Dyske Suematsu offers an interesting perspective on the music tastes of Americans. He parses the way Americans listen to music, as oppose to, say, the Japanese.
“The current market share of Jazz in America is mere 3 percent. That includes all the great ones like John Coltrane and the terrible ones like Kenny G (OK, this is just my own opinion). There are many organizations and individuals like Wynton Marsalis who are tirelessly trying to revive the genre, but it does not seem to be working. Why is this? Is there some sort of bad chemistry between the American culture and Jazz? As ironic as it may be, I happen to believe so.”
You can read his piece here.