GOD, I really hate jazz!!!

[PeterG]

I don't "hate" any music, I just don't prefer it. Hate is such a strong word and when you use it, you come off sounding ignorant (and a baby). Compare "I HATE JAZZ" to saying something like "I really don't like Jazz music and prefer other types of music, but I can still respect jazz musicians".

Yea, whatever. You speak how you want with your incorrect and odd constructions like "I just don't prefer it" which lacks the necessary comparison. And I'll speak how I want.

Hate is the perfect word for what I feel about a lot of things. I don't know who started this crappy modern mythological platitude "Hate is such a strong word" but I hate it!!!

[ronmac]

I dunno. I can honestly say that I hate the 80s.

[80s were ok]

Hate implies anger but you are free to hate.

[80s were ok]

I dunno. I can honestly say that I hate the 80s.

your loss.

[Firth]

Jazz is the DNA of prog. Check out the 1958 Newport jazz feat:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rRleR-e8_t8

[80s were ok]

Jazz is the DNA of prog. Check out the 1958 Newport jazz feat:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rRleR-e8_t8

very correct.

[Vic2012]

I like some Jazz. I like jazz/rock, fusion, and latin/jazz. What I find terminally boring is quartets or quintets with noodly sax solos. I prefer large horn sections over just one horn (trumpet, sax) soloing incessantly. Long piano solos in jazz bore me too. I dig me some vibraphones though.

[meimjustalawnmower]

No, I fully understand what is going on and followed jazz closely and in depth for many years. I just don't like the sound of it anymore.

I find this statement to be disingenuous at best. To devote that much time to anything as innocuous as Jazz would certainly result in a reasonable amount of knowledge and appreciation, which would in turn negate the whole "hate" factor.

[progeezer]

Firth has indeed hit on it. The "founding fathers" of prog had the training and sensibility of classical music. The improvisation, time sig changes and the freeing of musical boundaries, however, can be directly attributed to Bird, Coltrane, Monk, Dizzy, Mingus and on and on and on imo........

[zombywoof]

Your man, Frank, is right at the top, IMO.

Agreed. Purists will hate me for this, but Grand Wazoo, Waka, and Hot Rats are three of my favorite jazz albums.

[East New York]

Some of you might scoff, but this is really great stuff.

Throw yourself back to 1927 during the prohibition of Roaring 20s, pre-depression, when Babe Ruth was king and listen to it without any preconceptions from what happened 40-plus years later. This is real American music and prog wouldn't be what it is today without it.

Nothing at all to scoff at; Bix was no slouch! Great stuff.

[East New York]

Jazz is the DNA of prog. Check out the 1958 Newport jazz feat:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rRleR-e8_t8

Oh, yeah! You would have not been able to drag me away from watching and listening throughout those four days; the lineup was killer.

[DaleGtr]

For many people it's a question of too unfamiliar and the get lost vs. too familiar and the get bored. Jazz often falls in the former camp. It often doesn't give people enough to hang their hat on and predict what will come next. My ex-wife hated jazz, I believe, for this very reason.

When I was 19 I only had an AM radio in my car and there wasn't much to listen to. (This is 1977 in Chicago.) I found a jazz radio station and for over a year literally forced myself to listen to it. I didn't like much but as a musician felt I needed to come to terms with this form. One day I heard an Oscar Peterson trio (or maybe quartet) recording from the late 50's. His technique and flowing lines just floored me and the ligthbulb finally came on. I built on it from that point and enjoyed more and more jazz slowly.

Around 7-8 years ago I found a record store downtown that was going out of business and had a 50% off sale. All the rock had been picked over. I literally did not have any jazz in my collection so I posted on PE about what everyone thought was the single best album by any given performer. I got LOTS of great advice and when I saw several people agree on a single album I felt it had to be good and worth getting. I didn't find all the gems but walked out with $1000 worth of jazz cds for $500, about 100 cds. I've got Armstrong, Biederbeck, Coltrane, Davis, Parker, etc. I don't listen to it all the time but have finally come to terms with this challenging music.

I'm surprised anyone 'gets' and understands jazz but doesn't appreciate it. It took me a long time to come around to it but I'm glad I did. I could never (well, it would take a LONG time) play jazz, as I just don't have the ear for it but I have a strong respect for it and the knowledge- and ear- to play it.

Compared to jazz a lot of other music just doesn't seem to be adventurous or go anywhere. I liked Bruford's explanation of soloing in jazz compared to some other forms of music. IIRC, in essence he said jazz soloing was like having a conversation while soloing over in a fixed scale over some simple two chord progession was not at all like that. Ok he said it a lot better than I just did but that's close to the intent.

[East New York]

For many people it's a question of too unfamiliar and the get lost vs. too familiar and the get bored. Jazz often falls in the former camp. It often doesn't give people enough to hang their hat on and predict what will come next. My ex-wife hated jazz, I believe, for this very reason.

When I was 19 I only had an AM radio in my car and there wasn't much to listen to. (This is 1977 in Chicago.) I found a jazz radio station and for over a year literally forced myself to listen to it. I didn't like much but as a musician felt I needed to come to terms with this form. One day I heard an Oscar Peterson trio (or maybe quartet) recording from the late 50's. His technique and flowing lines just floored me and the ligthbulb finally came on. I built on it from that point and enjoyed more and more jazz slowly.

Around 7-8 years ago I found a record store downtown that was going out of business and had a 50% off sale. All the rock had been picked over. I literally did not have any jazz in my collection so I posted on PE about what everyone thought was the single best album by any given performer. I got LOTS of great advice and when I saw several people agree on a single album I felt it had to be good and worth getting. I didn't find all the gems but walked out with $1000 worth of jazz cds for $500, about 100 cds. I've got Armstrong, Biederbeck, Coltrane, Davis, Parker, etc. I don't listen to it all the time but have finally come to terms with this challenging music.

I'm surprised anyone 'gets' and understands jazz but doesn't appreciate it. It took me a long time to come around to it but I'm glad I did. I could never (well, it would take a LONG time) play jazz, as I just don't have the ear for it but I have a strong respect for it and the knowledge- and ear- to play it.

Compared to jazz a lot of other music just doesn't seem to be adventurous or go anywhere. I liked Bruford's explanation of soloing in jazz compared to some other forms of music. IIRC, in essence he said jazz soloing was like having a conversation while soloing over in a fixed scale over some simple two chord progession was not at all like that. Ok he said it a lot better than I just did but that's close to the intent.

This is a great account of your experience with the genre!

I was raised in a jazz/big band/classical household, but I was classically trained (concert grand harp and piano). When I was a kid, I loved listening to jazz, but never had the experience of playing it until I attended Manhattan School Of Music and found myself in an elementary jazz improv class, seated at one Fender Rhodes among many in the room, and sucking SO badly at trying to swing. However, the experience was excellent, taught me a lot, and got me to listen to and play music---not just jazz---in ways I'd wanted for so long.

[East New York]

I'm sure many people remember this one:

[PeterG]

I find this statement to be disingenuous at best. To devote that much time to anything as innocuous as Jazz would certainly result in a reasonable amount of knowledge and appreciation, which would in turn negate the whole "hate" factor.

Can't work out if you're calling me a liar or telling me what I should be feeling or what I should be thinking or all of the above. Whatever, it really doesn't matter and I really don't care as I created this thread to discuss music not my use of the English language.

[PeterG]

Hot Rats.....of my favorite jazz albums.

Now that is interesting, Hot Rats is my favourite FZ album but I've never considered it jazz.

[PeterG]

your loss.

I agree. Most of my favourite music comes from the 80s.

[PeterG]

Hate implies anger

Only if that is the deifniiton of hate you choose to apply. A very common modern definition simply means "strong dislike"

[Poisoned Youth]

These threads are a bit droll. Even though we have a fairly liberal OT forum on PE, threads in the spirit of "most annoying literature" and "I hate ____" go against the spirit of discussion encouraged on the forum (see Terms of Service). Please let's not make this a habit.

[Poisoned Youth]

As far as someone not liking jazz, it's completely understandable. As far as prog fans not liking jazz, it doesn't surprise me either...as many have specific tastes (shocking!) and prefer symphonic rock & neo-prog, music with vocals in English language only, and structure & composition over improvisation and 'noodling'.

However, I feel as if the general population at large and even many a prog fan, have a limited perception of what jazz is and can be. Like prog, jazz struggles to break free of what many consider to be it's heyday from be-bop and post-bop days of the mid 40s to mid 60s. There's about 50 years of jazz history since then, and the music is as great as ever, I think more so because jazz today has so many faces and flavors.

While I'm a big fan of the 50s-60s Blue Note era as well as seminal artists as Mingus, Trane, Miles, Ornette, etc., the majority of the jazz I own is post 60s. The late 60s/early 70s was a wonderful time in jazz history, with artists experimenting with psychedelia, jazz-fusion, spiritual and soul music, free-jazz, African roots music, and groove & R&B. In the 70s, the ECM label with its sympathetic, somewhat abstract take on jazz and diverse artist base, is still a major label today. In the last 20 years, much like the "prog resurgence", the music has gotten even more diverse and more sophisticated. Genre blending is almost a "rule" not a trend. Great leaps have been made in mixing jazz with anything from classical to punk to electronica. There are (relatively) strong scenes currently in New York, Chicago, and the West Coast - all with a slightly different focus and feel.

There's also quite a diverse international scene. When it comes to jazz, outside of the ECM artist base, artists who are not from North America or the UK really struggle to be recognized. Like prog, you can go to any country and find some obscure jazz albums - and some real gems. I personally am a big fan of the modern Belgian and French scenes.

It's a great time to be a fan of jazz.

[nycsteve]

Hate jazz? To bad for you.

[Shadow]

Hate implies anger but you are free to hate.

Is that why Frank abused a sausage patty?

[Progmatic]

What are you affraid of?

[Shadow]

Yogi Berra Explains Jazz

Interviewer: What do you expect is in store for the future of jazz trumpet?

Yogi: I'm thinkin' there'll be a group of guys who've never met talkin' about it all the time...

Interviewer: Can you explain jazz?

Yogi: I can't, but I will. 90% of all jazz is half improvisation. The other half is the part people play while others are playing something they never played with anyone who played that part. So if you play the wrong part, its right. If you play the right part, it might be right if you play it wrong enough. But if you play it too right, it's wrong.

Interviewer: I don't understand.

Yogi: Anyone who understands jazz knows that you can't understand it. It's too complicated. That's whats so simple about it.

Interviewer: Do you understand it?

Yogi: No. That's why I can explain it. If I understood it, I wouldnt know anything about it.

Interviewer: Are there any great jazz players alive today?

Yogi: No. All the great jazz players alive today are dead. Except for the ones that are still alive. But so many of them are dead, that the ones that are still alive are dying to be like the ones that are dead. Some would kill for it.

Interviewer: What is syncopation?

Yogi: That's when the note that you should hear now happens either before or after you hear it. In jazz, you don't hear notes when they happen because that would be some other type of music. Other types of music can be jazz, but only if they're the same as something different from those other kinds.

Interviewer: Now I really don't understand.

Yogi: I haven't taught you enough for you to not understand jazz that well.