Jazz

[Slim]

I'll start this thread with some words of wisdom from a famous player.

[Fishy]

That was great.. "playing in a book store in bumfuck Iowa"

[Thenop]

It was quite some years ago that someone on the old forum (no longer here) drew me in to what you could call 'entry level' jazz: Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain. I fell head over heels and have since been collecting Davis' output relentlessly.
Overall, my favourite jazz period is the late 60's-early 70's jazz into funk material. Not just Davis of course, there is much more than just that. Donald Byrd for instance, and various soundtracks. Herbie Hancock of course, Weather Report & Mahavishnu battling it out. Magnificent stuff.

So far, I was set, 'this is my thing, no need to dig further'. Until I stumbled upon Trane's A Love Supreme. Indeed it is a thing of devotion, and so I fell down a rabbit hole I have yet to climb out of. New, old, free, bop, avantgarde - all of it. I love it, I want it, I need it. Sometimes I drive myself mad, I have 80 years of catching up, I will run out of breath before I discover every last gem. Maybe I need to let go? Nah, it's too much fun. Flipping through record used bins, new audiophile releases, digging through Discogs' sellers inventories, I have immersed myself.
What did I find so far?
It really does make a difference buying quality stuff over subpar quasi bootleg LPs.
But mostly: not to discard things upon first listen. I never did when listening to metal or rock, but with jazz, not having it imprinted on me from an early age, I am discovering it as if I were a child all over. And maybe that is what I like about the whole experience so much, who knows?

Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, McCoy Tyner, Jackie McClean, Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus (!), Donald Byrd, Art Blakey, and so many more, I salute you. Would I have wanted to be alive in a time where I could have seen you play live? Yes. But I'll settle for the next best thing: your fantastic legacy.

But wait, what can I see live? Well if they come over I will be checking out the likes of Yazz Ahmed, Shabaka Hutchings, Walter Smith III, Kamasi Washington & Immanuel Wilkins.

I will shut up now, and play my music in peace.

[The Picnic Wasp]

I used to enjoy a couple of beers of a Sunday night in a local hotel where there would be jazz musicians playing mostly unplugged material in a dimly lit corner of the bar. I liked the relaxed atmosphere which seemed to take the edge off the spectre of Monday morning looming quite nicely. Being pretty ignorant of the genre I used to think I should make a couple of purchases to expand my listening at home but I seem to be one those folk who has to latch onto something obsessively and really know it to fully appreciate it, so I never quite made that leap towards Jazz. I played a bit of Stanley Clarke for a while when I was becoming more and more immersed in bass playing and I own a Fender Jazz. Does that count?

[Slim]

I can't remember when my interest was first piqued by jazz, exactly. Probably a combination of things - Jeff Beck's cover of Goodbye, Pork Pie Hat might be the earliest.

I was heavily into Mahavishnu and John McLaughin by 1984. I'd known about the Mahavishnu Orchestra for years but a chance showing of the brilliant Meeting Of The Spirits on Channel 4 in 1983 or so really made me a fan. I remember listening to Mark King on R1's My Top Ten in 1984, as well. He'd chosen McLaughlin's brilliant New York On My Mind as one of his tunes. I absolutely loved that.

I mostly listened to McLaughlin and John Scofield in the late '80s. It wasn't until the early '90s that I started listening to classic jazz. I started buying Miles Davis, Mingus and Coltrane albums. Actually the first Miles Davis record I bought was Aura, which is terrible pretentious neo-classical bollocks.

I've been trying to learn jazz guitar, with the help of a brilliant teacher, for about 18 months now. The goal is to be able to improvise fluently over jazz.

If you think of improvising over "ordinary" music as being like playing draughts, or checkers as it's known in US English, then playing over jazz is like chess. It's like having to play chess in real time. To stretch an analogy, it's like moving a piece round the board with the rules for the way you can move it changing every few seconds. Unfortunately I think I've come to it too late to develop an intuitive feel for doing it naturally.

[Thenop]

I have been playing drums for nearly 40 years now. I'm a well above average drummer if I stick to my style, which is certainly not jazz. Trying to learn the swing and groove to match the feel of what I'd like to hear and admire in jazz drummers, I am not even going to try and start.

On the other hand, Ornette Colemans the Empty Foxhole features his then 10 year old son on drums. Has to be your cup of tea though...

[Slim]

Days of Wine and Roses was composed for a 1962 film of the same name by Henry Mancini, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It's considered a standard and has been recorded by dozens of artists, including Andy Williams, Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Evans.

This is a lovely version that really gets the mood just right. For me it has to be sad and wistful. Sinatra's version for example is neither of the above - it replaces the melancholy with a sort of jaunty cocked hat and smile vibe that robs the song of its power.