age group (highschool) than it has been in years? It's amazing but true. This has been aided by the many camps and summer workshops that, not all that long ago did not exist. We even have band programs at schools that allow kids to get into jazz. So I don't really think we need to necessarily get younger kids to listen to jazz. It has to be in some ways an independent choice.

It's funny you say that. That was the exact thought that was going through my head 3nodding