How I learned to stop worrying and enjoy Jazz

The natural progression of musical taste

By mrgoodsound

I did not have any great musical experiences or overt exposure to music as a passion or field of study in my youth. I was absent from grade school during the first week of band class, and when I returned all instruments I had interest in were already assigned to other children. I had the choice between trumpet and trombone. I chose to take up trumpet, but never enjoyed playing it and dropped it after two years of band. I don't have any real regrets, but I mention this as I think lack of direct interest in acoustic music at an early stage of life caused my progression in musical taste to be as elementary as the diagram on the right.

As a teenager, I listened to trashy pop music. In college, I discovered alternative and indie rock which dominated my taste for several years. At the tail end of college, and when I started to get serious about audio, I started experimenting with jazz, not out of any real appreciation or understanding of the music, but because it seemed like a cool thing to do. This wouldn't turn into a real appreciation until several years later. It was only in the past year I developed a serious interest in classical music, but this article is about jazz.

My first exposure to jazz music came as a teen when I was browsing album lists and music discussion forums in an attempt to broaden my tastes. As a visual person I put a lot of subconscious and conscious stock in cover art. I pick up books at the library or store based on their covers and the same goes for albums. One album I repeatedly saw which caught my eye was Bill Evans' Portrait in Jazz. As a teenager, I had no idea what I was looking at. There was a man with slick-backed hair and peculiar glasses, in a suit, staring past the camera on a drab brown backdrop. The words 'STEREO RIVERSIDE' were written across the top. I didn't know what a Riverside was, or why on earth they would feel the need to specify the album was in stereo, what else would it be?

Attempting to 'understand' Jazz

Until then, my concept of jazz music was something to play in the background at the barbershop while you wait for your turn to get your hair cut. I played Portrait in Jazz for about all of five minutes before concluding I didn't understand it and turning it off. I probably listened to the Pixies or something after. However, it is now one of my favorite jazz records. If you were to ask me what changed between then and now, my honest answer is that I have no idea! I matured as an individual and my musical taste matured with me. When the time came, I had to make no effort to understand or appreciate jazz music, it just came naturally, along with an interest to learn more about the artists behind it and the context they produced this music in.

This epiphany and sudden appreciation did not come from playing Bill Evans, but rather another household name, Art Blakey. My only explanation for this is that at the time my primitive, rock-addled mind could only comprehend drum-led jazz compositions and something as delicate as a piano was too 'advanced'. Ironically, the Art Blakey album that would get me is titled 'The Big Beat'. The bold, expressive cover art caught my eye; with the camera peering at a grinning Blakey through his kit, and classic Blue Note styling. I played it, the rest is history. Years after hearing it for the first time, I still hum the opening to 'The Chess Players'. Now that's a memorable tune! I got 'jazz fever' and became obsessed with be-bop and hard bop, the more raucous the better so that a rock'n'roll primate such as myself could absorb it. Exploring the Jazz Messengers catalog quickly led to the discographies of members who would go on to have solo careers such as Donald Byrd, Wayne Shorter and Jackie McLean.

After several years of listening to nothing but rock and searching for new bands to listen to until the nth degree of separation it was simultaneously exhilarating and daunting to explore a whole new genre. Eventually I built a core library, mostly of hard boppers from the Blue Note catalogue, before branching out to modal jazz; and eventually avant-garde/free form. Spoiled with choice and selection via streaming services I did not analyze or study but would just play 15 second snippets of this or that album and decide if I liked it enough. Coincidentally, I love Coltrane but I am not that crazy about Miles Davis (yet), although I appreciate he is among the best as an artist.

Currently my favorite jazz comes from the later output of certain artists who would go on to become more experimental and push the envelope, especially with tours in Scandinavian countries, such as John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus and Jackie McLean. I am just starting to dip my toes into earlier drummers such as Gene Krupa and Shelley Manne.

Was my appreciation of jazz music at all related to the progression of my audio system? No, I don't think so. When I began to listen to it seriously I still had the direct-drive Sony PS-X800. I got a Lenco L70, the first album I played on it was Saxophone Colossus, which was a serious 'wow' moment, but getting 'into' the genre was unconnected with my advances in hi-fi (although for classical, I feel differently).

Lenco L70 + Saxophone Collosus

So important is the need to re-visit, old equipment, old music, old books movies or games. People definitely do change and the time allows us to see the exact same thing in a new light. In fact, two of my biggest audio purchases for this year will be two pieces of gear that I never thought I would own - I had completely written them off previously due to some pre-conceived notion or the opinions of others. I look forward to writing about those pieces later and explaining what changed.

Lastly, doctorjohn has written more than once about being forced to sit through Brubeck's Time Out on a mediocre system. Well what is even worse is to visit someone with a half-decent system and ask to play jazz, and then they put on Diana Krall or Kind of Blue. Come on! Explore a little, especially if you treat audio as a social hobby (which you should, for your mental and spiritual health). I am so happy to impress others with music they have never heard whether they are listening to my system or theirs, and as a result the conversation steers equally in the direction of music as it does equipment.

In terms of catalogs, Blue Note is a fantastic place to start but is not the be-all end-all and is certainly a bit fetishized, especially in Asia. There is equally great output on Prestige, Riverside, Impulse, Verve, etc. Eventually one will want to start collecting Savoy, Bethlehem, Warwick... and then live performances captured on labels like SteepleChase, like the Jackie McLean quartet linked below.