Jazz Imperial Complex
Ever notice how everything from Duke Ellington to Knower is labelled as Jazz? What's going on here?
The Jazz Imperial Complex (JIC) is the hierarchical structure that maintains Jazz's claim over a giant portion of the western musical landscape. This hierarchy is comprised of 1: "Real" Jazz fans that occupy the same style and culture of "the greats", and 2: Fans of music similar to, but still outside of that tradition. The JIC isn’t a formal conspiracy, but the result of converging interests between Jazz purists who want to be at the top of a large, relevant hierarchy, and musicians that benefit from identifying with the prestigious label of Jazz.
Kenny G is a perfect example of the JIC in action. He labels his music as Jazz for marketing purposes, and traditional jazzheads like Wynton Marsalis get to scoff at him for not being "real Jazz", thereby increasing their prestige within the broadened Jazz label. Both parties benefit from the JIC, but it comes at the cost of the identity and dignity of those at the bottom.
The JIC often results in artists at the bottom getting ridiculed for not playing by the rules of the top. (ex. not knowing how to play the blues, not knowing standards, not listening to "the greats", not swinging enough, writing solos instead of improvising them), and it can become especially problematic when an artist gets roped into the JIC against their will by being labeled as Jazz by their fans.
Every time you hear a comment like "This Pop/Metal/EDM song uses jazzy chord extensions" (even if it's literally just a couple of m11s), that's the JIC in action. Most genres with complex harmony end up being gobbled up by the JIC, but Fizz is a genre that intentionally separates itself from this oppressive hierarchy.