Jazz for aficionados

I believe that a really good and worthy goal for any discerning music lover is to be able to truly understand the difference between not liking a particular artist's music and feeling that he "doesn't have it in him"; they are two very different things. It's a tricky thing: how does one acknowledge good artistry while at the same time not liking it? Pat Metheny is a brilliant musician. Clearly, his soft-toned and not-obviously-blues-based concept with its sound-pastiche vibe is not to everyone's liking, but the guy is amazing with his very subtle improvisational ideas and unique sound; even if he doesn't wear a suit :-)

I agree with the comments about James Booker. I knew of him and the fact that he had mentored players like Dr. John, but had not heard his recordings. Rok, thanks for the introduction and I am pretty much amazed by what I have heard so far; definitely someone to become more acquainted with.

The Yellow Jackets are still going strong and I recommend you give the band another shot. "Samurai Samba" is from an early iteration of the band. Personally, Marc Russo's alto sound with its relentless and almost hyper vibe drives me crazy. The band of the last several years has featured Bob Mintzer on reeds with a very welcome and much more sophisticated and insightful playing style; he is also a wonderful composer and arranger.

O-10, you ask a poignant question: "Why?". I suppose it's simply because musicians are people just like anyone else in any walk of life, with personal demons and different capacities to deal with them. Now, add genius to the mix. We would like to think that the type of insight that is a hallmark of genius would help them deal with those demons; but, ironically, it seems that the insight sometimes only serves to give a better look into the whatever torment they must be feeling and not necessarily help them find a way out.

Thanks for the clip Acman3; nice.

*****Rok, I have 80/81 and Full Circle; didn't think too much of either one. We must have depended on the same reviewer. I noticed we have a lot of the same records that might as well be in the dumpster. ******

Whenever I say "I have that on LP", that means it didn't make the cut to CD.

I agree about 80/81 and first circle. But mistakes are to be expected as a person finds his way into his proper lane. And understanding reviews, and reviewers is part of the process.

Today we make far fewer mistakes. There is so much information and technology available. You can now hear it before you buy, and you can read reviews from real people. And a person just knows more.

I look at a list of my LPs and wonder, WTF was I thinking!! Whenever I saw the word JAZZ on a LP, I thought it meant Jazz was being played. Silly me!!

LPs for Sale Cheap. Played once!!

Crusaders, Claude Bolling, George Duke, Howland Ensemble, Al Di Meola, NY-LA Dream Band, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Lee Ritenour, Stanley Jordan, Gabor Szabo, Weather Report.

Some of these were ok at the time. I just moved on.

I think I recall reading that James Booker had a mental problem. He was classically trained on piano. He often lapses into the classical world on his albums.

Cheers

***how does one acknowledge good artistry while at the same time not liking it?***

Is that possible?

Cheers

I was in China about three months ago. I sat down to a meal with a very food-adventurous colleague at a very interesting restaurant and ordered, at his recommendation, a crazy dish with jellyfish as it's centerpiece. The strange combination of exotic and new-to-me flavors and strange textures were definitely not to my liking. However, there was no question that the chef was a master. The presentation was incredible and the weird flavors had an unmistakably perfect balance, right down to the partnering soup (?) that, as weird as IT tasted, was perfect for the dish. It all screamed: "Only a great chef could do this and there are foodies out there that love this stuff". Not for me 'though.

I had a similar experience in Korea. Our Commander was also the adventurous type, and liked to take all the Officers on these 'tours' to experience real Korean life. Nothing as upscale as your experience. We started with the street vendors.

We began with squid, clams and octopus, then on to fried insects and dog. But the best was yet to come. On another occasion, we went to a sitdown restaurant and we all had soup. That's when I formulated the first law of eating in Asia. Never, never, never, order the soup!!!

Still thinking about if you analogy applies to music. :)

Cheers