Jazz for aficionados

Just picked up Court of the Crimson King on CD 4 days ago by accident. Iconic cover art.

Pat Metheny - "American Garage" - This is how I started off my Sunday morning. Is it Jazz? You tell me. Regardless, it's a great way to start the day.....

Alex, I also became bored with Rock which started me into Jazz. Especially drums for some reason.

First stop was current guitar monsters of Jazz. Yes, it is Jazz, but also a gateway.

Welcome Rubent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsqRtJog1l4

Without a doubt our tastes in music are a reflection of personality traits. The way I see it, one of the most difficult things for most people to do is to be comfortable “in the gray”; there is a tendency to want things to be either black or white...so to speak. The same idea applies in our personal search for a sense of identity; especially as we enter adulthood. I think researchers put individuals into three basic categories when researching this subject: “empathisers””, “systemisers” and those who are comfortable in the middle (the gray). Empathisers tend to like mellow sounding music and systemisers tend to like music that is more aggressive or more complex and complicated such as modern or avant-garde jazz; the group in the middle (the gray) tend to be reluctant to draw those lines and are more genre-neutral.

Not meaning to get too personal and this is not about judgment in any way. Alex, your comment “like children trying to be adults” is particularly interesting to me and suggests an extremely defined and “serious” sense of what being and adult means to you. As a parent of two children (one now an adult) one of the greatest personal positives of having children has been for me how it serves to pull me back to that kind of wide-eyed, non-judgmental attitude about certain things; the “gray”. Music is one of those things. I generally love being around children. Does this make me less of an adult? I hope not 🤪. You have often mentioned that you are very keyed in to the “sound” of your music and you seem to prefer the mellower sounds of West Coast jazz and others. I regret giving away my Allman Bros. records years ago when, as I got into music that I felt was “more serious”; I started to feel that the music was not “sophisticated” (adult) enough. When I listen to some of that music now I realize that some of it was pretty darn good music by any standard. Certainly not all of it has stood the test of time for me, but there is certainly a lot of jazz that for me is at a lower level of overall musical value; eventhough jazz is, overall, a preferred genre. I would encourage you to not give your records away (sorry, pjw), you never know.

Pryso, thanks for Monk’s “Dinah”. I hadn’t listened to that record for some time eventhough it’s a favorite, I love Monk’s “stride” playing ; great left hand.

I’m sure you know that your clip is actually Take 2 from the session. The reissue which I have includes alternate takes of some of the tunes. I always find it interesting how and why an artist may decide which “take” to put on the record. This example is interesting in that Take 1, which was not chosen for the original release, is actually a technically cleaner version. Monk was not known for the kind of flawless technique that other players have and sometimes one hears some “flubbing” of phrases as in Take 2. However, Take 2 sounds more “Monkish”; a little more percussive with even more of his quirky time feel and more accentuating of those great and unexpected dissonances from his right hand. Take 1 also sounds a little be-bopish toward the end; obviously not what Monk (or the producer) wanted. Some folks don’t like alternate takes on records. I think they are fascinating.

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

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x2RTXiMuuHc

Which version would other aficionados have chosen?