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Jazz listening: Is it about the music? Or is it about the sound?

The thread title says it all. I can listen to jazz recordings for hours on end but can scarcely name a dozen tunes.  My jazz collection is small but still growing.  Most recordings sound great.  On the other hand, I have a substantial rock, pop and country collection and like most of us, have a near encyclopedic knowledge of it.  Yet sound quality is all over the map to the point that many titles have become nearly unlistenable on my best system.  Which leads me back to my question: Is it the sound or the music?  Maybe it’s both. You’ve just got to have one or the other!
jdmccall56
dave_b's avatar
dave_b
3,159 posts
 
@jdmccall52 Thoughts and prayers are with you!
rushfan71
291 posts
 
Both.... It's about the sound of the music.

I will say this about albums.
Since I got my Bob's Devices Sky 30 SUT, I've gone back and listened to some albums that just sounded dull, but now many of them seem like they have come to life. What I mean by that is the sound is more lively, the definition and the sound stage have gotten better. It made albums I didn't really care for, listenable. 
I am most impressed.
quad78
23 posts
 
It's both, no question, and one can have precedence over the other depending on my mood. I'm not a big jazz fan, but jazz  might be the best kind of music to test most hifi systems. Treble, bass and mid-range - jazz contains the entire audio spectrum in abundance. John Coltrane's Blue Train album is a prime example but there are many others.   
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
I hate spell check sometimes. That was supposed to be discriminate.
Anyway, better systems make everything sound better. You hear the antiquity better. The music and artistry are still there. In order to really understand some artists particularly horn and reed players, you have to hear them early in their careers when they still had lungs. People who shy away from very old recordings and 78s are missing a lot of very important music. Enrico Caruso and Louis Armstrong are great examples.
Both were genetic misfits who had lungs twice the size of ours. Both had no need of a PA system. 

There are people who listen to lame examples of music because it was recorded in a special manner. There are examples of great music recorded in a special manner. Find those.
wsrrsw's avatar
wsrrsw
1,016 posts
 
Both!

I'm also a Bill Evans Trio fan. Big Time. Mitchel's "Song for Sharron" is on now and that's utterly moving to me. 

Isn't that the whole point of all of this; getting an evocative experience over and over or as Ben Sidran said "it's copacetic man" Heck yah. "Jesus Just Left Chicago" or "Blue Rondo a La Turk" (the live at Carnegie Hall version) both thrill.

Recordings of the likes of "Mingus Plays Piano", Teddy Wilson, Red Garland and Django Reinhardt are not amazing recordings but the music shines through.

Jarrett, Peacock and Dejonette on "Whisper Not" playing "Poinciana" is another one that sends me and the recording is good too.






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