I've been a dedicated jazz listener since about the age of twenty. A friend asked me to play in his small combo, we had some rehearsals at my house, and we'd sit around and listen to various jazz albums. That was the “real” beginning.
That first gig was tough. The piano player and guitarist didn't show up and I was forced to play with only drums and bass. Man, that was a strange night and I wonder what the people in the audience were thinking. Well, that was my first attempt to really dabble with playing jazz.
I still play on occasion. It's tough to keep up my chops since I don't practice enough but since I know enough about the music to handle a conversation, the music has made life more pleasant especially when finding people who also enjoy the music.
What is jazz? Most people say it's nonsense and musicians throwing out random shit. But once you put two and two together, you realize that the stuff is about as complex as it gets. It takes years to perfect your sound and create tolerable phrases/ideas. And what other music is there, where a small number of people can get together, suddenly without a rehearsal, and make things happen – meaning, a song being started and finished. It's really magical when you think about it.
In the summer of 1998, I had a pretty decent paying summer job and I was able to blow money on jazz albums. Of course, I had to buy up as many BlueNote albums from the 60's as I could but the cds that really blew me away the most were the mid-60's Miles Davis albums with Tony Williams, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Ron Carter. I can still remember pressing the play button on the cd and hearing the mysterious sounds of The Sorcerer. Basically there's nothing like this kind of music. Spontaneous, serious and sophisticated to the max. It's a group that was capable of reading each other's minds. There'll never be another group like this again.
This wasn't the first time I listened to jazz though.
I do remember putting on the earphones full blast before going to bed every night listening to Monk's Dream. At that time I never realized how strange Monk's dissonance was. I guess I just appreciated the swing of things.
I remember buying a Wynton Marsalis album when I was 17. The album had a “Peanuts” (the comic strip) theme and the tunes were easy to listen to but there was nothing jaw dropping about each song.
I started to listen to Wynton Marsalis's Black Codes when I was 19. I enjoyed the performances a lot while driving on the highway, taking my at-that-time girlfriend home. That stuff was over my head and it started to open up my ears but it didn't give me the proper direction to what other albums to buy.
I wonder why it took me so long to click in to why this music's so great. I guess it's all about who's around you. When I was 20, my friend got me in the right direction and it's been 14 years since I started to listen to jazz seriously.
Since coming to Japan I've been to countless jazz concerts (mostly at the bar down the street from my house (http://lazybird-groovy.com/). I do wonder what I get out of these concerts at times... how should I listen to the music? What's the best way to appreciate these performances? Many years later these thoughts still run through my mind.
How tight is the group? Are the musicians playing interesting phrases? Are they listening to each other and feeding off each other? How does the musicians go out of the box and get back in? What kind of tunes are they playing and how interesting are these “original” tunes? Dynamics? Drama? What kind of story are the musicians trying to create?
I guess these are some ways to appreciate the music... but that goes for any kind of music.
Who knows when I'll figure out the music but when that day comes please slap or kick me in the face. I always want to be surprised with music until I take my last breath.
