jazz music pain points

“The instruments just kind of sound random when I listen to Miles or Coltrane and I have no idea how to listen to these artists.”

“For some reason this is the genre that confuses me the most, even after I’ve tried listening to a variety of artists that do different subgenres.”

“I seem to like jazz casually but I can't really get into it. How do I change that?”

“I've been getting into Jazz, I'm quite fascinated by it and desperate to get decent at it but struggle to find any recordings I really dig.”

“I figure this is because I don't have enough experience to properly appreciate the music; I find it hard to process.”

“But I notice when I go back to the classics like Kind of Blue or stuff around that era, I can't help but imagine myself sitting in a doctors office or riding an elevator.”

“I find it hard for me to find an album that is purely instrumental that I enjoy, especially the big band jazz.”

“Jazz is sometimes complex in harmony and rhythm, and most people grown up with simple music like me.”

“I struggle with strictly because of their sound and tone are: 1. Jackie McLean 2. Pepper Adams 3. Thelonious Monk 3. Ornette Coleman”

“For those who listen a lot to jazz, what in it grips you? What do you look for in a good jazz song?”

“Honestly I think you should just start with the easiest stuff. Try to listen to “take five” or some miles Davis.”

“I would love to have some recommandations!”

“I figure this is because I don't have enough experience to properly appreciate the music; I find it hard to process.”

“Are there any good just getting into the genre kind of albums I could listen to that are good for new listeners?”

“I've always enjoyed listening to music whenever I heard it , whether its in movies or shows etc. I just don't know how to get into it because I guess it's not so mainstream? Where do I start, what artists would you recommend, do I listen to classic jazz or modern jazz (if that's the correct term?)?”

“I personally began my foray into jazz with Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” because it was easy to listen to but still captivating.”

“I'd start with modern jazz artists. Older jazz can be harder to appreciate because you might not be ready for the shift in recording techniques or instrumentation.”

“I'm very curious to see what other people think and who other people can’t seem to find a taste for.”

“I listen to a few composers so I know it’s not the entire lack of vocals that is bothering me.”

“I enjoy Chet Baker and Michael Franks but that type of stuff is more mainstream and vocal.”

“I find it hard for me to find an album that is purely instrumental that I enjoy, especially the big band jazz.”

“I do like jazz, but mainly when someone is singing while playing.”

“I seem to like jazz casually but I can't really get into it. How do I change that?”

“I like a lot of genres such as those within rock, pop, and electronia, and I regularly lean to indie and alternative but this is ofc a very broad paintbrush do idk if it says much lol”

“I have been listening to jazz quite a lot for the past 10 years or so, so I think I have finally come to a point where I can understand who I like and who I don’t.”

“I'm fascinated by Jazz harmony and improvisation, I wanted to incorporate more jazzy progressions into my music.”

“It’s improvisation so it must be jazz, which is a false statement. Every genre regardless of composition vs improvisation has its own rules, structures, language, that makes it loosely what it is.”

“What feels good about this? It's the creativity of watching each player take the basic structure of the song and create something completely new, something that'll never happen quite the same way ever again, but still sounds as if it was always part of the original song.”

“The imagination, pure and simple. Sure, a lot of other things go into that--chemistry among the musicians, technicality, etc--but in my assessment, it's all ingredients in imagination.”

“But what you’re ignoring is the context which is how jazz is based in large part on improvisation Music theory plays a part so you can call that a rule but a lot of people I’ve learned how to bend these rules or break them and sound incredible”

“Because there was a creativity to the improvisation in jazz that I wasn’t getting elsewhere musically and it gave me a lot of joy and fueled my own creativity.”

“Possibly unpopular opinion: contrary to its reputation, jazz is all about rules and formal structure”

“I've been trying to learn jazz guitar and piano recently, and the more time I spend learning about playing it, the more I am realizing that despite its popular conception as a freewheeling, anything-goes improvisational funhouse of a genre, most jazz actually follows pretty strict rules around form and content and has fairly rigid guidelines around what's "right".”

“There are exceptions (notably in the free jazz and avant garde spaces) but overall, it feels like jazz is MORE formalized and stricter than many other genres, which is kind of funny given the fact that popular culture likes to present it as being the exact opposite.”

“If you really stick with it, in a year or two, it will be (almost) as easy as soloing over the blues for you.”

“The most ignorant thing is hearing musicians half ass jazz and then say stuff like "it's just improvising" or "it's just 2-5's".”

“Here are a couple jazz musicians I struggle with strictly because of their sound and tone are: 1. Jackie McLean 2. Pepper Adams 3. Thelonious Monk 3. Ornette Coleman”

“I get what you mean about Jackie McLean -- his tone is not pretty, and he often plays sharp.”

“Trane played the soprano in a manner that is halfway between duduk / oboe and an insufferably insistent car horn.”

“My controversial, or not, opinion is that soprano sax just isn't a pleasant sounding instrument in a traditional sense.”

“That may be true, but his tone on the sax just isn’t for me. I wouldn’t call it hate - I have one of his LPs and I dig it, but the rest I struggle with.”

“I was first introduced to it via big bands in the background of a majority of tv shows, and then later discovered Jelly Roll Morton, then discovered Mose Allison via The Who, then Django and Miles and Mahavishnu.”

“I started with fusion because I was listening to prog and experimental rock and expanded from there.”

“I started on alto sax when about 9 years old. I remember hearing Chick Corea’s three quartets when I was around 13-14 and absolutely felt like my ears would bleed out.”

“I've always enjoyed listening to jazz music whenever I heard it , whether its in movies or shows etc.”

“I came to Jazz by way of Funk. I listened to a lot of Funk because I appreciated the musicianship and tightness of the players, and I finally got around to checking out Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, which was Funk but very Jazz-oriented.”

“I've been trying to learn jazz guitar and piano recently, and the more time I spend learning about playing it, the more I am realizing that despite its popular conception as a freewheeling, anything-goes improvisational funhouse of a genre, most jazz actually follows pretty strict rules around form and content and has fairly rigid guidelines around what's "right".”

“I struggled with this when I went for my masters degree in jazz guitar performance. I remember about 6 weeks in returning home to my wife and saying “I feel like I don’t even know how to play this fucking thing” despite the fact I had been playing for 25 years at that point.”

“The jazz most people know is very structured yet still heavily improvised. Those musicians improvising have to play to that song still”

“I feel like I'm trying hard to get into something which isn't for me.”

“But I notice when I go back to the classics like Kind of Blue or stuff around that era, I can't help but imagine myself sitting in a doctors office or riding an elevator.”