Jazz Of All Types

Been spinning Junction by Hot Club of Detroit. Modern Gypsy jazz, with saxes and accordion. Wonderful stuff.

Anthony Braxton's "3 Compositions Of New Jazz" is absolutely fantastic, looking forward to delving further into his discography if all his stuff is this good

The local music shop had a used copy of St. Germain's Tourist in the clearance rack for $0.99. Bought that sucker without hesitation. Very good stuff.

That Thelonious Monk was one genius.

I love this version of "Pannonica":

Thelonious is great.

Hey, which is better? Playing a song flawlessly? Or botching a song big-time and then improvising a recovery?

Because Ella Fitzgerald's first ever performance of "Mack the Knife" is one of the greatest things ever.

Both are pretty awesome, especially since they both require an amazing degree of skill that I could probably never convincingly pull off.

I kind of appreciate jazz without wholly understanding it, or even liking it much. But I can sense that there's something there that's worth understanding and liking, but just out of my grasp. People whose brains and tastes I trust confirm this. So I keep returning to the XM jazz station, sometimes irritated, sometimes bemused, sometimes blank ... hoping that something in my ears or my brain will eventually click, and I'll suddenly hear what it is that jazz fans hear.

It's the same story with classical music. What Shaffer's Salieri was to composition, I am to musical appreciation: I'm just sharp enough to usually recognize when music is good, but lack whatever it is you need to understand, enjoy, or benefit from why it's good.

Well, in the interest of finding something that clicks with you, what type of jazz does the XM station usually play? And what other genres of music do you listen to? What stuff do you like, rather than listening to out of a sense of obligation?

It's usually the hardcore bop tracks, or music not far from it: Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Ellington, Parker, etc. I find I prefer it to the electrified fusion stuff and most '40s large bands. The music I actually like is a grievously mixed bag: all over the map from Gilbert & Sullivan, to prog-rock, to metal, to standard-issue '90s alt stuff. On the other hand, I'm not 100% sure that I actually "appreciate" even the above in the way that competent musical ears would.

I'm somewhat different from, well, most of you all because I prefer jazz from the 20s and early 30s. At that point it was still rhythmic dance music. I also like gypsy jazz and Slim Gaillard but that's it. (Did anyone else know Slim Gaillard wrote "Down By the Station?")

After 1935 there isn't much that interests me except for what I mentioned. (I'd have said Raymond Scott, but I'm not sure he counts as jazz since not much of his stuff was improvised.) I REALLY don't like swing, and everything after that is too obtuse for me.

But I LOVE the early stuff - Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong, even the Original Dixieland Jazz Band...

I got into jazz pretty recently, with Django Reinhardt as my gateway drug.

Other artists I've given a spin so far are Miles Davis (specifically Kind of Blue), Fats Waller, Jimmy Smith and... well, I guess some of Ray Charles's material can be classified as jazz.

Aw yeah, Django Reinhardt and Jimmy Smith are good stuff.

I'm not that big a fan of Miles, but he's good. It's kind of crazy how much ground he covered in his career. Birth of the Cool, Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain, and Bitches Brew all sound wildly different from each other.

Ah, yes, Django Reinhardt. I'll agree he was great, but I really love Stephane Grappelli's playing. Really great jazz violin music.

In fact, jazz violin music from that period is really good - Joe Venuti, Stuff Smith... All great, rhythmic music.

Grappelli is wonderful. I've got a few of his. A live album with Dave Grisman, and Jalousie which is him and Yehudi Menuhin covering 30s pop tunes.