Jazz for aficionados

Zappish-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCP4Zq3S6Ns

I’m not a Zappa fan and will confess to finding Pascoal difficult to get into, so far, aside from the early quartet album @tyray recommended. But I haven’t listened to all of his recordings so who knows what I might yet encounter. 

@audio-b-dog 

I don’t think it can be appreciated over computer speakers.

Do you play an instrument/?

I think it’s safe to say that those of us who do play tend to be more focused upon musical structure and performance factors (players’ technical and expressive abilities). These aspects are what my ears/brain are primarily attuned to and I wouldn’t have it any other way. When it comes to "getting" a piece of music, sonics don’t really enter into it, unless the sound is really abysmal. 

@stuartk, @tyray, I have loved music all of my life, back into elementary school. I have listened and enjoyed music on early transistor radios with little plastic ear pieces. I have always had a stereo, but for many years they were pretty cheap. I bought music and listened to it, and enjoyed it. That being said, there are a number of musicians who I didn't appreciate until I heard them live. Not just musicians, I did not like Puccini's operas until I heard them live. I needed the music to wash over me. 

Back to hips and brain. A lot of music appeals to my brain. Beethoven's string quartets, Bartok's string quartets, etc. Other music I need to wash over me. I just bought a new release of David Bowie's "Young Americans." I tried listening to it on a low volume because my wife was home. I set it aside until I could kick it up, and I am now listening to it loud. Maybe it's just me, and I've been to too many live concerts, but for me, some music just needs to be loud.

I will repeat, I am not referring to the quality of the audio system. If I had my old, very inexpensive system, I would still need to listen to it loud. So, I'm not talking about high-quality audio here. I'm talking about hips, and @stuartk I think you and I are different in this regard. I like mind music, but I also like hip music. Who knows, maybe that's where the word "hip" comes from?

Examples in jazz. I can listen to "Kind of Blue" at moderate levels and be quite satisfied. "Love Supreme" is a whole different story. Gotta' be loud for me. "Carmina Burana" has also got to be loud for me. I don't play the Stones at low levels. Mick Jagger said it--his music is about sex. Rock N' Roll is about sex. 

I had a friend who was a Beethoven scholar. We were talking about the structure of a symphony's movement. I don't think he liked my analysis, but I thought the movement was shaped like the sexual experience. It began with a theme, playing around with it, breaking it down and rebuilding it, all the while rising to a crescendo, lasting about 15 minutes. After it climaxed (I think an actual musical term) there was a come down period. To me, shaped just like the sexual experience. According to the documentary "Jazz," early jazz was about sex. It was played in houses of prostitution. Anyway, that's what Wynton Marsalis said.

I do both, heady music and hip music. Great thing about Flora Purim's abstract singing is that it's both. That's the amazing power of women and why we love to hear them sing. They can do head and hips at the same time. (Men can, too, of course, but not quite as well in my book.) 

Maybe in the future I should say, "This is hip music. Turn it up." I admit to having made reference to good stereo equipment in the past, and I will be careful not to do so in the future. But saying, "Turn it up" has nothing to do with the quality of a stereo. This is hip music, man, let it wash over you. 

Joyce (Moreno) with Mauricio Maestro - Natureza - (produced, arranged & conducted by Claus Ogerman) (Full Album) 1977

This lp was never released and put on a shelf until 2022. Please enjoy Joyce’s easy Brazilian MPB guitar swinging. Her voice is also her instrument of choice,  beauty and grace.

Joyce With Mauricio Maestro – Natureza - Discogs

@stuartk,

Apparently, I was more familiar with Jorge Strunz than I thought. It turns out he was one of the founders of the Latin jazz band Caldera.

'Caldera combined jazz, funk and rock with a wide variety of Latin music, influenced by 1970s fusion explorers like Return to Forever and Weather Report.

The four albums Caldera released did not sell (well), and the band called it quits in 1979 (though three out of their four albums have been reissued on CD and digital except for their third album Time & Chance).'

Of the four albums: Caldera (1976), Sky Islands (1977), Time and Chance (1978) and Dreamer (1979), I have three in my lp collection. Here is a wiki synopsis of Caldera's biography.