Stuff You Tried To Love
I know we talk a lot about confirmation bias- we buy something and then convince ourselves we like it. Or something like that. But did you ever buy something you wanted to love and just couldn’t make it work? For me, Esoteric X-05 SACD/CD player. Bought from a local who was upgrading to the X-03. Big, beautiful piece of gear, but I couldn’t get used to the sound after 6 months of trying. Sold it to another local- I insisted he listen before he bought and I believe he sold it soon after as well. Totem Forest and Hawk. I loved the whole concept. Slim, easy to live with. Couldn’t get them to work in my room. The Model Ones were much better. I had a couple of other pieces, but this is long enough. BTW, these were bought used without audition.
Jazz comprises more than 50% of my listening and at times has comprised a much greater proportion since I first began exploring it in the mid 70’s. There are numerous Jazz luminaries and genres missing from my collection because they simply don’t engage me. I’m not a scholar. I’m a music lover and I listen to what pleases me. RE: Miles, the Second Great Quintet and its predecessor with George Coleman constituted "desert island" recordings for me. I own none of the recordings by the earlier Quintet with Coltrane. No Chet Baker. No Ella. No Ellington. No Armstrong. No B. Holiday. No Basie. No Dolphy. Gee, I must really hate Jazz! Actually,I don’t hate any of the above. There are simply other Jazz artists to whom I’d rather listen.
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I would classify "Kind of Blue" as Modal, rather than Post Bop. Yes, I own it but it's been years since I've listened to it with any regularity. I was introduced to it in 1976, at a point when I was first getting into Jazz by listening to the most well-known Jazz recordings. A few years later, I took a college survey course in Jazz appreciation, in the interest of furthering my familiarity with the genre. It took awhile to get a sense of which artists and recordings particularly resonated with me. The Penguin Guide to Jazz was very helpful in this regard. It listed recordings you won't find mentioned in lists of "greatest Jazz records" or such. Just as with Visual Art, Poetry or any other esthetic field of expression, I trust and follow my own inclinations. |
With all due respect, I don’t see the purpose of this exercise. You could’ve just as easily suggested any one of 100’s of other Jazz recordings and my response would be the same: I recognize the talent and artistic merit but feel more deeply affected by something else. I could say the same for much visual art, much poetry, etc. It is entirely possible to recognize the merit of an artwork while at the same time feeling less engaged by it than some other artwork. There is nothing wrong with having preferences and we needn’t justify our preferences; indeed, the reasons for our preferences are not always easily discernible. However, if our default mode is automatically judging whatever we like as "good" and whatever we don’t like as "bad", that’s a problem, in my view. To clarify, I’m not suggesting you are doing this! I’m merely drawing a comparison.
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Interesting short Bio of Ostad Elahi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jaw7eWzgWr0 This video explains that Elahi designed an instrument with two strings that are deliberately not quite in tune. I noticed this effect as soon as I began listening to the track. This is a very different approach than what I’m used to as a guitar player! ... And another, longer film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlK7aYjqY1o
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