Musical events primarily aimed at young people are nothing new; with the Feis Ceoil and its cousins around the country, not to mention special concerts for children at the NCH, it has been happening in classical music for years. But for jazz in this country it's a ground-breaking activity, epitomised by the Improvised Music Company's annual OpenJazz series.
Now in its third year, the event, sponsored by The Irish Times and centred on the Temple Bar Music Centre, is a growing success; last year alone, more than 3,000 people showed up to sample the mix of workshops, performances and the general ambience of friendliness that surrounds them. In some respects it's the antithesis of the marginalised places where much jazz is performed - smoke-lined, child-free, alcohol-filled rooms, where the music is subject to the whims of the publican and the mantra is money and "time, gentlemen, please".
To get away from that was part of the reason the IMC conceived the OpenJazz idea. "The rationale is to encourage people to come and hear the music on their own terms," says the IMC's Gerry Godley. "It's about overcoming prejudices - and the jazz is evolving and it seems the prejudices are being overcome."
Apart from destroying the image, which still clings in people's minds, of the subculture in which jazz was originally nourished, one of the core features of the day is the workshops. Twenty-four in all, each lasting 40 minutes, they cover piano, bass, drums, guitar, brass, reeds and even accordion.
"They're about creating an inclusive environment, where people don't feel intimidated and they feel free to ask questions and share the vivid experience of hearing jazz live. There are stories of kids now on tuition as a result of OpenJazz," he adds. "And the IMC regularly presents workshops and master-classes by leading international figures like Dave Liebman, Dave Holland, Kenny Werner, and was closely involved in the visit of Boston's world-famous Berklee College to Newpark Music Centre."
There's no doubt that Godley, who runs the IMC - whose financial lifeblood comes from the Arts Council - is a passionate, committed and articulate proponent of jazz in all its guises. He would like, for example, to take the successful OpenJazz format to places other than Dublin, perhaps with the help of corporate sponsorship.
Does the audience exist for it? He points to the recent Irish tour of Ronan Guilfoyle's international quartet, Lingua Franca, to mark the release of their CD, the IMC's 16th. One major provincial venue, which needed a lot of persuasion to book the group, got a full house and phoned a heartfelt "thank you", asking to be kept in mind for future jazz groups.
To be realistic, these are not pop concert-size audiences. But that's hardly the measure. It's a question of access and nourishment - access to the music and nourishment of the people who create it and the circumstances in which they do.
"The IMC is passionate," he says, "about conveying a sense of the past, present and future of the music, promoting an avant garde act like Tin Berne's Big Satan one week, to a more mainstream artist like Ronnie Cuber the next. Simultaneously, we will be promoting local artists at the Pendulum, like the Ellington-influenced Rock Fox or the visceral modernism of guitarist Mike Nielsen."
The mix of international and Irish jazz musicians means an annual schedule of about 150 concerts, mostly jazz, but also including the ESB Routes in Rhythm, a world music series throughout this year; it embraces Cuba, Africa, Argentina, Spain, India and Pakistan. And, of course, the ESB Dublin Jazz Week, which has tapped into the previously unserved audience in the capital for a major international jazz festival; this year it runs from September 18th to 24th.
But all this activity - which takes place against a backdrop of an enormous growth in jazz activity here - still has to rely, much of the time, on the kind of venues which are the antithesis of the ambience for the jazz open day, as well as the lack of a suitable infrastructure in other ways.
He acknowledges the truth of this. "The fact is people will always play this music, and the responsibility of people like myself is to build an infrastructure to help them. It's like a microcosm of the economy. We're in a period of accelerated growth, but when that bottoms out it's imperative the musicians and the audience have something tangible.
"Relative to other genres, there's very little jazz in the broadcast media here. There are no large ensembles here as functioning jazz orchestras - a healthy barometer of the scene; look at the established youth orchestras on the classical side. Very soon we'll have enough young players to fill an orchestra - if not already.
"And we're one of the few EU countries where you can't study jazz at third level. The IAPA is unclear as to what role jazz will play, although jazz is seen as one of the most effective ways to teach young people music globally."
He also wants to see a proper venue devoted to jazz, catering for performance, rehearsal and audiences, with possibly an archive.
"It should be a space with a strong educational role - and not just for children - with all that this implies for a suitable ambience. The reality is that we don't need the kind of resources required to build an opera house. Look at the impact of places like the Irish Film Centre as an example of how a physical building can stimulate the audience it serves."
Jazz, he accepts, has been nomadic, effectively because the numbers don't add up for the publican. And part, at least, of that reason is the fact that the concert audience for jazz is not at all served by such venues; the successes at Vicar Street underline a potent way to combine the two.
"We've come this far, made huge progress over the last decade. We're now at a critical mass in terms of audience, performers and stakeholders such as the Arts Council and corporate sponsors like the ESB. It's a pivotal moment in the evolution of the music here and it's important that we grasp the opportunity to build capacity for future generations of audience and players alike."
The Irish Times OpenJazz 2000.
Venue: Temple Bar Music Centre.
Time: 12 - 6 p.m.
Workshops: 24, including four trio performances, each starting on the hour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Concert Performances:
12 a.m. Newpark Jazz Diploma Showcase
1 p.m. Derek O'Connor Quartet
2 p.m. Nigel Mooney Quartet with Mia Parsons
3 p.m. Devsirme
4 p.m. Rock Fox Quintet
5 p.m. Havana 'Che
Celebrity Concert: 8 p.m. Martin Speake International Quartet
Tickets are £14 for celebrity concert. All other events are free.