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klook

(12,909 posts)
Fri May 20, 2011, 02:02 PM May 2011

Jazz lovers: What brought you to the music?

For me, it started with osmosis. My parents had records by Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck, and I liked what I heard.

Later, in high school, a classmate told me I should check out this trumpet player named Miles Davis. "Miles....Davis," I said dutifully, writing that down in my notebook.

I went to the local public library and found Miles Smiles and Miles in the Sky. When I listened to these records, I discovered new sonic worlds. A kind of fevered urgency came over me, and I had to hear more.



That was the real beginning for me. Since then I've had many happy years of discovering, listening, and sharing jazz music.

What's your story?

17 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Jazz lovers: What brought you to the music? (Original Post) klook May 2011 OP
for me, discovering the ECM jazz label from friends while in grad school in 1979-82... NRaleighLiberal Dec 2011 #1
I have spent a lot of happy hours listening to ECM recordings also klook Dec 2011 #6
You may find both these links of interest. NRaleighLiberal Dec 2011 #10
I play bass. Twinguard Dec 2011 #2
Wonderful klook Dec 2011 #7
I was locked up for about 18 months when I was a kid - cliffordu Dec 2011 #3
Fantastic klook Dec 2011 #5
Tap Dancing. I started when I was six. immoderate Dec 2011 #4
Wow, cool klook Dec 2011 #8
I saw a dance group perform to "Unsquare Dance" Brubeck's 7/4 tune. immoderate Dec 2011 #11
Sidney Bechet on a 45rpm EP vinyl playing Les Onions in Paris dipsydoodle Dec 2011 #9
Something interesting you might appreciate.. dixiegrrrrl Jan 2012 #15
Yes - same number dipsydoodle Jan 2012 #16
Miles Davis and Naked City. ZombieHorde Dec 2011 #12
Rhapsody in Blue ocpagu Dec 2011 #13
Weather Report... PoiBoy Dec 2011 #14
I'd be rather atypical, I think malthaussen Jan 2012 #17

NRaleighLiberal

(60,560 posts)
1. for me, discovering the ECM jazz label from friends while in grad school in 1979-82...
Wed Dec 7, 2011, 04:46 PM
Dec 2011

Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, Tomacz Stanko, Kenny Wheeler, Ralph Towner, Jan Garbarek - it's been an incredible journey (not that I don't have equivalent addictions to some classical and rock!)

klook

(12,909 posts)
6. I have spent a lot of happy hours listening to ECM recordings also
Mon Dec 12, 2011, 11:10 PM
Dec 2011

I was overjoyed recently to find "The Colours of Chloe" by Eberhard Weber on eMusic.com.

Have you heard "Rosensfole" by Garbarek with vocals by Agnes Buen Garnas? That's a gorgeously mysterious album of medieval Norwegian folk songs -- just amazing. Perfect winter listening.

NRaleighLiberal

(60,560 posts)
10. You may find both these links of interest.
Tue Dec 13, 2011, 08:38 AM
Dec 2011
http://ecmreviews.com/

the above is a work in progress for Tyran Grillo to review each and every ECM release.

http://speakeasy.jazzcorner.com/speakeasy/forumdisplay.php?f=71

is a discussion group centered on ECM - Steve Lake from ECM posts here and you can ask questions.

I love all of Weber's stuff - my favorite is Silent Feet.

And I have all of Garbarek as well - love Rosenfole!

Twinguard

(531 posts)
2. I play bass.
Wed Dec 7, 2011, 05:43 PM
Dec 2011

I started out by playing rock and metal, but I quickly grew tired of it. I decided I needed something more from my playing, so I branched out into jazz and funk.

Now, I mainly listen to jazz, jazz-inspired, and progressive musics.

klook

(12,909 posts)
7. Wonderful
Mon Dec 12, 2011, 11:13 PM
Dec 2011

So who are your fave bassists? From your self description, I'm guessing you might like Marcus Miller and maybe Kai Eckhardt.

Do you also like jazz-funk guitarists like John Scofield, Charlie Hunter, and Will Bernard? Those guys are some of my favorites.

cliffordu

(30,994 posts)
3. I was locked up for about 18 months when I was a kid -
Wed Dec 7, 2011, 11:31 PM
Dec 2011

One of the "counselors" where I lived had a whole collection of Miles and Coltrane and Monk.

Used to play them on the phono for those ready to listen......

Changed my life.

Miles:

"Salt peanuts",

Well you needn't"

Coltrane:

A Love Supreme -

Kulu Se Mama

And then my personal hero - Thelonious Monk.

Anything he ever wrote or performed.......

In fact I am listening to Epistrophy, right now.....

klook

(12,909 posts)
5. Fantastic
Mon Dec 12, 2011, 11:05 PM
Dec 2011

Those guys are three of my main musical touchstones. Like you, I consider Monk my personal hero.

Have you checked out The Jazz Loft Project (www.jazzloftproject.org)? There are incredible photos and recordings of many great musicians of the 1950s and '60s, including Monk leading rehearsals for the seminal 1959 Town Hall Concert. Robin Kelley's biography of Monk is also a great read.

I personally know two people whose lives were literally saved by listening to John Coltrane's music. For me, his music (especially the recordings with the "Classic Quartet" featuring McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones) has been profoundly inspiring.

Miles Davis is the artist who, more than any other, led me to begin drinking deeply from the eternal spring that is jazz. I continue to enjoy music from every one of his "periods," and am amazed at how fresh he and his bands continue to sound.

 

immoderate

(20,885 posts)
4. Tap Dancing. I started when I was six.
Fri Dec 9, 2011, 01:45 PM
Dec 2011

And searching for instrumental tracks through stacks of 45s, I came across a wide variety of jazz and near jazz performances. Some of them were by Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Stan Kenton, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, and Glenn Miller. By the time I was adolescent, I already had a collection of albums, Miles, Oscar, Kenton, Duke, Brubeck were some of my early favorites. Monk, Ellington, Coltrane, Dolphy, Mingus, and most post boppers are the pillars of my view of jazz. But I keep some Django, and Tatum around for nostalgia, and switch to bossa nova for rhythm change.

As a small child, I got some pop and semi classical available in the early 50s. I particular remember a percussive twin piano version of Ravel's Bolero on 12 inch 78s. But the most transformative encounter was hearing Louis Jordan and the Tympani Five being blasted from the outdoor speakers of a record store. I was three years old, and I had to dance. That's when I got hooked on syncopated rhythm.

--imm

klook

(12,909 posts)
8. Wow, cool
Mon Dec 12, 2011, 11:17 PM
Dec 2011

I experience jazz music on a visceral level also, though I am no dancer!

Your interests mesh closely with a lot of mine. Have you also enjoyed the odd meter excursions of Brubeck and others? (E.g., the tunes in 5/4, 9/8, etc. on "Time Out" and "Time Further Out.&quot I always wondered if one could dance to those unusual time signatures. It seems it should be possible, although challenging because it goes against the grain of what we're taught is "normal" -- mostly 4/4 and 3/4.

 

immoderate

(20,885 posts)
11. I saw a dance group perform to "Unsquare Dance" Brubeck's 7/4 tune.
Tue Dec 13, 2011, 09:14 AM
Dec 2011

I am happy enough in 4 and 3. I play in a drum circle and we mess around in 5/4 sometimes. It's hard for most to do, and goes against the "easy goin'" attitude we usually play with.

Don Ellis also did some interesting time signature experiments.

Brubeck was the first concert I went to as a teenager. It was 1961, at Island Garden in Hempstead NY. My date had already seen him in concert and dragged me back stage to meet the group. Joe Morello was (and still is) my favorite drummer. And they were all nice guys. I really liked "Far More Blue."

--imm

dipsydoodle

(42,239 posts)
9. Sidney Bechet on a 45rpm EP vinyl playing Les Onions in Paris
Tue Dec 13, 2011, 08:37 AM
Dec 2011


That was 1957 for my 14th birthday and I've never looked back - just love the stuff.

Another killer track here :



Just listen to that soprano sax sing. Good dance track that one.

dixiegrrrrl

(60,011 posts)
15. Something interesting you might appreciate..
Sun Jan 1, 2012, 04:44 PM
Jan 2012

Woody Allen has a new film out, Midnight in Paris, and the long long opening is Bechet playing
Si Tu Vois Ma Mere.
Well, it was very familiar to me, and I thought and thought and guess what?
My favorite neo-jazz artist, Tim Laughlin, has it on an album, but calls the title "lonesome".

Here is Tim's version, unfortunately only at a live performance, not as pristine as his albums
( I have his 3 best albums)



the train whistle in the back ground is Sooooo southern.

dipsydoodle

(42,239 posts)
16. Yes - same number
Sun Jan 1, 2012, 05:18 PM
Jan 2012

Bit cheeky that. Bit like Charlie Poole remaming Hesitation Blues as If the river was whisky........and I was a duck.

Saw Woody Allen play live here in the UK about 8 years ago - he's good. He's very serious when he performs with little or no humour.

Your ID always reminds me of the music.

Happy New Year.

 

ocpagu

(1,954 posts)
13. Rhapsody in Blue
Wed Dec 14, 2011, 10:51 PM
Dec 2011

By Gershwin. First time I went to an opera house.

My father used to play records of Louis Armstrong. But I only got interested in jazz after being enchanted by Rhapsody in Blue.

Started researching, listening and got addicted to jazz.

PoiBoy

(1,559 posts)
14. Weather Report...
Tue Dec 20, 2011, 05:14 PM
Dec 2011

Back in the day, I was a hard rocker... a member of one of the top original rock groups in our area... sell out shows, lines around the block.. sex, drugs and a total rock and roll lifestyle...

on one of our very rare days off, we all decided to check out a concert at the University...

The 1973 version of Weather Report, featuring Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Miroslav Vitous, with Gregg Errico on Drums, Airto on Percussion, and Flora Purim on vocals...

that show was absolutely stunning, and that concert changed my life... the musicianship.. and the creativity... was ethereal...!









malthaussen

(17,772 posts)
17. I'd be rather atypical, I think
Thu Jan 5, 2012, 05:53 PM
Jan 2012

My university station at the time played jazz 24/7 with no commercials. I loved the no commercials part, and started loving the music as a consequence. We were also fortunate in having the late Harrison Ridley Jr's show broadcast on the station every week, and listening to it gave me a great appreciation of the music, the musicians, and the history.

-- Mal

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