Is Jazz Irrelevant?

In a conversation that has oddly stuck with me, chatting during a break on a jazz gig at Martuni's in SF in the 90s, a woman in her 50s told me, "The music is nice but the tunes are all about the courting phase of life, a phase I haven't known in decades. It has no relevance to me."

Is it so? Is the topic of most jazz only that brief phase of life? Does it ignore the others -- childhood, career, parenting, old age, etc.?

I decided to find out. Going through The Real Book (Fifth Edition)'s 400 tunes, I counted the ones in which the topic of the lyrics is romantic love. The other tunes are about something else, or they're instrumentals. Out of 400, I counted 224 whose topic is romantic love, the courting phase of life.

Say we live 75 years. Say the courting phase (our 20s) is 10 years. That's 13%. Out of 400 tunes, 224 is 56%. So 56% of jazz is about 13% of life. That woman was right. Jazz is irrelevant. Who knew?

But you can visit my music site anyway!