What got you into jazz?

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!

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.

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

Louie Armstrong on saxophone?!?

''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   

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.

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.

Parents

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.  

I went to Indiana University from 1976 to 1979.  I hated disco, and fusion was big then.  Fusion lead me to jazz.   Peace and goodwill.