Giants of music equal the Classical greats
The older I get the more jazz I listen to, but it’s always been essential, thanks to an older brother who had Trane and Miles in my ears from an early age.
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It is a mistake to conflate criticism with dislike.
Jazz is powerful, complex and a critical piece of American music history and arguably world music history. (not “World Music”, but the Music of The World)
That said, most Jazz requires a fair amount of sophistication on the part of the listener to enjoy. Jazz rewards deep listening, and often it is more enjoyable to other musicians than to audiences.
Is Jazz good? Absolutely
Is Jazz important? Absolutely
Is Jazz for everyone? Anyone who is willing to put some effort in
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Try this 
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I don’t think any of this “is” important”. It’s very important to me, but it’s fine if it’s completely unimportant to the next person - they’ll live 
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My relatives used to give me quarters to do vocal Satchmo impressions when I was in kindergarten…I would do both trumpet and guttural vocal sounds…it was the 80s motormouth Jones was very popular. Fan since birth
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Saw Julian Lage trio in london this year was fantastic.
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Wow soil and pimp must have been relatively underground then! I saw shacho dj a lot of times while I lived in Japan but never saw the full band unfortunately. Love their music and tons of other j-jazz.
To add to the thread, it was always my theory that herbie hancock invented acid house a decade before anyone else was doing it…
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It’s been said… but I’ll give my version of it.
“Jazz”
Do you mean:
- Kenny G?
- The Comet is Coming?
- Masada?
- Pain Killer?
- 90’s Amon Tobin?
- Miles, Coltrane, Ornette releases in 1959?
- Tortoise?
- Sam Gendel?
It’s wild to me that everything in the above list gets crammed into “one genre”
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squarepusher is jazz. sometimes. and trip hop is sometimes very jazzy but sometimes funk is confused for jazz.
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It’s cultural importance that matters to me. Jazz has had influence across the board far beyond its public impact, and you’d never have had rock and roll, house or techno without jazz first. So it can be important even to people who don’t enjoy it. For example, I can’t stand Bob Dylan but he was a critical influence on musicians I love.
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I like some jazz and blues and played it as a trombone player in high school band.
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Yes, I like 70’s/80/s fusion, modern jazz a lot. It’s great music to me.
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Jazz is amazing. Prepandemic I had a membership at SFJAZZ.
I can’t help but chuckle at how jazz has transitioned from “scary Black people music” to pop music to something for esoteric audiophiles only.
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Lol
Nothing wrong with treating Jazz with reverence.
(Express 27, a supremely cool racing boat from the early ‘80s. Still absolutely kicks butt today on Bay races as well as out to Hawaii)
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Grew up listening to Marian McPartland’s radio show Piano Jazz, it was on for a couple decades or so, i think you can still get the episodes from NPR, highly recommend. Good formula for episodes, alot of live interviews and storytelling with host and guest playing songs to accompany the conversation
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What’s not to like… I surely wish I had even a fraction of the talent of any jazz musician, it’s a primal thing I think, raw and full of examples of the finest nuances in music and human improvisation… I like it a lot…
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Jazz is, it isn’t was. What most confuse as jazz, is just genre.
Jazz is not a genre any more than electronic is- its an approach to music. But unlike electronic music, jazz can’t be conjured up by just pressing buttons and hitting quantize. Jazz is a humility, it is a surrending to music so that it may have autonomy. People think because some who spent 20+ years practicing a instrument every day for hours ( literally) and plays music with other humans in real time, in time and rhythm without any sort of rehearsal, pitch correction or sample kit is arrogant but who is insulting who when it comes to jazz? I am both a multi instrumentalist and electronic musician, I respect both. I am a jazz musician as I seek to discover music, not force my ideas of what it should sound like. Jazz isn’t pop, nor is it consumerism.
Jazz is more like “Bitches Brew” miles Davis, or Brian Blade and the Fellowship, just as examples. Jazz is uncharted, not standard. It’s live and free. It’s a thing most simply don’t understand in this digital age where we consider having and apps on our phone is a skill.
I respect all forms of music- thats what jazz really means. Just as many can’t play a drum kit, many more cannot approach music as in jazz. This isn’t an insult just a observation. We shouldn’t hate on talented people who dedicate their lives to music. We should, as musicians, celebrate the vastness of the music created by jazz musicians.
More funk please.
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The idea that Elektronauts in general dislike jazz seems strange to me. I get the impression that most of the regulars here have more diverse and eclectic tastes, leaning more towards being musical omnivores than anything else.
To me jazz itself is, at its core, chiefly about performance, improvisation, and presence in the moment, seeking through expression that is more often a conversation between multiple participants, but sometimes a solo journey, and a striving for virtuosity.
It’s the improvisational and mostly collaborative aspects of it that I think makes it seem at odds with electronic music, where often a single artist focuses on programming soundscapes.
But middle grounds exist.
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