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 shelly
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#40540
Why E can't be right?
 Francis O'Rourke
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#40597
Answer choice (E) misses the point of most of the passage. You may be able to make the case that the author wanted to show widespread acknowledgement of his musical gifts, but how much of the passage was devoted to affirming that? People have criticized him, but was it merely for his 'excessive traditionalism;" that is, was it for purely artistic reasons? The author spent a lot more time discussing the unintended economic and business effects of Marsalis's musical choices.

Look at another way, if I told you that this passage described how a man with musical gifts is having his musical choices increasingly criticized, how good of an idea would you get of this passage? compare this to answer choice (D). This summary of the main point does allude to both Marsalis's artistic choices and the specific effects of those choices that the author tries to communicate in lines 15 to 30 ("shun developing new talent") and from line 46 to the end of the passage ("re-releasing vintage jazz recordings").
 Lourdiana
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#59515
Good Evening - for this question I marked D as an option but second guessed and went with B. B seemed to make more sense but it seemed to have covered the overall passage and how Wynton was viewed. I thought D was too specific (on record companies and talent development). Can you explain why B was not a good fit please? Thank you in advance
 James Finch
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#59583
Hi Lourdiana,

It can helpful to think of RC passages as essentially elongated LR stimuli, with premises serving to support an ultimate conclusion. Main Point questions are always good to Prephrase, as you don't want to be confused by important arguments made that support the main point, rather than the main point itself. And those main points/conclusions are usually found in the first, last or both paragraphs; here, the ultimate main point is a combination of the last sentences of the first and last paragraphs, something I would prephrase along the lines of: "Ironically, Wynton Marsalis's traditionalism has helped make repackaging classic jazz albums more profitable for record companies than investing in contemporary artists like himself."

The distinction between (B) and (D) as main point is that (B) identifies a premise for the ultimate argument about the effect Marsalis's career has had on the jazz industry, and thus cannot be the main point. Instead, (D) restates the causal argument being made in the passage that Marsalis is a cause for the greater emphasis record companies are placing on selling older albums, rather than promoting contemporary artists, which is located in the most common spot for a conclusion, the end of the first and last paragraphs.

Hope this clears things up!
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 christinecwt
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#96846
Hi Team - can anyone explain why Answer Choice A is wrong? Thanks!
 Robert Carroll
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#97547
christinecwt,

The passage is not merely trying to explain why Wynton Marsalis is not working with record companies, but trying to explain in general why no new jazz musicians are getting much attention from record companies. Answer choice (A) is far too specific in that respect.

Robert Carroll
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 christinecwt
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#97607
Thanks a lot Robert :)
Robert Carroll wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 1:19 pm christinecwt,

The passage is not merely trying to explain why Wynton Marsalis is not working with record companies, but trying to explain in general why no new jazz musicians are getting much attention from record companies. Answer choice (A) is far too specific in that respect.

Robert Carroll

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