Jazz for someone who doesn't like jazz.

Wow, that chick can wail on the harp!

I have dabbled with harmonica. Can’t play much of anything because I never stuck with it. Still have a few of them.

Have drums now. Same scenario but I can play through a few songs now. Went from small, quiet and portable to large, loud and stuck in the basement. My kit is electric and I’m really feeling limited by it. May get real drums before too long.........but the current pandemic is putting a real dent in the paycheck......so maybe later.

Well, take heart. The brilliant essayist H.L.Mencken said in an essay about true music lovers ... 

"When you go to the opera on opening night and see the gentlemen in their top hats and tails and the ladies in their flowing evening gowns, they are not the true music lovers. They are there to be seen in society." He continued ... "You can always tell true music lovers by the fact that they always try to make their own music. They may be atrocious at it, but they continue to try anyway." 

See ... it is, after all, all about the music. *lol*

Frank

@oregonpapa Frank, great quote. And it reminded me of something off topic. I am not an opera lover but I can enjoy some of them. I have also not traveled much but in 2009 went to Italy for the first time. Driven mostly by interest in Italian cooking. Went to Parma. Lovely little city. Great opera house. Thought we might go to the opera while we were there. Wrong. Tickets impossible to get. The door of the opera house was covered with ’need ticket’ requests taped and pinned to it.

Came to find out that it sells out quickly. Yes, with the tux and tails crowd but also throngs of young people. And many of them can’t afford seats but they can afford the top row tickets where they stand and watch the opera. And these things go on for hours.

We went back in 2018. This time with tickets bought well in advance. Tosca. Sure enough, teens standing on the upper gallery for the whole show.

Those are true music lovers too!

At this point I am atrocious on the drums........but surprise myself fairly often that I can do anything at all.
And then there is jazz drumming............so hard.

^^^

A good friend of mine is an ex-professional guitarist and studio musician. He traveled all around the world playing guitar with Andy Williams. He’s on all of the Righteous Brothers albums. He can play virtually anything, including jazz. A totally amazing player.

I asked him one time what his favorite music was, and he answered "classical and opera." I told him that I couldn’t stand opera and that it just sounded like a fat lady screaming in the shower.

He told me to put a cassette tape in my car of a Puccini opera and just listen to it over and over. He said that learning to appreciate opera is a lot like learning to appreciate jazz, which I was totally immersed in at the time. He told me that eventually, everything would click in, and I would "get it."

Well, I selected Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. Needless to say, things did click in ...and now, I have plenty of operas in my collection. Some of the arias are so beautiful, that even while not understanding the language, they make tears come to my eyes.

I would love to see a live performance at La Scala one day ... maybe in the next life. I’m too old to travel now. Being Italian, I do make a mean sauce though. :-)

Are you familiar with the German soprano named Rita Streich? If not, you may want to add her to your collection. She was one of the very best:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3Gg-2XWQn0

Frank

I haven't red any responses, but Steely Dan frequently referenced Duke Ellington.  His own big band recordings are well respected as well as "Digital Duke".  Quincy Jones big band arrangements, too,  GRP All Stars did some great digital recordings of original arrangements like Glen Miller.    The oldest jazz is Dixieland.   I can't suggest any particular beside Louis Armstrong.  Nat Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Mel Torme. You get into "modern Jazz" starting around 1950 with smaller groups.  Bird, Coltrane, Miles Davis.   Then you can try Jazz Rock fusion like Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report.  Or more pop jazz like Spyro Gyra, Larry Carlton.   You're right there are a lot of variations to what folks call Jazz