Jazz for aficionados

Frogman, it's not fascinating or mysterious, just a fact of life; the same thing goes for athletes.

So much of who you are, was determined before you were born; it's a lot about "who was yo daddy". If your daddy was rich, I would venture to say you don't have too many financial problems, and even those will be reduced when he joins honorable ancestors.

Inna, thanks for the Tony Scott clip. I like the clip. Frankly, about the most enjoyable thing that I have ever heard by Tony Scott; he is generally not my cup of tea. Interesting player whose style always shows his fascination with folk music. There is a quality in his playing reminiscent of the way that the clarinet is used in Eastern European folk music. He is often touted as a bebop clarinet player and in my opinion that is quite a stretch.

My comments are not meant to provoke or offend but to hopefully inspire interesting and friendly discussion. I think that one of the challenges in evaluating and discussing music on a thread like this is in keeping our own personal musical style and genre preferences separate and independent from evaluations about the artistic and technical merit, or as you recently stated, the "level" of the playing. You commented about the Connors clips that Ghosthouse posted and seemed to object to their "level". You then posted music by Jesse Cook and Tony Scott. What is it about the level of that music that you find superior (presumably) to that of the Connors other than the fact that you may like those styles/genres better? I don’t find anything inherently superior in either the Jesse Cook or Tony Scott clips on a technical or compositional level. Style/genre? Obviously very different and they each evoke different feelings mostly dictated by our personal likes and preferences. I would also argue that the Scott is on a lower level technically and compositionally. Jesse Cook, as you say, is a very good guitarist, and even though I am not quite sure he is, along with Paco, one of the two best I do like some of his stuff. However, that clip (as you point out) barely rises above the saccharine Flamenco flavored "New Age/World Music" thing; and, I would also argue that with the exception of Cook himself the playing is not on the same "level" of virtuosity as that on the Connors clips. Just what do you mean when you refer to "level"? I welcome your thoughts.

Not comparing; just two acoustic guitarists that I enjoy:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ahL2vE-AGSY

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pi83LbDpUd0

Class, Frogman, class.
I listened to what you posted. I would still prefer John Williams to the former and I would not listen to the latter, just not my kind of music.
I think, I said it once here long ago, the best sax playing I've ever heard was at the corner of 5th Avenue and 60 something. The man, black man, was playing alone what I would call a never ending blues, combining styles of Coltrane and Miles from seventies but with more passion. No idea who he was.  Point is that there are great players, even if few, out there, but they are not 'on TV'.
I only like this composition by Tony Scott and his performance with Japanese musicians - Music for Zen Meditation. Very unusual collaboration, especially for that time.

And no, that man was not technically as good as Coltrane, but his technical level was good enough for what he had to expess.

Orpheus10, I think you simplify things. Some audiophiles, me included, do hesitate to spend subjectively and objectively significant amounts on music and equipment. There are other expenses, there are family members too. Also, I don't have much and I do save on food, especially on eating out, but not only. Did you know that on average Americans eat at least twice as much as needed? I am not talking about hungry people, there are many of them too.
As an example, I just bought a great used power cord for my integrated amp for $650, which is quite a money for me to spend on a cord. I did hesitate a little before buying it. But currently I do one upgrade every year and stay under $1k for each.
I said about those overpriced records because I saw some titles on ebay from people with very good feedback for half as much. True, you got to check ebay at least once every day when hunting for something particular.