PT150.S4.P1.Q7

PrepTest 150 - Section 4 - Passage 1 - Question 7

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This passage was adapted from an article published in 2003.

P1

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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.
P2

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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.
P3

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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."
P4

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Author’s Concession · Marsalis did emphasize past masters
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Author’s Rebuttal · But Marsalis recombined traditional elements to push jazz forward
So it wasn't just neotraditionalism, as the critics claim.
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Author's Hypothesis · Record labels are to blame
If past artists are so great, then just repackage their music and stop investing so much money in new talent.
P5

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Author’s Hypothesis · Record labels' profit motives are to blame
Marsalis and young talent saw past masters as role models. Critics thought they were idolizing past master. Record labels saw past masters as profit.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
Show answer
7.

The passage provides information sufficient ██ ██████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████

a

In the two █████ █████ █████ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████

Not answered. Although we know he didn’t release any music in those 2 years, we don’t know that he failed to compose any music.

21%
b

Are Marsalis's fans █████ ██████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ███████

The author never discusses the ages of Marsalis’s fans.

1%
c

Has Marsalis ever ████████ █ ██ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ██████████

The author never discusses whether Marsalis has released a CD of only jazz standards. Record companies have done this, but we don’t know whether Marsalis has.

1%
d

Why did Marsalis ████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ████████

The author doesn’t discuss anything that can give us the answer to this question. Although you might think that the record companies’ focus on releasing old music contributes to Marsalis’s lack of a recording contract, this is pure speculation.

4%
e

What is a ██████ ████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██████ █████████ ███████ ████ ███████████

Answered at the end of P4. One factor that contributed to this shift was Marsalis’s emphasis on jazz’s past masters. The author also suggests in P5 that another factor is the desire for profits.

74%

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