Jazz for aficionados

Amazing young talent and clearly a prodigy.  Especially amazing given his background.  Also clearly still developing as is to be expected for someone that young.  Your first two clips are a good illustration of his development.  

On the one hand, on the simple blues in the first clip he shows a really good command of the “basics” of the language and does a lot of great and very idiomatic things like starting his solo (@ 3:09) with the same melodic figure that Wynton finishes his solo with in order to create continuity.  On the other hand, while his solo has a lot of great and very impressive individual moments, it meanders after a while without the kind of relationship between those individual moments that a more fully developed artist brings to the table to give a solo good musical shape.  The solo goes on too long and almost feels like he doesn’t quite know how to end his solo in a logical way; something that is harder to do than may seem.  But, the kid was twelve years old!!!  Incredible composure to be able to play like that with experienced players like Wynton on a stage like that.  Pretty amazing!

Fast forward two years and he sounds much more relaxed on the Monk tune in the second clip; even the tone he gets from the piano is more developed as is to be expected given his larger physical size.  Much more challenging tune to play and improvise on and he sounds impressively confident in the way that he plays a lot fewer notes, but with a lot more musical depth.  If this kid continues on the path he seems to be on he could be one of the best.  Thanks for the clips!

Thanks frogman. Your background in the music industry is a plus for me as far as learning a thing or two.

I would like to think I know a little bit about "how to listen to jazz music" after the last 15 years where have I listened to jazz almost exclusively with other genres taking a backseat. Not having any musical background of picking up an instrument other then listening closely. Sheet music looks like Egyptian hieroglyphs to me.

I still have a long way to go.

I was thinking about getting this book:

https://www.amazon.com/How-Listen-Jazz-Ted-Gioia/dp/0465093493/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qi...

pjw, you find a person that loves jazz truly and then you'll know how to listen jazz...

pjw, I commend you for your inquisitiveness. One of the things that most musicians hold as dogma is the idea that there is always more to learn about the art form; and there is no reason that listeners shouldn’t feel the same way.  We all “have a long way to go” and your refreshing lack of ego about this and open mind to different genres suggest that you are a great candidate. Since the art is always evolving one way or the other, there is always something new to learn or understand. This is not to say that there can’t be deep enjoyment or appreciation without understanding the technical aspects of music, but a better understanding can definitely deepen the enjoyment and appreciation. Unfortunately, there is sometimes a mistaken idea that some fall victim to that suggests that knowledge is in conflict with the enjoyment of the emotional component. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I am not familiar with that particular book, but I know Gioia’s work as a critic and reviewer and the guy definitely knows what he’s talking about. The reviews of that book are very positive. I would definitely check it out and please get back to us with your thoughts on it.

pjw, that was remark made in goodwill. I consider you as a true jazz listener...but I do think that another jazz admirerer od even a jazz player can deepen the process of taking pleasure in jazz listening...