" data-original-title="" title="">Herbie Hancock. And yet, for all that, more than a few jazz musicians labor under barriers to trade. Even in the United States, there are terrific East Coast players who are not known on the West Coast, and vice versa. Why?

Perhaps we are spoiled for choice, a situation aggravated by the Internet. Economists are fond of winner-take-all models in which one superstar garners most of the glory because modern technology makes it possible. They seldom stop to reflect that the others—not superstars, but hardly inconsequential talents—simply scrape by on little: little recognition and less compensation. Talk to the musicians. Many are all too familiar with the situation.

So, it is always an opportunity to try to introduce someone to an audience in the United States. Free trade, especially in ideas, is best. A composer's ideas do not disappear simply because someone else assimilates them. Quite the contrary. Their nuance, cultural influence and vocabulary expand. Music is a good subject to what economists call "increasing returns"; the more the merrier. Jazz may have clear roots in African-American music, but really, it belongs to everyone. As