How do I go about writing about jazz music? I’m not totally sure but I’m positive this will sound foolish to people who actually know about these things. I do not know how to play any instruments and I am mystified by how music is made. To me it is all magic. My love for jazz music is in its wide spectrum of this magic. If I can try to compare rock music to jazz it’s comparing a lake to an ocean in matters of complexity and sophistication. Jazz can be sophisticated and I love it, when rock music gets sophisticated it is by and large boring like the fans that prefer it. On the other hand jazz can be primal and raw and I love it, when rock music is raw I love it but have a hard time finding others that share the sentiment. I spend more time listening to genres rooted in rock because it is more containable, even in its vastness. Jazz is a great ocean of sound and style that too many stay away from because they fear the unknown.
Come take a cruise past the shallow sewage waters of Kenny G, past the easy waters of Frank Sinatra (I like Sinatra, but there’s so much more!) and adventure on into musical landscapes and strange sonic weather. You may get lost in my descriptions of music when I metaphorically speak of pretend lands, but bear with me, and try to keep up. Are you here/hear to go on an adventure or to get your diaper changed? Finally, if you are a musician or you know about jazz, cut me a break, I’m doing the best I can with what I know. I won’t be defining or even explaining what technically makes the genre in musical terms. Again, it is all magic to me. Kind of like having a caveman explain how a television works.
Standards
Not far from the shores of my musical consciousness lies a tourist trap island with a few spots that are worth getting off of the boat and exploring. It may be a popular destination but is absolutely worth visiting nevertheless.
Before I considered even exploring jazz I was enticed by the allure of Sinatra. The cocky swagger in the way he sang makes movie scenes cool and the songs send you into a time which may or may not existed. If jazz meant swanky nightclubs full of martinis, dames aplenty, and smoking that only made you look awesome and not give you cancer, than I could at least pretend to like jazz. Movies made me like Sinatra and the idea of jazz music being cool and classy. This was reinforced by the film ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’, which features jazz music as a focal part of the story. Throughout there is a contrast of classical music and jazz. Jazz is made to look incredibly hip and progressive, so now that is sealed in my mind as the truth. This ushered in my next discovery. The film ‘Good Night And Good Luck’ had a fantastic soundtrack by Dianne Reeves, who actually appears throughout singing this collection of jazz standards. This got my attention and pushed me into a new music direction. The great American songbook is a great place to start for the great American art form. I would recommend as a soft introduction to jazz music to pick up the soundtrack to ‘Good Night And Good Luck’ or a Frank Sinatra collection of hits.
Bebop & Cool
As we sail further out into the musical landscape we start to lose words and replace them with musical notes. This music to the untrained ear may just sound like pleasant background music suitable for a guys poker night (which it absolutely can be used for) but is actually evolved and realized pop music. To one simple set of ears it may sound simply charming and to another more mature set sound altogether satisfying. Everyone should visit this island.
Even before my newfound discovery of Frank Sinatra I was exposed to Miles Davis’s classic ‘Kind Of Blue’ by way of Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest albums of all time list. ‘Kind Of Blue’ is ranked 12th best of all time, and when your only exposure up to that point in your life is that irrelevant magazine you are convinced that it’s gospel. That list came out around Christmas time my senior year of high school, and its description of the beauty of the album sold me on getting my own copy. To me it was just classy background music, not carefully composed masterpieces. Over time with continued listening it stopped being random horn blowing and started becoming songs I could remember. It wasn’t until 3 years later that I took a jazz history class at Front Range Community Collage that I would learn about how jazz worked and had an explanation for what I was listening too. I read about the etymology of jazz and was fascinated. ‘Kind Of Blue’ fell into the category of Cool Jazz. It is a perfect description, so cool that words aren’t even necessary anymore.
The next bridge built that I would cross over was the sound of Bebop, the predecessor of Cool. In a week several names would come into my awareness; Dizzy Giliespi, Charlie Parker, Dave Brubeck, Herbie Hancock. I had a lot to listen to. To say that it became my sole focus musically would not be true, it has taken me a few years to gain appreciation for these and several other talented musicians and albums. As I explored this island I came upon the most beautiful of waterfalls in The Dave Brubeck Quartet’s ‘Time Out’. If one is going to give this music a chance at all then this would be the album I would recommend. This album will always have a special place in my heart because it was the album that my wife and I listened to all the way through twice the night before we went to the hospital to have my oldest daughter.
As I wandered around I discovered another landmark that almost seemed out of place on this vast island. I came to a dark cave dimly lit with lanterns and became hypnotized by the sound of Gabor Szabo. The song ‘Mizrab’ was featured on an Impulse! Records compilation I had picked up and lured me into away into unfamiliar yet fascinating territory. Szabo’s album ‘The Sorcerer’ was near impossible to find, but when I happened upon the coolest record store I’ve ever been too (Strictly Discs in Madison, Wisconsin) I was able to find a used cd. By name dropping Gabor Szabo I also gained access to explore a catacombs like basement of used vinyl the quality of which I have not seen before or after. That’s a true story, the clerk had just rejected a customer who asked to explore the basement minutes before, but took me on a tour because I was a music fan. Szabo’s Eastern European guitar take on American jazz is absolutely a must visit attraction. The last spot to not miss is Herbie Hancock’s ‘Maiden Voyage’. A beautifully played opus created in honor of the ocean. Listen to it if you are ever on a real cruise, listen to it if you are taking this imaginary cruise I’ve been creating.
Big Band & Swing
I saw ‘The Glenn Miller Story’ in 7th grade during choir class. I thought Jimmy Stewart was trying to be funny, but it turns out he just talked that way all the time. It wasn’t until the catalyst of my jazz history class that I gave a chance to Big Band & Swing. Music has always been a connection point for me to others, so if anyone can vocalize an appreciation of music to me I will often give their opinion a chance.
The biggest magnets to this music for me have been my father in law and my grandma. If you mention music to my grandma she says the same thing every time, ‘the music today is horrible. They all have weird names like the shimmy shammy’s or something horrible. Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman… they were great.’ It’s some of the only common ground we have when it comes to music. At first approach I was just visiting to be diplomatic but then decided to make it a frequent destination. So to me this island is a very friendly, welcoming environment. Not necessarily challenging in its ease of sound, but close listening reveals that there is a lot going on. Like coming upon a large blue lagoon with a pastoral landscape of perfectly placed trees you might think ‘this must be a man made feature.’ As you get close to the water of this lagoon you see too many life forms to count, colorful fish and exotic plants that make you realize ‘this is a wonder of creation!’ Glenn Miller is among my favorite of the big band leaders, probably because of the movie I referenced earlier. The songs sound so American to me; probably because I’ve heard their usage at 4th of July celebrations or in scenes of America in the 1940’s. I also enjoy the gentleness of Miller’s music, it’s almost as if someone were breathing. I often play my ‘The Unforgettable Glenn Miller’ compilation when guests are over to evoke a lighthearted mood.
Buddy Rich is another one of my favorites from the genre worth checking out. More complex than the music that soundtracked WW2 are the two albums of Rich’s that I am familiar with, ‘Swingin’ New Big Band’ and ‘Big Swing Face’, both recorded in the 1960’s. My father in law had told me a fabled story of the greatness of Rich’s rendition of a West Side Story medley. I researched what album it would be on, called my favorite record store, and found a copy of the album ‘Swingin’ New Big Band’ for 3 bucks. It’s incredible, like a similar lagoon which I already described but with deeper water, more jagged rocks, and fancy mai tai’s.
A more recent feature on the island is a retro restaurant that serves it up right. You get a Gatsby like feel when you walk in because the waitresses are dressed like flappers and they use 1920’s jargon. Take a break and listen to Roxy Music songs turned into Dixieland era jazz with The Bryan Ferry Orchestra’s ‘The Jazz Age’, which to me is a great companion piece to listen to while reading ‘The Great Gatsby.’
The last album and artist I want to highlight is ‘Ellington At Newport’, which I found for a buck at an unlikely thrift store. I have a greatest hits of Duke Ellington, which is great; but this album is another level. It’s a hot one, like a hot spring that should be visited at night when it get’s chilly. If you happen to visit this wonderful destination, send me a postcard!
Free & Avant-Garde
The water grows darker, the waves more violent, and you just might run into a sea dragon. This territory is not for the faint of heart and is certainly not for the dim-witted. It is reserved for adventurers and the brilliant; and the recklessly ignorant who just love noise. I’m speaking of my favorite sub-genre’s of jazz music: Free & Avant Garde. As history goes, Free Form was born out of bebop. Or rather it was spawned from the dissatisfaction of the barriers and limitations of bebop and standard jazz. As long as we are on this fantasy trip, will you travel with me into a new dimension? Water is a different substance here; sometimes so clear that you can see for miles and sometimes so dark that you’re looking into midnight itself. Waves crash into the boat and cascade over the deck where you are strapped to the mast. Animals can talk! The island is constantly changing shape because it is alive itself. To those who embrace this territory it is a fantasyland where dreams come to life; to those who are afraid of life this is a nightmare in every sense of the word. If my description even raises curiosity in you come and visit. It’s understandable that many steer clear, an island without hard and fast rules seems like lawlessness. Just come for short visits before you buy a summer cottage.
My first visit to dreamland was in the fall of 2006, again because of this fateful college class. My jazz history teacher encouraged me to listen to the classic Free Form album ‘A Love Supreme’ by John Coltrane. I borrowed a copy from the Loveland library and listened intently. Within 2 minutes I was in love. Every paper I wrote for that class became about that album. Initially my copy came from the library and was put on my iPod. I eventually got a sweet copy of it on vinyl. It must have sounded so revolutionary in 1965 when it came out because it still sounds more exciting and lively than most anything that comes out today. It’s a wild one, but it just gets wilder from there.
Ken Burn’s Jazz documentary spoke of an artist named Ornette Coleman. Everything it described about him was appealing to me, but two things forced me to check it out. One- he used Jackson Pollock in his cover art (one of the only artist’s I know); Two- he had an album called ‘The Shape Of Jazz To Come’. One of my favorite albums of all time is Refused ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’, and I didn’t even know they were referencing a jazz classic. If it was cool to them than it would be cool to me. Of course I had to go get it on vinyl, eventually. It was a correct title for the album, that for jazz to stay relevant and groundbreaking it would have to change directions and break conventional rules. The Ornette Coleman album that I initially discovered was one called ‘At The “Golden Circle” Stockholm Volume 2’. I found it rummaging through a discount bin of the Virgin Megastore in Denver. Prolonged notes and out of nowhere time changes made it feel like Ornette was taking jazz and stretching it in a taffy puller, then melting it over the embers of tradition. I really love his work.
I continued to find as much Coltrane and Ornette as I could get my hands on. My wife got me a copy of Coltrane’s ‘Giant Steps’ and I found a box set called ‘Coltrane In Europe’ where he stretches his rendition of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s ‘My Favorite Things’ everywhere between 13 minutes and 27 minutes. I found a copy of Ornette’s ‘The Art Of The Improvisers’ at my favorite record store in Madison, Wisconsin and through the years have become accustomed to more and more of his wild music. Music from both Coltrane and Ornette made me more open minded when it came to music in general and opened doors to other music that were previously closed (which I’ll cover in a little bit when we go to our next destination.)
As I searched the island I came upon incredible treasures. I found a stream of water that looked quiet and arcadian, so I took a break and tried to find rest for my soul. The stream became a rushing river moments later and forced me to wake and watch this miracle of nature. Suddenly it transformed again into a different kind of stream that poured into a wide abyss where you see sunken pirate ships from another age. It depends on when you arrive and where along the shore you camp what you’ll see.
As I experienced more Avant Garde jazz music the two artists that stuck out the most to me and taken me on grand adventures have been Matthew Shipp and John Zorn. I discovered Matthew Shipp by browsing through the jazz albums at the library. Shipp’s album ‘The Art Of The Improviser’ (shares the name of the great Ornette Coleman album) was such an enjoyable listen for me because of the contrast in what sounded like angry piano pounding to the gentle brushing of the keys. I purchased a copy of the album ‘I’ve Been To Many Places’ when I saw a review where I didn’t expect it (Pitchfork sometimes covers jazz I guess.) It’s just Shipp playing piano; and it’s a madhouse of music. The original compositions are incredible, but his cover of ‘Where Is The Love’ is exceptionally brilliant. I discovered John Zorn by way of Wikipedia, when I went down a rabbit trail searching out crazy music. The description of what Zorn created sold me and I purchased his album ‘Naked City’ on iTunes. It’s unlistenable for closed minds. It’s a masterpiece for lovers of the insane. A fitting tribute of Ornette’s ‘Lonely Woman’ is found here, updated appropriately for the genre. In it’s most accessible moments songs can be heard and appreciated by most, but if you stay around too long you’ll be hit with it’s most abstract noisy moments. Contrast the songs ‘A Shot In The Dark’ and ‘Reanimator’ to get the picture I’m trying to paint. Come to this island if you dare!
Electronic & Evolved
The next place we are headed to is actually located in the sky. You have to take special flying boats to get to Cloud City. Once there, it’s similar to other places we have visited, but updated in a futuristic way. Like if you were to visit the land and time of the Jetsons. This isn’t one genre but a wide collection of genre’s, but for the sake of this article we’ll refer to it as Electronic & Evolved. Artists like dZihan & Kamien, David Holmes (Oceans 11 soundtrack) and St Germain are very enjoyable, people who don’t necessarily like jazz can enjoy them. It’s a mix of contemporary jazz and house music, perfect to score a variety of ‘cool’ movie scenes. dZihan & Kamien’s ‘Gran Reserva’ and St Germaine’s ‘Tourist’ play on the radio as you take a hovercraft tour of Cloud City.
If you tip your robot tour guide an extra 10 credits he’ll give you the password to get into ultra cool clubs. It seems to be the descendants of John Coltrane and Miles Davis have taken residency here hundreds of years in the future. Quite literally actually, Electronic artist Flying Lotus is the nephew of Coltrane. Flying Lotus doesn’t play saxophone or make traditional music, he takes the spirit of discovery and creates new sounds using computers and keyboards. Drumming is at hyper speed, bass is played with fury, songs melt into one another. Albums ‘You’re Dead’ and ‘Until The Quiet Comes’ would have been fun to show jazz fans in the the 1960’s, like if you could show 1960’s Star Trek fans modern day cell phones. Mind-blowing music! Same goes for the artist known as Squarepusher. At first listen it was all too much for me to handle, but when given patient attention you can realize the genius of this man. ‘Hello Everything’ is a great album of some of his more accessible music, but a mix album a friend from high school made me is my favorite. I had to ask Siri to name all the tracks for me so I could actually know what they were called. I would also like to draw your attention to Aphex Twin, who I’m not sure would categorize his music as jazz. To me it sounds like the progression of ideas brought forth by Ornette Coleman, and Aphex Twin’s ‘Syro’ is a great example of jazz that is fresh and not rehashed. (Of course ‘Selected Ambient Works 85-92’ and ‘Richard D. James Album’ are revered by many, but ‘Syro’ came out when I was aware of who Aphex Twin was.) Flying Lotus, Squarepusher and Aphex Twin are three artists out of thousands making forward thinking music. They didn’t invent it and they probably haven’t perfected it. I just felt like when I stumbled into their year 2517 AD nightclubs that I enjoyed myself and could encourage other travelers to pay them a visit.
World Music
There is one final destination I would like to bring us to, and since we have traveled far beyond a comfort level for some travelers that we should go to a place a little bit calmer than the fantasy lands we have just been. We have docked and we can walk off of our boat into a colorful inviting land with exquisite cuisine and beautiful people. I speak of World Music, jazz from places other than America. There are Americans that live here but they have integrated and shared themselves to this land. To say that I know enough about jazz from around the world (or jazz of any kind) is absurd and not at all what I am trying to convey. I’ve just visited and had such a great time that I want to encourage others to come as well. Some of the greatest restaurants in the galaxy are located here. There is a fantastic album of Cuban musicians called ‘Buena Vista Social Club’, the soundtrack to the film of the same name. Come salsa dance and sip a mojito with me! Then we’ll jet to this sweet Bossa Nova neighborhood and go to a landmark building where we’ll groove to the sounds of Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto’s ‘Getz/Gilberto’. 40 stories up a light pastry called pao de queijo (a cheese bread I had at a Brazilian steak house once) will be eaten as we lounge and look out on this vast cities many neighborhoods. The albums ‘Buena Vista Social Club’ and ‘Getz/Gilberto’ are both fantastic listens that I recommend anytime you want to prove you are not just an ignorant American, just an ignorant human being.
One of my favorite spots of all that you must stop and stay at is Miles Davis ‘Sketches Of Spain’. It’s a mix of jazz, classical and world music. We get dressed in the finest borrowed clothes we can find and go to the opera house, feeling a bit out of place. The 16 minute piece ‘Concierto de Aranjuez’ is a Spanish composition redone by Miles. I’m not too sure what the original sounded like but I know how I feel: ‘Concierto’ is Miles Davis finest hour. Listen with headphones uninterrupted and be swept away with an audience of 1000’s; then stand and applaud until your hands are red. Hors devours of the finest quality will be served; just don’t spill on your tuxedo, it’s a rental. There’s an exclusive after party at a local billionaire’s house that we get invited to, so we head over to sip expensive (they must be, the stranger is a billionaire!) drinks and eat caviar. There’s a room people are migrating to so we decide to follow the crowd. Comfortable chairs set up in no particular order beg to be lounged in, so we take a seat to relax for the rest of the evening. There’s an empty stage with a few instruments set up, and you realize you’re being treated to something special. Four guys walk out without saying a word and play a set that couldn’t be more perfect. This is the last night of this weird fantasy cruise you have come on with me, and this last set of music feels like a culmination of what I’ve tried to show. I’ve searched for a proper recording I could purchase of this, but other than $100 imports, I can not locate it. Vince Guaraldi recorded some beautiful music, ‘Vince Guaraldi Trio’ and ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ are two treasures of his. Guaraldi and Bola Sete’s ‘From All Sides’ is another album worth checking out. This show ‘Jazz Casual’ from the early 1960’s is unbeatable, and this episode is my favorite from that series. Check youtube for more hot sets from Dave Brubeck, Cannonball Adderley, BB King and many others. The set ends that night, we get back to the boat and cruise away back into the real world.
Thank you for coming with me on this fantasy trip. I hope you return by yourself and discover what’s out there. Then you can show me what I’ve been missing and gush about the sights and sounds of this sonic landscape.
Here is my top ten favorite jazz albums.
- Time Out- Dave Brubeck Quartet
- Sketches Of Spain- Miles Davis
- A Love Supreme- John Coltrane
- Maiden Voyage- Herbie Hancock
- Kind Of Blue- Miles Davis
- The Shape Of Jazz To Come- Ornette Coleman
- The Sorcerer- Gabor Szabo
- A Charlie Brown Christmas- Vince Guaraldi
- Good Night And Good Luck- Dianne Reeves
- I’ve Been To Many Places- Matthew Shipp
thebearplane 
Leave a comment