PrepTest 150 - Section 4 - Passage 1 - Question 1

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This passage was adapted from an article published in 2003.

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Intro to Topic · Wynton Marsalis, important jazz musician

Great musician and promoter of jazz.

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Phenomenon · Marsalis and jazz face uncertain future

Critics are unhappy with "neotraditionalism." Not sure what that means but passage will probably explain later.

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Phenomenon Details · Marsalis and jazz's decline

Marsalis stopped releasing CDs; no active contract with record companies; Columbia Records no longer investing in jazz musicians.

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Critics Hypothesis · Marsalis' neotraditionalism is to blame for decline

Marsalis was looking backwards to jazz orthodoxy and inhibited innovation which resulted in stagnation. This is what was meant by "neotraditionalism."

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Author’s Concession · Marsalis did emphasize past masters

Author’s Rebuttal · But Marsalis recombined traditional elements to push jazz forward

So it wasn't just neotraditionalism, as the critics claim.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████

Question Type

Main point

The author focuses on explaining the cause of the decline in promotion of new jazz artists. Rather than putting the blame on Wynton Marsalis, as critics have done, the author argues that record companies’ focus on profits is mainly responsible.

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This doesn’t capture the author’s view about record companies and their role in the decline of jazz.

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This doesn’t capture the author’s view about record companies and their role in the decline of jazz. In addition, author doesn’t suggest that Marsalis has widened the audience for jazz.

Though Wynton Marsalis ███████ █████ ███████ ███ ███ ████████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ ████████████ ███████████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ████ ████ ███ ██████████████ ████ █████████ ██████ ███ ████████

The author doesn’t suggest that Marsalis has changed his music as a result of record companies’ behavior. Since (C) is unsupported, it can’t be the main point.

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This best captures the author’s point, which is that record companies are mainly responsible for the failure to market and develop new jazz artists. Marsalis can be said to have “unintentionally” influenced record companies in that the companies took inspiration from Marsalis’s emphasis on traditional jazz.

91%

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This doesn’t capture the author’s opinion about the view described by (E). The author disagrees and puts the blame for the decreased marketing and development of new jazz artists on record companies.

PrepTest 150 - Section 4 - Passage 1 - Question 1

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