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Jazz is...


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So, I've been thinking...

I've noticed that a majority of the people here at the boards are pro-rock, R&B, soul and nea-everything else, even before I joined.

Last year, my music teacher taught us about the history of jazz. I was very upset because I had signed up for the history of rock 'n' rock, but was told that that class had been filled up with upper classmen. I reluctantly went along with thus, and now I've come to enjoy the genre.

So what I'm wondering is this: what is your opinion of jazz?

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Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz, Charlie Byrd, Jaoa Gilberto, Ellis Regina, Dave Brubeck, Steely Dan...

Joao Gilberto, Jobim, Regina are more "jazzy-bossa nova" for me... and I love them. :)

I find jazz boring, yet I also like Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Steely Dan... even some Pat Metheny and Soft Machine...

And of course, how couldn´t I love Dave Brubeck? :bow:

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Call me low brow...I voted bad and i just don't like it. Every once in a while something strikes me as pretty good, but as a genre, I'm not interested.

Have you been listening to modern jazz? That stuff is for the most part, terrible. I don't really appreciate early jazz either. For me it's all about the 50's and early 60's. All fans of music, in general, should be required to listen to John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme."

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Call me a purist, but I personally think that smooth jazz is what pushes so many people away from jazz. To me (and many, I think), it just sounds so fake and synthetic. I listen to a smooth jazz song and I think that these musicians aren't even having any of the emotions they are trying to convey, and that they are just faking emotions with a smooth and inoffensive sound. Early jazz is just, to me, so much more real and emotional. I mean, you listen to a sax player like Coltrane and he's just filled with a passion for music, and he's just playing what he feels, and it's full of beauty and chaos and tranquility and violence and raw emotion and everything else that makes music amazing.

But whatever you like is cool with you, so sorry if it seems like I'm bashing your tastes.

And I realize that this post isn't deep at all even though I'm presenting it as if it's deep. I know that I'm pretentious despite having nothing to be pretentious about.

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I personally never trust the radio, as they are ultimately trying to please an audience and keep an audience's attention to hold on to their sponsors, and such a restrained environment does not allow for very much art to be heard. Sometime when I'm less tired, I'll write up some reccomendations. For now:

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (jazz at it's absolute best)

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (probably the most important jazz album ever, and one of the best)

Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch (just to see how different and wild jazz can be)

Herbie Hancock - Headhunters (if you enjoy a more relaxed sound)

Bill Evans - Everybody Digs Bill Evans (because it's true)

Or as a rock fan, you might want to try some jazz fusion. You're probably already familiar with Jeff Beck. I would try the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Great jazz/rock band, and an incredibly exciting and skilled collective of musicians. I believe the guitarist did some work with Santana if you're interested in that.

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Let me give you an example of a jazz(y) song that I like..."Twisted" by Joni Mitchell...it's off the "Court and Spark" album. I love the song, but I think purists would laugh me off the face of the earth. There is a jazz-like guitar solo at the end of BTO's "Welcome Home" which is hot. So there is probably something out there that i would like.

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Ron, Twisted is indeed a jazz song and it's been done by many jazz artists. Joni Mitchell's forays into the genre have always produced gems.

Based on your appreciation of that particular sound/style I think you might enjoy one of Joni's countrymen, Diana Krall. Ella Fitzgerald should also appeal to you. You'd probably appreciate some Manhattan Transfer such as their Vocalese Album.

BTW, Twisted always reminds me of a Georgie Flame (and the Blue Flames) song, called Yeh Yeh.

Check it out... Yeh Yeh

Edited by Guest
To add link to Yeh Yeh.
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I think jazz is a very sexy type of genre, in the fact that you feel the music move you, your soul and body. And when I have seen jazz artists play, they seem to be making love with the music. It's seductive to listen to it, pulling you in. I can feel uplifted when I listen to jazz even when I feel crappy as all get out. When I listen in the car I just drive and kind of sway and get into the groove.

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