Print Page | Close Window

What got you into jazz?

Printed From: JazzMusicArchives.com
Category: Jazz Music Lounges
Forum Name: Jazz Music Lounge
Forum Description: General jazz music discussions (no polls)
URL: http://www.JazzMusicArchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=309
Printed Date: 23 Apr 2024 at 2:15am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 10.16 - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: What got you into jazz?
Posted By: Catcher10
Subject: What got you into jazz?
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 3:33pm
What got me exploring jazz was love for FUNK and R&B, especially early 70's stuff. Earth, Wind & Fire to be specific......very heavy jazz influence in their early recordings. From there I started with Miles Davis......Then I met my wife who is from New Orleans, that got me into the Marsalis brothers and deep southern jazz and blues....As far as I am concerned the roots of rock music.
Artists like Weather Report, Spyro Gyra, Buddy Rich, Coltrane frequent my turntable platter also.
 
But it is still a work in progress......and having fun!


-------------
My jazz collection....a work in progress.



Replies:
Posted By: triceratopsoil
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 3:36pm
band class at school

-------------
http://www.last.fm/user/TullDerGraff" rel="nofollow">


Posted By: idlero
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 3:39pm
I was bored listening again and again toi the same classic and prog music , I needed some new music to listen to, so I started to listen to jazz.


Posted By: Matt
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 3:40pm
About 20 years back, was fed up with Rock and wanted something different.

-------------
Matt


Posted By: Prog Geo
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 3:57pm
My curiosity and my passion about music.


Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 4:07pm
^ That's cool!!

-------------
My jazz collection....a work in progress.


Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 4:11pm
I don't remember. Confused


Posted By: SaltyJon
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 4:32pm
Originally posted by harmonium.ro harmonium.ro wrote:

I don't remember. Confused

Same here, haha.  I know it was before high school jazz band, because we only got that after I and a couple others practically begged the band director to try it during my senior year.  No idea, really...I guess I was naturally drawn to the music. Wink


-------------
http://www.last.fm/user/Salty_Jon" rel="nofollow">


Posted By: bsidePL
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 6:12pm
For me it was one and only Pat Metheny!!! And my parents :).

In my house father used to play some jazz/funk CD's rather often, but I didn't get it at all. More - I've hated it! Everything has changed after only one concert, where my partens brought me - Pat Metheny Group in 2003 with Speaking of Now Tour. After few pieces I was in love with this music.


Posted By: zdunne
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 7:10pm
For me, it was my father's interest in it listening to Smooth jazz radio.  Though I wasn't as interested was a child (my tastes were more mainstream at that time) as I am now (i have added a lot of my father's tastes to my own as time goes by), the more I discovered what was beyond mainstream radio the more I enjoyed, especially the classic era of fusion.


Posted By: Cannonball With Hat
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 8:52pm
It's funny, I was going to create a similar thread, but then I didn;t because I didn't have an answer for myself.
 
I honestly don't know. As far as I can remember I've liked jazz (or at least jazzy influences) since I started to get seriously into music. Learned of the big names, somehow, and started to explore the fusion side of the genre (thanks to PA). Further on in time I started to get "straight" jazz music into my collection.
 
I guess at the end of the day, I like it because its very 'music thats about that music' (at least the stuff I know/like [so...sans vocal/pop jazz...and perhaps other stuff]). I like the improv nature of it as well...things constantly changing, evolving. Certainly something that I like in my music.


-------------
Hit it on Five.

Saxophone Scatterbrain Blitzberg

Stab them in the ears.


Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 9:38pm
I'm trying to remember what were my first encounters with jazz; it was probably swing, Django, Billie Holliday, this kind of stuff. In that case, it must have been the melodies and the beats, on one side, and the historic aura on the other. Think of the movie "Cotton Club" or the computer game "Mafia" and it's soundtrack... All that great stuff, inspiring for a kid. 


Posted By: The Manticore
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 10:12pm
Simple. PROG.
 
I grew up listening to Emerson, Bruford, Zappa etc. Once I moved onto Return To Forever and Weather Report, I was hooked.


Posted By: triceratopsoil
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 10:38pm
Originally posted by harmonium.ro harmonium.ro wrote:

I'm trying to remember what were my first encounters with jazz; it was probably swing, Django, Billie Holliday, this kind of stuff. In that case, it must have been the melodies and the beats, on one side, and the historic aura on the other. Think of the movie "Cotton Club" or the computer game "Mafia" and it's soundtrack... All that great stuff, inspiring for a kid. 


Yeah, I agree about the historic aura


-------------
http://www.last.fm/user/TullDerGraff" rel="nofollow">


Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 11:12pm




Cool





Posted By: Katje
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2011 at 1:28am
Had been playing trumpet from when I was a young teen and by the time I hit 15 -16 the infamy of Davis got the better of me and found myself huntin' down Bitches Brew at the local shops, then about every other albums of his in existence. Everything was so angular and foreign from what I heard before with no small sense of mysticism veiling my thoughts. I didn't know what to think, but a healthy unease at shifting cogs in my mind triggering a serious obsession.   


Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2011 at 4:03am
Well my dad's record collection was filled with standard jazz like Armstrong, Illinois Jacket, Lionel Hampton.... so when a toddler I was drenched in melodic jazz...
My dad actively participated in a jazz club until 69 or so in Brussels...
Memphis Slim came to sleep at my parent's house a few times, as well....
 
 
The first (and last) black man I ever pinchedEmbarrassed was a Roland Rashaan Kirke sideman... It was tirst time i saw a black man, so I wanted to check out why he didn't wash and was so dirty (hey I was 4 or 5), so when he made a small fuss about it, my dad explained him why I had done so (after asking. me) and the muso started laughing.. I remember the guy lifting me by the armpits and setting me on the edge of a stage... and he played a contrabass solo for me and me only... What a friggin' memoryHug
 
 
Anyway.... I wasn't into jazz as a teenager.... I'd even forgot it existed, although I was a blues and blues-rock fan (Savoy Brown, TYA and early Fleetwood Mac).... but jazz??? Naaaaahhhh....
 
Then I started hationg the rock & pop scene in 1980 onwards
I had the first three Santana albums (dearly loved them), but didn't like Amigos much (at first), so i had stopped.... But I got Caravanserai.... and it clicked instantly... Through Abraxas' artwork, I got into Bitches Brew and Live Evil..... and the rest came rather easily...
 
For most of the 80's, I discovered 60's & 70's jazz and fusion...
 
 
I must say that I still have some problem really getting into pre-58-59 jazz though...
 


-------------
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicted musicians to crazy ones....



Posted By: alucard
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2011 at 1:02pm
Yo,
first post on Jazzarchives : So in the house where I grew up were a family with 4 brothers and 1 sister which were all one way or another into music. When I was a kid in the early 60's the brothers had a postbob band and they played in the cellar a better part of the night which pissed off a better part of the familiis in the house, especillay the working part, but I quite liked to fall to sleep to the sound of the tenor sax, drums and bass leaking through and later on when I got my first guitar sometimes for house parties I used to jam with them. In a way ternary rhythmic comes quite natural to me even so once I had my first E-guitar I was more into Rock and my first records whre all on the heavy side, Led Zep, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple etc. My father is a horn player and he used to listen a lot to Big band music. My first jazz record was MJQ with Laurindo Almeida.
 
 


Posted By: Ricochet
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2011 at 2:45pm
I was close-minded and full of fail, until the likes of John McLaughlin, Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett finally put me straight.

-------------



Posted By: Noak2
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2011 at 5:34pm
Hard to say. Probably started sort of when I started listening to Zappa. Wanted to listen to music similar to his and stumbled upon some of his Jazz influences (which I found in the booklet from Freak Out!). Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Found The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady by Mingus and fell in love with it. Then I've just continued looking for new albums to listen to.


Posted By: Ovalotus
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2011 at 7:29pm
My parents listening to Vince Guaraldi.


Posted By: SaltyJon
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2011 at 7:32pm
Charlie Brown may have been it for me, actually, now that you mention Vince Guaraldi.  My parents have always loved watching the various Charlie Brown specials whenever they're on TV, and of course Guaraldi's soundtracks to those are a big part of the charm...I'd say Charlie Brown and the old Pink Panther cartoon series. 

-------------
http://www.last.fm/user/Salty_Jon" rel="nofollow">


Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2011 at 7:56pm
I used to listen to the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack when I was a pre-teen. Probably foreshadowed my interest in jazz


-------------
http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm


Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: 21 Apr 2011 at 9:34am
My father used to LOVE watching the Lawrence Welk show.....but that umpa-lumpa, polka stuff drove me nuts! To this day when I hear it on re-runs its like a recurring nightmare for me....I usually fall down on the floor and assume the fetal position and start crying LOL
 
But occasionally they would do some jazz  stuff when the big band would be featured.....one of those childhood memories I guess.


-------------
My jazz collection....a work in progress.


Posted By: Hawkwise
Date Posted: 21 Apr 2011 at 6:16pm
Prog lead to fusion lead to jazz Thumbs Up  


Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: 21 Apr 2011 at 7:30pm
Me mum listened to the god-awful stuff all day, I had no bloody choice.



Posted By: frippism
Date Posted: 22 Apr 2011 at 10:55am
Ello first post! What got into jazz is my bass teacher. First to blues, then to trad jazz, then to fusion, and then I discovered prog, and then stuff happened. I've been in many ensembles and bands and such, but me and traditional jazz have certainly been in a love-hate relationship. With that jazz has always been close. I've always liked it. I just like the weirder jazz more.


Posted By: Krilons Resa
Date Posted: 22 Apr 2011 at 11:48am
I was reading an interview of a friend/frontman of band that I am a fan of and he was going on about A Love Supreme so I checked it out, and the rest is history.

-------------
That shows you the power of music, that magician of magician, who lifts his wand, says his mysterious word and all things real pass away and the phantoms of your mind walk before you clothed in flesh.


Posted By: EatThatPhonebook
Date Posted: 24 Apr 2011 at 5:19am
I guess it's mostly thanks to my uncle that I listen to jazz. 


Posted By: kmurphy
Date Posted: 08 May 2011 at 9:20pm
I got into jazz by first learning to read and play in an orchestral setting, then formed a rock group that listened to a lot of dead…not the proudest time in my life… but i was young and wanted to learn how they jammy jammed so well.

So i discovered Paul Desmond. My life changed forever! There will never be another person who can speak as paul desmond did.

Heres a couple of my favorites that made me fall in love with jazz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkcRo7oUIro&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KwdZHDJi64


Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: 08 May 2011 at 9:53pm
I was still very much a "noob" to progressive rock when I was introduced to this album...


...and the rest is history


-------------
http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm


Posted By: HURBRET
Date Posted: 14 Aug 2012 at 11:49pm
I was a classical musician before anything else, and what really started it was the classical pianist Earl Wild's interpretations of Gershwin tunes. Around that time, my brother got into prog rock and so did I, so I received a simultaneous upbringing in "classic" jazz and jazz fusion.


Posted By: dreadpirateroberts
Date Posted: 15 Aug 2012 at 5:31am
Friends who were older and had broader tastes than me. I think I had to be lent a few albums multiple times. I too was getting tired of metal and my favourite rock bands like Zeppelin & Floyd, though I still love them both

Miles was the one they started me with, not any of the fusion stuff, but some Hard Bop and KOB. Pretty sure I looked into Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters next.




-------------
We are men of action. Lies do not become us.
http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/dreadpirateroberts%28member%29.aspx?reviews=all/" rel="nofollow - Reviews...


Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: 20 Aug 2012 at 6:27pm
Jazz Rock, of course, and free Jazz concerts in Piedmont Park in Atlanta.


Originally posted by Ovalotus Ovalotus wrote:

My parents listening to Vince Guaraldi.

Oh yeah, The Charlie Brown Christmas music when I was really young didn't hurt.


-------------


Posted By: Kazuhiro
Date Posted: 20 Aug 2012 at 6:46pm

By the way, such an event is going to be held next month in Japan.

http://www.tokyo-jazz.com/en/artists/index.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.tokyo-jazz.com/en/artists/index.html



Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: 20 Aug 2012 at 7:29pm
Holy cow!  A lot of big guns in that one.  Also a lot of names I don't know.  That's the best thing about these festivals is discovering artists you don't know.

-------------


Posted By: Kazuhiro
Date Posted: 20 Aug 2012 at 7:41pm
Yes. I did not know all of musicians who appeared for the festival. Probably it does not consist of only the pure jazz musician. However, such a festival is carried out in Japan. And I thought that I could look for the name of the musician whom at least people knew by a list.


Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: 20 Aug 2012 at 8:06pm
Originally posted by Slartibartfast Slartibartfast wrote:



Originally posted by Ovalotus Ovalotus wrote:

My parents listening to Vince Guaraldi.

Oh yeah, The Charlie Brown Christmas music when I was really young didn't hurt.


Same here. I used to listen to A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack a lot when I was 11 and 12, before I really "got into" music.


-------------
http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm


Posted By: chuckyspell
Date Posted: 28 Aug 2012 at 5:08pm
This may be the silliest if not shallowest reason...but in 1988 I was reading an interview with Megadeth's Dave Mustaine complaining that Jeff Young the other guitar player in the band at the time was really into Al Di Meola and that was all. So I looked in my big brother's collection and voila Elegant Gypsy was there...and here I am.


Posted By: smartpatrol
Date Posted: 18 Sep 2012 at 3:55pm
Time out by Dave Brubeck
nuff said


-------------
http://ozarksoundscape.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow - Looking for an experimental and eclectic hour of free music made by a teenage guy in his bedroom? Then click this!


Posted By: Amilisom
Date Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 1:24am
Jazz Band class in high school. But it wasn't just that in itself, mostly when we arranged combos one trimester and I realized how fun playing in a combo can be. The freedom of improvisation and communication. My friend did a really interesting arrangement of Freddy Freeloader that involved switching the feel from swing to latin to funk, which was recorded and I put on youtube, despite how much we sucked   

-------------
"Pay no attention to what the critics say; there has never been a statue set up in honor of a critic."

-Jean Sibelius


Posted By: Kazuhiro
Date Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 1:36am

^ At least I wait for an opportunity to see it. Smile



Posted By: Amilisom
Date Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 12:42pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km6JVqpc85Y&feature=share&list=UUnMDBu3GIm317SHbaUa6T1A

Um, well don't say I didn't warn you

-------------
"Pay no attention to what the critics say; there has never been a statue set up in honor of a critic."

-Jean Sibelius


Posted By: Kazuhiro
Date Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 7:41pm
Originally posted by Amilisom Amilisom wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km6JVqpc85Y&feature=share&list=UUnMDBu3GIm317SHbaUa6T1A

Um, well don't say I didn't warn you
 
The real intention does not know how I felt the performance that you went for. However, you put it in Youtube surely. I have not heard the arrangement that soaked "Freddy Freeloader" with variety. In Latin rhythm and swing in funk. Even as for the flexibility of the tempo.
Please do not think that the performance is bad. I enjoyed your performance really enough.


Posted By: bytor2112
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 10:39pm
Originally posted by idlero idlero wrote:

I was bored listening again and again toi the same classic and prog music , I needed some new music to listen to, so I started to listen to jazz.

Me to, although I am still happy with my prog. But it used to be that if I wasn't in the mood for Prog and it's many subgenres, I just wouldn't listen to music. But now Jazz can fill that gap for me, I'll never not have to listen to music again!LOL


-------------


Posted By: Polymorphia
Date Posted: 19 Dec 2012 at 10:34pm
My dad is a jazz educator and saxophonist. My brothers are finishing up their jazz degrees. Of course, with such a family, I was already introduced to jazz. My appreciation of it came in surges, with each surge appreciating it more than I did before. 


Posted By: js
Date Posted: 19 Dec 2012 at 11:53pm
Where does your Dad teach?


Posted By: Polymorphia
Date Posted: 20 Dec 2012 at 10:17am
University of Southern Mississippi


Posted By: js
Date Posted: 20 Dec 2012 at 10:23am
Ha, you guys are close by, I'm in Memphis. Is South Miss in Jackson?


Posted By: Polymorphia
Date Posted: 20 Dec 2012 at 10:33am
Hattiesburg


Posted By: js
Date Posted: 20 Dec 2012 at 11:15am
I've been through there many times, often as the turn off towards Mobile, stopped at a Mexican restaurant not long ago.


Posted By: Polymorphia
Date Posted: 20 Dec 2012 at 11:50am
Which restaurant? Qdoba? Caliente Grill?


Posted By: js
Date Posted: 20 Dec 2012 at 12:45pm
Don't remember now, they were playing some high speed techno-cumbia on the juke box, I was surprised to hear that in the south, it sounded more like something you'd hear on the west coast.


Posted By: Polymorphia
Date Posted: 20 Dec 2012 at 4:32pm
Maybe Caliente? Don't remember if they have a jukebox or not, but they're locally owned, on campus, and lots of hipsters work there, so the music choice is more likely to be unusual for the area. Do you play? Maybe you've encountered a few family friends or perhaps some family members.


Posted By: js
Date Posted: 20 Dec 2012 at 4:40pm
I play out almost every weekend in the Memphis and North Miss area, as well as the casinos in North Miss., its just local bar band music, RnB, funk, blues or rock depending on the band.


Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2013 at 1:48am
A French orchestra video in Youtube, I enjoyed it hundreds times, every time new joy,

Then started deep digging Jazz, now here, which I suppose give new dimension to my lust


Posted By: EntertheLemming
Date Posted: 28 Apr 2013 at 8:34am
The first jazz record I ever heard that really connected with me (a hitherto inveterate Prog Rock and Post Punk fan) was a Best of Jimmy Smith compilation. It ain't that hard to unearth the attraction eg. Hammond organ being de rigueur in 70's prog, bop vocabulary assuaged by Blues inflections plus funky drums and Lalo Schifrin horn charts that require a change of clothing in the listener.  However, at many parties circa 1990 when I lived in London, the mention of Jimmy Smith was met with the rebarbative refrain that 'it's only blues' as though this invalidated the spirit of the music.

Hey ho, some things cannot be invalidated by description....


Posted By: js
Date Posted: 28 Apr 2013 at 9:40am
One of my first jazz records was a Jimmy Smith best of, I have several of those now, still like them. 


Posted By: FromArmstrongtoZappa
Date Posted: 02 May 2013 at 12:51pm
From what I can remember, my father played the Ramsey Lewis trio in the 60's. As a teen, I liked Earth Wind & Fire, who in the early days played improvised music. That makes sense because Maurice White was the drummer for a while in the Ramsey Lewis trio. I bought the Crusaders Street Life album and saw them at Carnagie Hall in 1980. I guess these were my early influences to jazz.


<a href="http://webstore.com/~FromArmstrongtoZappa"><img src="http://webstore.com/img/affiliate/webstore_affiliate04.gif" border="0" alt="Come See Me At Webstore" /></a>


Posted By: ShlinkLincoln
Date Posted: 02 May 2013 at 2:08pm
My brother gave me Chet Baker's "Chet" as a gift almost 10 years ago and I have slowly been adding to my Jazz collection since.  In that time I've discovered the classics, Miles, Monk, Montgomery, Adderly, etc.
 
But lateley I'm really wanting to get deeper into Jazz so found this site.  Any good books on best Jazz albums out there?  My search of amazon did not reveal the "must have" jazz album book.


Posted By: js
Date Posted: 02 May 2013 at 4:30pm
I recently read Al Caiola's new history of jazz book and found it to be outstanding. I like the way he can deal with the entire history and any genre from traditional to avant-garde, just an excellent book all-around.
He gives out many album recommendations during the course of the book.


Posted By: ShlinkLincoln
Date Posted: 03 May 2013 at 7:11pm
JS,
 
Can you provide a link to the book?  Can not find on Amazon.
 
Thanks
 


Posted By: js
Date Posted: 03 May 2013 at 7:46pm
I'm sorry, I had the name wrong, its: "the History of Jazz" by Ted Gioia. Its a fun read, not boring at all. I found my copy at a Barnes and Nobles store.


Posted By: ShlinkLincoln
Date Posted: 03 May 2013 at 7:51pm
Money!  Found it on amazon and looks like exactly what i'm looking for. 
 
Thanks again JS


Posted By: js
Date Posted: 03 May 2013 at 7:55pm
Now I'm trying to remember who Al Caiola is, I think he's a 60s easy listening performer or arranger. Confused


Posted By: ShlinkLincoln
Date Posted: 03 May 2013 at 8:07pm
I think you're right.  when i searched for Al's book it came up with some old looking albums:
 
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_sabc?url=search-alias%3Daps&pageMinusResults=1&suo=1367629528566#/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_6?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=al%20caiola&sprefix=al+cai%2Caps%2C256&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aal%20caiola" rel="nofollow - http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_sabc?url=search-alias%3Daps&pageMinusResults=1&suo=1367629528566#/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_6?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=al%20caiola&sprefix=al+cai%2Caps%2C256&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aal%20caiola
 
He has a sweet guitar.   Ever heard his stuff?


Posted By: js
Date Posted: 03 May 2013 at 8:44pm
Yeah, I'm sure I have some of his records, I collect exotica and artsy easy listening. it used to be easy to find records like that at thrift stores etc, not as much anymore


Posted By: Chozal
Date Posted: 02 Jul 2013 at 9:45pm
... I'm not sur i'm "into jazz" yet.

I'd say ... I don't know how it will be received here but my first jazzy stuff was jamie cullum's early cds.

After that, I tried classic jazz pianists but it didn't click.
Then I got into prog and actual musicality and Brad Mehldau, Pat Metheny and Hiromi were the ambassadors who allowed for a rererelistening of Kind of Blue which I start to fully enjoy.

Also, Joe Pass.


Posted By: davidrydelnik
Date Posted: 09 Jul 2013 at 2:15am
I'm definitely enjoying some of the replies here...everyone has a story!
Mine starts at an early age, although I didn't appreciate it much at the time.  My grandpa was an arranger in the late 40's for the Buddy Rich Orchestra, as well as for Bob Chester.  In the 50's he started a music program in his hometown's school district.  When I was 7, he started me on the trumpet.  It wasn't until I was in my late 20's that I got interested in my grandpa's arrangements. but I started inputting them into the computer and getting them performed/recorded.

Meanwhile, my uncle is a host of a popular jazz radio program, and his show spotlights more of the modern big bands of today.  However, he had me listening to Maynard Ferguson as a kid and I loved it.

However, I wasn't a jazzhead back then at all.  I was pretty much into stuff that wasn't all that great.

But when I got into my first college, our band director basically yelled at us one day because we couldn't get the style right.  He told us we didn't listen to the right kind of music.  It was then that I realized that I should start listening to jazz instead of the crap I had been filling my head with, so I went out and bought all sorts of stuff, mainly small group Blue Note sessions from the late 50s and early 60's.  Well, I got hooked on it.  And like I said, a few years later I got an interest in m grandpa's music.  I plan on getting his music crowd funded so that I can pay musicians to record it all, because a lot of it is not recorded and it needs to be.  Some of his writing is really hip, even though he didn't think so.
That's my story, the really, really short version.


-------------
Jazz Trumpeter, Vocalist, Trombonist, Guitarist...internet marketer and fitness geek. <a href="http://davidrydelnik.com" _fcksavedurl="http://davidrydelnik.com">


Posted By: MusicFreak
Date Posted: 26 Jul 2013 at 7:00am
I got into Jazz music specifically because of Bram StadhoudersEmbarrassed. I got a chance to see him live on a concert while I was travelling around Europe. I used to be a hip hop music fan Coolbut this man changed my entire view on music. What he produces is called real music. Experimental, Jazz, Indie he got them all. He have collaborated with great improvisers like Jim Black and Sidsel Endresen. Check out one of his best song  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1posgTUlHp" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1posgTUlHp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1posgTUlHpI" rel="nofollow - I
DeadEmbarrassedSleepy


Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 01 Sep 2013 at 12:24pm
After hearing Dave Brubeck's, "Take Five" and Erroll Garner's, "Misty,"on the radio, I was hooked!

 



Posted By: Shrdlu
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2014 at 5:23pm
"Being hip isn't a state of mind. It's a fact of life." - Cannonball Adderley.

So, a person really has to be born with a liking for jazz. I've never been able to influence anyone into liking jazz.

Before I forget, I'd like to say that we all should listen to any piece of music, in any genre, with an open mind, and, even if it's not the kind of music we want to listen to, be appreciative of good musicianship whenever it appears. For example, I'm not into Scottish accordion traditional dance music, but I think Jimmy Shand, the famous button-accordionist/bandleader, sounds terrific. His music served a purpose, and pleased a lot of people, and, the guy performed for about 60 years. Someone mentioned Lawrence Welk. His music was as corny as all get out, but one must agree that the band performed perfectly - no mistakes and everything in tune. And, it gave pleasure to a lot of people. Louis Armstrong liked it.

What got me started on jazz was the fact that my Dad had quite a lot of jazz 78s when I was little. From about the age of 4, I was allowed to play them on our clockwork player. He had Fats Waller, Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Billie Holiday, Sinatra, and others. My Dad had a good knowledge of swing era music, and an excellent memory for songs, including the "middle 8s" that one sometimes forgets. There was one piece, "Smoke Rings", for which he couldn't remember the "middle 8"; that turned out to be because it didn't have one.

When I was 8, my Dad took me to a Louis Armstrong concert. That was his best "All Stars" group, with Trummy Young, the wonderful Edmond Hall on clarinet and the equally wonderful pianist, Billy Kyle.

Back then, you could actually hear jazz on the radio, and the presenters were very knowledgeable. That helped to expose me to a variety of players.

I can't remember when I first heard the Dave Brubeck Quartet, but I got into that group very heavily, and soon, having heard Paul Desmond on the alto saxophone, I wanted an alto so bad that I could taste it. I got a used Selmer Super Balanced action alto and started lessons. After about a year or so, I added the clarinet, and switched the lessons to it, because I thought that the clarinet was harder, and knowledge of it would cover both horns. (That isn't true, but that was my thinking.) There's a major point here: you have to want to play an instrument so bad that it hurts. You have to have a sound in your head.

We also had a neighbor who was about 5 years older than me, and he used to bring round jazz LPs for me to borrow. These included "Bags and Trane", "The Cannonball Adderley Sextet In New York", and "Coltrane Live At The Village Vanguard".

All along, there were several excellent jazz programs on the radio.

Another major thing was being able to play at "blows" with other jazz musicians, and to sit in at gigs. Until I was about 30, there were many opportunities to do that. But many of you won't be players. You can enjoy music without being a player.

It does help if you learn a bit about music: notation, chords, effects etc. Then you will appreciate what you are listening to a lot more. When I was about 20, I was lent a book about writing for dance bands, and that showed the ranges and keys of all the horns. It's good to know about instruments that you don't play yourself.

I guess we should be discussing not only "What got you into jazz", but also "What keeps you in jazz", and for me, it has been constant performing, a regular supply of radio broadcasts, and an expanding collection of recordings, plus, the occasional concert by a major "name".


Posted By: badacid
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2014 at 7:52am

14 years ago I was playing drums in a rock band at school. After a while I found that style of drumming a bit samey and decided to take to the internet - i think my search was for the worlds best drummers. Of course Buddy Rich was one of the first to pop up, and I ended up listening to the two "Burning for Buddy" tribute albums put together after his death. This was the first time I had properly listened to compositions by Duke Ellington, Miles Davis etc, and heard insane drumming by the likes of Max Roach, Joe Morello, Steve Smith etc. I also had that old "Encarta" programme on the PC and read up about jazz on there. There was a sound clip of Charles Mingus ripping it up on the double bass. I quickly picked up his Mingus Ah Um album and also Time out by Dave Brubeck. I had a brief era where I did not listen to so much music, but the last couple of years I have really got back into it - reading up on where it all started, picking up alot of the older essential albums and listening to the likes of Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard etc. I am truly hooked now and my CD collection has grown massively over the last year. I have also got back into playing drums after 14 years out!



Posted By: Argonaught
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2014 at 9:25pm
When we say "jazz", we mean contemporary (post-swing) subgenres, correct? 




Posted By: js
Date Posted: 04 Dec 2014 at 3:02am
When I say "jazz", I actually mean jazz.


Posted By: zwordser
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2015 at 6:36pm
Wow, the question makes me realize I don't know for sure. Either it was a gradual process, or I've forgotten something; I don't remember any moment of finding jazz. In any case, I'm sure the jazz program on public radio that played every night where I grew up was instrumental in getting me to like jazz. By the time I was in my early 20's, I had moved away from rock for a while, and I loved both classical and jazz.


Posted By: PopetherevXXVIII
Date Posted: 18 Mar 2015 at 9:21am
3 things

My dad exposing me to Big Band when I was 8.
Watching The Cosby show as a kid, The Simpsons and Family Guy (didn't know who Mingus was until Quagmire mentioned him) as an adult.
But what really got me into Jazz was when Cowboy Bebop got reissued and I fell in love with both IT and the Music and wanted to find more stuff that sounded like that soundtrack. So that's when I actively started researching Jazz and it was right around the time I got a turntable (a few months ago) so pretty much I've been grabbing Jazz on Vinyl like crazy for the last 3 months.


Posted By: js
Date Posted: 18 Mar 2015 at 9:27am
Welcome to the site, I like the jazz on vinyl too, also the Simpsons.


Posted By: PopetherevXXVIII
Date Posted: 18 Mar 2015 at 9:35am
Thank you for the warm welcome.

And yeah Lisa Named one of her cats Coletraine. Learning about Jazz through the longest running animated show in America.


Posted By: Crackers
Date Posted: 13 Dec 2016 at 2:16am
I am now 70 years old and have been a "Jazz" fan since my teenage years. I guess I found Jazz by myself none of my family or friends were into it.

The earliest piece that influenced me was Dave Brubeck's Take five which was often played on the radio in the early 60's it was a popular tune.

The first 2 Jazz records I bought were Jaques Lousier's Play Bach and Mose Allison cant remember the record name, sad to hear of his death the other day, I have several of his records now.

I guess my favourite Jazz is small group type favourites include; Kenny Wheeler, John Abercrombie, EST, John Coltrane, Miles Davies, etc.

I also like classical music in the string quartet form.

I guess the common link is that in small groups of musicians it is easier to follow the interplay between the different plays and follow the diverging patterns. That what engages me.

I have in excess of 1,000 cds and am a regular listener to an American radio station (via the internet) JAZZ24, great channel no adverts, recommended.

Crackers
England

-------------
Ever tried. Ever Failed. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. Samuel Beckett


Posted By: DustyFoot
Date Posted: 25 Jan 2017 at 7:32am
By 1999 I had mostly been a classic rock fan, with a smattering of classical, blues and 2 or 3 jazz CDs just to vary my collection a bit. 
 
Prior to Christmas that year I mentioned to my wife that I should 'add a bit more jazz' to my collection which was 90% rock.  So she bought me the 2-disc Sony release "Jazz- The Definitive Performances" which spanned milestone recordings from 1917-1997.  Almost overnight I became obsessed with the sample tracks from Kind of Blue, Time Out, Mingus Ah Um, Concert By the Sea, and especially "Nica's Dream" by the 1956 edition of the Jazz Messengers.  In fact before too long, I had bought the full albums these tracks originated from.  And not long after that, I had acquired Horace Silver's "Song For My Father" which began my ongoing mission to acquire as many Blue Note albums as I could. 
So in the 17 years since, although I have not stopped listening to non-jazz, jazz in almost all of its forms has been my main interest.  80% of my collection resides in the hard bop/ free bop 1955-1965 release timeframe, but I always enjoy discovering new eras and subgenres.  Lately I have been delving into the soul-jazz era of the late 60s and discovering albums by Reuben Wilson and latter era Grant Green.  But if I ever get sent to that desert island, I will be grabbing as many Horace Silver, Joe Henderson, and Kenny Dorham CDs as I possibly can!


Posted By: guido
Date Posted: 23 May 2017 at 2:28pm
For me it was growing up in a household where Benny Goodman and Charlie Parker recordings were played when I was a baby. Wherever my tastes of the moment stray, I always come back to jazz.


Posted By: jazzlover98
Date Posted: 07 Jan 2018 at 2:41am
My dad would always listen to jazz and latin jazz on the radio when I was a kid (and he still does) and we would drive around at night listening to jazz. Nothing better than listening to jazz while looking at the city lights at night.


Posted By: JonesJazz Fan
Date Posted: 08 Jan 2018 at 5:52pm
Strangely it was video games like Final Fantasy growing up, and anime. I didn't understand what was going on in the music, then my dad was playing a Larry Carlton record, and then I fell in love with the music. The rest is history. I try to incorporate that sound in my own music actually.

https://youtu.be/sKeHGCjlkyM


Posted By: justfrank
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2018 at 12:26am
I listened almost exclusively to punk rock until I heard A Night in Tunisia, and was blown away that an album could start out with over a full minute of smashing cymbals and breakneck drums, and instantly fell in love with the genre


Posted By: Frederic_Alderon
Date Posted: 10 Nov 2018 at 12:54pm
For sure it was this genius of the saxophone - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Armstrong


Posted By: js
Date Posted: 10 Nov 2018 at 2:23pm
Louie Armstrong on saxophone?!?


Posted By: Frederic_Alderon
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2018 at 1:45pm
This video actually:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMQD3Bv5ZG4&t=1826s


Posted By: fabiojazz
Date Posted: 03 Sep 2019 at 9:04am
''What'' got me into Jazz has been ..this.. Live Music Show from 1968,!!
As 'young-student' I have seen this totally unknown to me,!! jazz-drummer..: Max Roach, to play a 'Drums Solo'.,!!.
Well, from the 'day-after'..: jazz-drummers were in my 'mind'..



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59RTAEhvV4g   


Posted By: jazzaficionado98
Date Posted: 08 Mar 2020 at 1:33am
My dad would listen to 88.1 (K-Jazz) in the car as a kid (and he still does). I've always liked both regular jazz and Latin jazz and I've liked it more and more as I've gotten older. 


Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: 14 Jun 2020 at 11:26pm
Since creating this thread 9yrs ago.....I'm proud to write my collection has been growing nicely, especially the past 2-3yrs. Second I walk into a record store I head for the Jazz section.
I have a good selection of styles but really focus on Hard Bop genre, that 1950s-1960s stuff really makes my turntable happy!


-------------
My jazz collection....a work in progress.


Posted By: birdtranescoe
Date Posted: 16 Feb 2021 at 9:12pm
Hello - can't wait to read everyone's stories Smile  Here's mine in a nutshell..  I played a lot of guitar and listened/played Towner, Metheny, Return to Forever, etc .. But on a car ride across the country I heard sun ship play on the radio, which was a revelation, epiphanous really.  Within a week I happen upon a vinyl copy in the used bin, and - I was hooked.  I've been obssessed since.




Posted By: pinknote
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2021 at 2:18pm
As a poor, lower-middle class Eastern European with basic musical education from state school (when I say basic, I mean it - we learned about the Western canon, the spirituals, Gershwin and not much else, which allowed me later to view 20th century classical as a more rebellious thing than it is perceived in some more privileged quarters nowadays...), it was a cable channel - Mezzo TV - that exposed me to the beauty of jazz, though not in a very diverse manner - their narrow programme for jazz was stuffed mostly with French jazz, European jazz, and not the most adventurous -, yet it still was exciting to hear while seeing how musicians perform... My town didn't have a jazz festival (there is one organized instead in Tulcea, but I never afforded even going there), and the only jazz club faded away by the time I matured, so my biggest friend has been the Internet in this matter.

Before Brexit, I was daydreaming about potentially living around London and taking the underground to Cafe Oto, but I am more likely to move out from Romania to Germany, perhaps Berlin. 


Posted By: Roadrunner14
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2021 at 12:22am
Similar to some of the others, I was looking for a change from rock, metal, pop, and stumbled across Norah Jones, Tom Waits, then that led to Nina Simone and from there into the usual suspects of Miles Davis, Art Pepper, John Coltrane, and the list goes on and on from there as I explore.


Posted By: ManyRiversMan
Date Posted: 04 Mar 2022 at 12:02pm
Parents


Posted By: ManyRiversMan
Date Posted: 04 Mar 2022 at 12:04pm
UK will always have the underground. No matter how dumb out government is x andyhay.bandcamp.com


Posted By: shrews824
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2022 at 8:54am
Well, like most here I'm sure, I was way into music as a child and young adult.  I always felt like I had a passion for music that the majority of my peers didn't have.  I seemed to always seek out music that was either uncommon or not the most popular.  Not that I didn't like a lot of popular music (still do actually), but I liked listening to different stuff regardless of style.  

Truthfully, it wasn't until I was 23 that I really began to listen to jazz.  I had been playing guitar for about 6 or 7 years at that point and had generally gravitated toward the typical classic rock, popular rock of the day (1990's).  I had a friend ask me if I had ever heard of Mike Stern.  Of course, I hadn't so he played me the 1999 release Play.  That really peaked my interest.  He made me a copy and I wore that thing out!!!  Even though that wasn't a typical jazz record it did possess a lot of jazz characteristics.  From then on I was hooked and dipping my toe into various other guitarists along the same vein.  Sco, Metheny, Martino, etc.  And just over the years I began to dive deeper and deeper into the realm of jazz.  

The great thing about it also is that no matter what I discover, if it's old or very popular to some, it's all new and fresh to me.  It's like I can have a brand new track or album everyday!!!  There is so much to be explored that I doubt I'll ever reach the bottom of the rabbit hole!!!



Print Page | Close Window

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 10.16 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Copyright ©2001-2013 Web Wiz Ltd. - http://www.webwiz.co.uk