Having an ear for Jazz

I started in my early thirtys to listen to smooth jazz. In my 40s I progressed to improv. jazz and have aquired the taste very well. I still rock out from time to time.
True jazz is an aquired taste. Don't you remember when you couldn't understand why people were listening to a band were all the musicians are playing a different song and met at the end?

Within the last 2 years I've amassed a small but selective and varied jazz collection on CD/SACD from smooth jazz (Larry Carlton, Chris Botti, etc) to the traditional giants (Coltrane, Davis, Getz, Pepper, Chambers, etc).

I really really enjoy jazz.

Then again, being a teenager of the 70's, I'll put on the Sabbath from time to time and still rock.

It's aalllll good! :-)

Don't forget to add Chet Baker and Paul Desmond to your play lists.

I am with Erikt. It's all good. I still rock out as a child of the 70s, but I have found as I have gotten older that some genres of music that I didn't quite "get" before make a lot more sense now. Starting back playing the guitar after 30 years has brought me back to the roots of rock music--blues especially. So, I have really enjoyed getting to the heart of things on this journey and rediscovering Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, Albert King, Elvis, Johnny Cash, etc. In terms of jazz, I always enjoyed the nonlinearity of it as a fan of bands like the Dead. But now that I have a turntable and have some old original 50s and 60s pressings, I really enjoy hearing jazz played as it was meant to be heard. Late at night, lights down, glass in hand, wow.

I listened to a little jazz until my 40's when jazz exploded for me. Now its mostly jazz with some pop, soul, funk, r&b, jazz fusion, progressive rock, and hard rock mixed in. Hard Bop is my love now though.

noisy is a term I use myself to describe all types of music that annoys me.

I often prefer slower or simpler (and often older - 30s, 40s 50s etc.) music these days...

I too have evolved toward more jazz and find myself listening to it almost exclusivly when I put on a CD.

I moved into jazz initially just because I thought I must be missing something. It took a bit of exploration but I found that I was missing a lot. Interestingly this correlated with a diminishing interest in large orchestral pieces (classical) and a development of interest and appreciation into chamber music, especially solo piano.

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My mother loved the Big Bands as this type of music WAS the Pop music of her day, so I was exposed to Jazz since early childhood. Back in the 60's/70's, Rock artists were allowed to jam so recordings by groups like Traffic, Cream, Zappa, Hendrix, etc. released records with long solos. I enjoyed following the thought process of the musicians when they'd solo. From there it was a short hop to listening to Jazz artists doing their thing! I learned about structure and composition later but yeah...Jazz rules!!!

not really mid way through life @ 48 but i just started getting into jazz. started with classical(chamber music) about 3 years ago. jazz bug kicked in last year. still tip toeing around jazz but am enjoying most of it.

not moving away from my favorites... rock(all kinds) and blues. jazz is just something else to enjoy.(along with classical

My entrance into jazz came by way of Chet Baker, Buconero. Someone took me to the documentary, "Let's Get Lost," and Baker's voice just hit me. After listening for several years to Baker, I knew a good bit of the great American songbook. So when I heard a group playing the standards, however extreme the variation, I got it. My taste is pretty narrow, and 75% of jazz--and 75% of classical, especially the orchestral stuff (I'm with you, Newbee)--leaves me cold.

Blues is like lobster: once a year and I'm good.

I love noisy jazz, jazz noise... I started from fusion, reached to acid and avangard. Overall I do love extraordinary, artistic and different music no matter what style it is.

Its taken me 63 years to appreciate the music of Miles Davis and John Coltraine and Buconero your right we cannot forget to add Chet Baker to the list. I love Analogue Productions for their superb 45 RPM records. Wonderful thread.

Nope! Loved it since high school (early 70's) and still do, along with rock and blues. Although since I've added opera, folk, and classical lite (piano, cello, quartets, etc.)

Yes, absolutely. I never listened to Jazz until my 40's and now listen to it all the time. I started with Bill Evans and Stan Getz and then moved onto all the Blue Note stars from the 50's and 60's mostly. I can't get enough of it now. I was also a teenager in the 70's and listened only to Rock. Not anymore. I recently started to get into the Blues and like it a lot but really have only started to scratch the surface.

I was 30 when I discovered Jazz.

A friend/colleague who's a long time jazz fan converted me when I was in my forties.

I was into all kinds of music as a kid and my dad was a big jazz fan and i grew up listening to Miles, Coltrane, Cannonball but in 1973/74 I was listening to alot of rock and then I discovered the group Chase. As a young trumpet player I thought I was pretty good and the I heard Bill Chase play....he OWNED his trumpet and while the 3 albums of jazz infused rock didn't stand the test of time like say Blood, Sweat & Tears it did open up my mind that the lines can sometimes be blurred in the hands of the right person. Anyway, Bill Chase died in a plane crash and the lead trumpeter Jay Sollenberger joined Stan Kenton's Big Band and I was like WTF? A year went by and I was invited to study at 1 of the Kenton clinics his band put on each summer and I jumped at the chance to get to study with a guy like Sollenberger. Well, I went, absorbed knowledge like a sponge and discovered i didn't have the commitment to be really great...those guys lived their craft but it in infused in me a lifelong love of jazz and serious music in general. Mr. Kenton was committed to education and while we don't often hear his name mentioned, he almost single handedly kept the big band alive and furthermore, his gifts, guidance and relationship with North Texas State and their jazz program will continue to pay dividends for all of us. There are more working pros come out of that program today than probably any other University anywhere. Their 1 o'clock lab band is the nuts.

The more I listen to jazz the more I love and appreciated it. I`ve gone through R/B,blues,rock,reggae and some classical and like them all. There`s just something very special regarding jazz muscians and vocalists.They can take a simple standard and make it unique and personal. Big band,smaller combos,duets or solo, it`s all special. The better your system becomes, the emotion/communication of jazz increases. For example Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Clifford Brown or Lee Morgan, all jazz trumpeters, yet each is easily recognizable by their individual sound and approach. This is true for all the various instruments and singers.

The fact that most jazz is played with acoustic instruments and very often recorded well(compared to most of pop and rock) is an added bonus.

Always liked it. Watching Ken Burn's Jazz series when it ran on PBS took my appreciation to a higher level.

Yes, I have learned to appreciate good jazz. I have also learned to appreciate classical, opera, and even some country, However, my new found appreciation for an even broader range of music has not made me move away from rock. Just the opposite, in fact. I have more understanding about what many classically trained rock musicians were/are trying to accomplish. I guess I can say I have learned to appreciate all kinds of music as I have gotten older.

Very interesting to see Ken Burns 'Jazz' mentioned as a catalyst for Jazz. Among hard-core Jazzistas the documentary over-simplified and incomplete. There was NO mention of Fusion, or Latin Jazz (or the latin connection to the earliest roots of Jazz via New Orleans). I understand (I only saw snippets) there was barely any mention of music created past the 80's. But I think it's fantastic that it brought new fans to the genre. I'm serious!!

I`ve seen those complaints, I don`t buy them. Ken Burns put a lot of effort ,time and research into that series, he has a sincere appreciation for jazz and it shows. With a project of this scale it`s impossible to please every single viewer. Without debate his PBS series introduced jazz music and the great musicians to a large(relatively speaking)new audience. He deserves much credit.

Charles1dad, the several nominations received for awards would agree with you.

I think Diana Krall was first responsible for my Jazz interest , I won't say she's the best , but her warm sultry voice and smooth rhythmic lines grabbed my attention . My audio system also must take some of the blame for my seduction into Jazz . The rock I was reared on made it hard to focus on detailed improvements . But Jazz music made it easy to hear the blatt of horns , the range of the piano , the texture of strings and the warmth and humanness of vocals .

I saw Return to Forever back in 76 but recently have been listening to mostly the classic jazz giants and now do not really think of RTF as jazz, (they have fallen into the noisy catagory). Subconsciously I have dismissed them and other fusion type bands - even though they are still awesome, I think of Mingus, Ellington, Ella, Getz (etc.) as blissfully good and 'real' jazz.

Tmsorosk,
You`re right, jazz and a good system do indeed compliment each other.

I had 25 years,was in London,and on one market heard some Jamaican guys listening to a casette tape on their radio,music was full of organ rythm, kind a dirty but with great guitar moments,sounded so exciting,like nothing I have heard before.It was my first encounter with great Jimmy Smith,and the rest followed naturally,looking who played some insrument on some record,than finding it,than discovering some new musicians,who again played with some other great players and so on.By that time I already had a quite big record collection that spanned from blues,sixties rock,bay area late 60's period,to a hard rock of seventies,german psychodelia and progressive rock and punk,with just a few interesting bands of eighties.Since than,and it was in 1998,I bought no other but jazz album,and still I feel like there are thousands of albums that I still must hear,and they are all from a relatively short period between 1955 and 1970,at the most.I still have all my records,but at home I listen only to jazz,aldo i like to hear some good rock music on the radio or in a car

To the thread starter,

You have described my sutuation to a tee.

I began listening to music (rock, pop, soul, gospel, blues) when I was given a transistor radio at age 11 ("Cool Jerk", Working in a Coal Mine", "Devil with a Blue Dress On"). By 15 I began listening to jazz with one of my first rock album purchases, Edgar Winter's "Entrance". Same time frame I began playing in my high school jazz band, so was also heavily influenced by my jazz performing teacher. Since then my appreciation of jazz and rock has grown. One has not replaced the other. I've never appreciated "noisy sounding music", whether it was rock, jazz, or any other genre.

I grew up in the 60's so my listening was always classic rock, blues, folk.
I dabbled in jazz, listening to all the more easy listening jazz artists.
The more I listened the more adventurist I got.
About 3 years ago, I went on the interent and googled
the top 50 jazz albums of all time.
I made a point of buying the top ten.
I am a confirmed jazzaholic now.
Miles Davis, Coltrane, Monk, Oscar Peterson.
I still have a great love for the stuff I grew up with too.
I feel sorry for music listeners who never venture out to appreciate other types of music.
They are missing out on some exciting wonderful music and great artists.
Glen

There used to be a New Age radio station in Chicago back in the 80’s. I know that New Age music isn’t the subject here, but for me, it served as a bridge the day I met an older gentleman in an Audio shop. In the course of conversation, and he asked me about my musical interests. I mentioned jazz was among my interests and he told me we had something in common. As I rolled down the list of New Age jazz that I liked, he had the most amused look on his face. He wound up inviting me to his home for a listening session, and it was there that I got my real introduction to jazz. He and his friends were a big part of the Chicago jazz scene starting in the 50s. Their stories are almost as good as the music.