What is Jazz, Why do you like Music, and other things robots don't understand

[deepak]

With the Umbrella Song

[Elephas]

Hey, besides Rihanna, I'll have you know that I also listen to Nelly Furtado, Madonna, Shakira, Michelle Branch, Hilary Duff... Lindsay Lohan.

I've even been known to enjoy some butt wriggling with Tiffany (I Think We're Alone Now), Paula Abdul (Straight Up) and... Milli Vanilli.

So there.

[Dusty Chalk]

You need to check out some Pink ("There You Go"/"You Make Me Sick"), Kylie ("Slow"), and Annie ("Chewing Gum").

[spritzer]

you need to check out some John Coltrane.

I would start off with anything made before 1980...

[Icarium]

Jazz has never really appealed to me personally. Is the appeal explainable? Or does it sound good/interesting to you fans?

[grawk]

jazz is such a huge category, I can't imagine anyone disliking all of it.

[aardvark baguette]

first one must ask the question: "what is jazz?"

Difficult to pin down in one concise answer, but here'goes:

Soul-stirring music that was recorded better 50 years ago than the latest pop drivel made last week with Protools that was written by some recording temp in a conference room.

I guess another way to put it: true.

[Icarium]

Dunno I've certainly sampled some jazz on various high end systems from fans but I've never had my soul stirred. Of course perhaps i have no soul.

[aardvark baguette]

Try Coltrane's Lush Life. If that doesnt do it for you, its probably a lost cause.

[grawk]

you're still referring to amorphous "jazz". Kenny G is technically jazz. Miles Bitches Brew is jazz. You can't really get from one to the other easily.

Some people like jazz with soul, some people like well recorded drivel. It's possible you like the opposite of what you heard...

[laxx]

I like all those female vocalists. =T

[deepak]

Dunno I've certainly sampled some jazz on various high end systems from fans but I've never had my soul stirred. Of course perhaps i have no soul.

You might like Naked City and Zorn. They're pretty out there. The Film Works is a decent place to start with Zorn.

[aardvark baguette]

you're still referring to amorphous "jazz".

I like my jazz to come from circular discs in square cases.

So far, I like these

and these

and these

these,

and these as well.

[Icarium]

Yeah I mean I'm not like saying jazz is crap. I was just curious as to what particular aspects of jazz do jazz fans generally like. I know its a very broad genre so I would have looked at each list of traits as potentially specific to a sector of jazz.

It was kind of really even a broader question that I haven't really gotten to asking yet. My approach to musical enjoyment is very shallow in a way. If it catches my fancy then I listen to it as long as my fancy remains caught. Sometimes it is the most boiler plate piece of radio pop.

Yet I have always been fascinated by people who have listened to a lot of music and can pick up two artists of totally different genres 1. Which even to a layman like me sounds technically impressive (Plays lots of notes fast) 2. Something that sounds like just droning noise... and be in complete agreement that these two bands are great.

Where is the common thread that defines greatness? I don't know. Is this a basic understanding of certain music theories that I lack? I mean I'm chinese which means I had to undergo many years of forced piano training and various other instruments. Music theory was part of that training. But to be honest I didn't really give a shit so I didn't internalize any of that knowledge. I can't even really honestly tell you what the definition of a melody is these days.

Maybe I just haven't listened to enough music to really recognize what has been done before and what is truly innovative and perhaps that is where greatness in music fundamentally lies (Besides all the stuff that is impressive from a technical standpoint). I don't know.

WRU spritzer need to know how safe it is to buy used O2s

[grawk]

There's exactly one thing I look for in music that I love: emotion. If it communicates emotion through music, I'm probably going to be interested. If it doesn't, I'm probably not.

[Icarium]

There's exactly one thing I look for in music that I love: emotion. If it communicates emotion through music, I'm probably going to be interested. If it doesn't, I'm probably not.

So how's that work. You listen to that music and if it makes you feel a certain emotion or subset of emotions clearly then you are like thumb's up. Or is it more like if you feel nothing while listening to it you are not interested. Or do you also look at like what the artist was trying to convey emotion-wise in your mind and then you see what it invokes in you to see if they achieved their goal and base your interest on that.

[grawk]

It's not math, it's not a formula. If you listen, and it has emotional impact, that's a good thing.

[luvdunhill]

Icarium, are you a bot? We need to perform a Turing test, stat

[deepak]

He's on the Head-Case indexing our threads

[Icarium]

Cannot confirm or deny.

[Voltron]

Icarium, are you a bot? We need to perform a Turing test, stat

My mother? I'll tell you about my mother!

[Dusty Chalk]

first one must ask the question: "what is jazz?"

I think a better question is, "what's for dinner?"

you're still referring to amorphous "jazz". Kenny G is technically jazz. Miles Bitches Brew is jazz. You can't really get from one to the other easily.

Yeah, I also wonder how he got from The Birth of the Cool to Bitches Brew, but he still managed to do it.

One thing that all jazz has in common is that it is improvisational based. So if Kenny G's music is entirely composed before it's played, then it's not jazz, it's just instrumental music that's made to sound like jazz.

The thing I like about jazz is not just the emotional impact -- although that is essential -- is the intellectual stimulation as well. It's really the best of both worlds. On the best jazz I've heard, you can almost get inside the person's head and 'hear' him composing on the fly. The ones that I admire most are the ones that are 'composing' faster than anything I can imagine (that doesn't necessarily mean playing faster, but they're anticipating what to play, and picking the perfect note or set of notes [or combination of notes and silences, to the pedantic] better than I can at that speed).

[grawk]

Yes, not all jazz is emotional. The emotion thing is what I need to like music.

[Dusty Chalk]

Uh-huh.

[Voltron]

Uh-UH