Music Why is Jazz music so polarizing?

[WiFO215]

Hey guys!
My what a lot of suggestions. Took me quite a while to sample everything. Even amongst all this, I'm not sure if I could do justice by listening to them just once, but anyway, here's my opinion:

@kilmatos:
Thanks. This older Jazz certainly sounds much better than what I was given. I'm sorry, I just don't think I can handle Coltrane.

@zooby:
I popped up Gershwin on grooveshark and it struck me as some old Hollywood music. I checked, and indeed he's made many a song for movies. His music is nice.
Ellington is good. Perdido is unusual, but catchy. I think I might have to listen to more of it before I can swallow it though. Thanks a lot.

@Adyssa:
I'm sorry. I couldn't stomach much of Davis or Scott Henderson. Jaga Jazzist was alright.

@lisab:
"The in crowd" was good. Thanks.

@V50:
I have Miles Ahead with me as I mentioned in the OP. Some of the songs are very good.

@Pythagorean:
Everybody knows Floyd.

@Adyssa:
Ernest Ranglin is nice and laid back, thanks. Reggae always is.

@larrybud:
David Sanborn is alright. Thanks.

@zooby (2):
Air on the G string... Not for everyone is right. Not for me at least.

@tkav:
Dave Weckl is alright.

So I've sampled most of what you guys have given me. My favorite is still Brubeck, although I've picked up many good tunes here. The older Jazz from the 30's and 40's is indeed more appealing. I find R&B also very pleasant. I guess this is going to be a slow, long search to find more good music as it seems to me each persons tastes vary greatly from mine.

 

[Dembadon]

I'd been requested to listen to some Jazz artists - Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and other 'giants' of the field. I decided to give it a shot and started off with Coltrane's Love Supreme and all I could hear was random jarring noise. I honestly do not understand why this is so famous. I first thought that it started out with them tuning their instruments but it continued like this all the way through. I then picked up Hancock's Headhunters and this left me with the same unsettling feeling. I can't seem to make sense of all this noise. The only one I've liked so far is Dave Brubeck's Time Out. What is it with Jazz? Can someone break down for me why these albums are so famous?

Listen to some Ornette Coleman (youtube: Free Jazz), then give 'em another try; those whom you've mentioned will then sound like angelic harps played for the gods.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0HB8ybKJzo

 

[chaoseverlasting]

Jazz is musicians music through and through, and even a lot of musicians tend to differ in what they like within jazz. Miles Davis is a genius man! (I'm sort of in love with Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Charlie Parker, Coltraine) Listen to Tutu by Miles Davis, its one of the more accessible tunes.

One of my favourites is a version of 'Autumn Leaves' that Davis did and some of Parker's slower stuff. Take Five by Dave Brubeck is one of my all time favourite tracks and you have to check out 'Nature Boy' by Davis again.

A lot of the avant garde stuff now and the experimental stuff back then is a little inaccessible. Check out Bitches Brew by Davis again, its a crazy recording.

On the more funky side, you can check out Jamiroquoi and there's a video of some russian dudes playing funk in the 80's on youtube that is absolutely great. Let me see if I can find that one for you.

 

[chaoseverlasting]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaSN_f52PS4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N_epkOCOgQ&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL9197E124209EA9A3

 

[Edgardo]

I mostly like Jazz piano music:

Misty - Jazz piano
(my favorite Jazz piano piece)

Eva Cassidy - Autumn Leaves
(She creates a new version of the classic)

The Christmas Song - Jazz Piano (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
Beautiful chords

Wheatland - Oscar Peterson Transcription
Beautiful Jazz ballade

BOB ACRI - Sleep Away
(you may recognize this because it is installed with every Windows Vista/7 in the Music Folder)

Hiromi Uehara - Place to Be
Another ballade

Danny Boy ( He Looked Beyond My Fault ) ：Keith Jarrett
The traditional song in a Jazz version

Chick Corea & Hiromi Uehara - Spain
A piano duet

 

[Dembadon]

If you're looking for something more contemporary, I suggest checking out Marcus Miller. He is an extremely talented bass player and has some good jazz pieces, in my opinion. I have a few of his albums. He's a bit too "funky" for some people, but it's interesting enough to keep me listening while being fun.

This is one of my favorites by him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsIXwNGE4LA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXYjo5-UaTY

 

[ThomasT]

If you're looking for something more contemporary, I suggest checking out Marcus Miller. He is an extremely talented bass player and has some good jazz pieces, in my opinion. I have a few of his albums. He's a bit too "funky" for some people, but it's interesting enough to keep me listening while being fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXYjo5-UaTY

He's not too funky for me. That slap bass jazz fusion stuff is some of my favorite.

Back in the day when mp3.com was hosting independent stuff for free there were a lot of "internet collaborations". Here's one of them by a group called Luxus with Marcus Miller on bass. Carl Eichman is playing the funky guitar stuff.

After laying down the bass, guitar, and percussion tracks they sent out requests to some people to add some overlays. I did some keyboard stuff to it (which I thought was pretty cool, but it did sort of change the 'flavor' of the tune in a direction that I guess they didn't want to go). They opted for what's offered here (as well as at least one other slightly different version ... all with Miller on bass, afaik):
http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=759699&q=hi&newref=1

 

[kraphysics]

is this jazz music? I actually like this song

 

[ThomasT]

is this jazz music? I actually like this song

Yeah, I'd call it smooth jazz. One of my favorite music genres.

 

[jsgruszynski]

To answer the origional question of why some people just can't seem to get into Jazz is that it lacks, upon initial observation, repetitive patterns. Pop music is so popular because a human brain actually enjoys being able to predict the next step in a sequence. This is not as easily done with Jazz. The sheer complexity of the music itself and how much is left unwritten so that the artist gets to improvize large portions of each piece in my opinion requires a musical maturity the does not seem to be all that common among people who either didn't grow up with Jazz or have no musical training.


These are simply my opinions. Being a Jazz drummer who was lucky enough to spend some time in the 90's studying with Carl Mattola and Joe Morello, I had the privelidge of being introduced to the logic in the musical and rythmic complexities of Jazz. It also probably helped that my father was a jazz musician.




The link is just a more modern example of some of the big band that you may enjoy.

I say if your really interrested in learning about it start with Dave Brubeck, maybe throw in a bit of Art Blakey, and even some of the big band swing that is a bit more structured.

It's this complexity and novelty that I like about Jazz (and many forms of European classical and non-European musics - e.g. Indian raga).

The way I see it you have an algorithmic information continuum called music. Different forms of music have different algorithmic information (different Kolmogorov complexity). Jazz has high Kolmogorov complexity while more mainstream pop music such as rock tends to have very low Kolmogorov complexity.

This also gets into the transition between stability and chaos. You go through a parametric shift starting with bifurcations (which is analogous to simple power-of-2 progressions of rhythm) into purely chaotic (which in the extreme is atonal music - perfectly equal tonal probabilities in the limit with noise), with a transition of semi-chaotic in between. Jazz is basically on the cusp between the two which is very interesting: enough information to be comprehended but not so much pure information (white noise, in a strict information theoretic sense) to be overwhelming.

For me I'm a bit more of a novelty seeker so the complexity and its challenge are more interesting to me and I don't get bored with it like I do with lower complexity music.

That said there is a place for "trance"-like music as well which tends to have pretty low complexity, which I also like under certain occasions.

 

[dodo]

Marty McFly's father in an alternate timeline. (Not to be confused with a saxophonist Bill Evans.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytwtenomsCM

And an amazing pair of two ones:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VdACbRfrSI

 

[rcgldr]

Some here might like these smooth jazz songs:

Steps Ahead - Safari (unusual usage of synthesized flute sound for background):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEs4CDLRHD8

Chris Botti - Regroovable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIA1-8RWfVM

Norman Brown - That's The Way Love Goes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQElCOUqz84

Jimmy Sommers - Lowdown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fISjQ0M6NpQ

 

[SMOF]

I love jazz ...for me, Bitches Brew (Davis) and A Love Supreme (Coltrane) are works of art.

Besides that, I really like No Room For Squares by Hank Mobley


Anything by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers


And I am really into Ornette Coleman


I know a lot of people go on about the technical aspects of jazz ...But I just like to go into my room, turn the lights out and let it play.

Seán

 

[Dr Lots-o'watts]

I like Pink Panther's theme and Charlie Brown's theme. Besides that, I have lately found that listening to jazz is a great way to go to sleep. I'm not sure if it's a complement to the musicians, but wow, can it ever be relaxing.

 

[pergradus]

You're not alone. I find most Jazz I've heard to be either incoherent or incredibly dull.