Introducing Jazz to Squares?

[heinous seamus]

I've been wanting to check out some Jazz and I saw Duke Ellington - Such Sweet Thunder in a charity shop today. Should I get it? Am I jumping in too deep? Is this record an aberration in an otherwise amazing back catalogue?

 

[SpookyFrank]

Hard to go wrong with Duke really. His stuff is generally pretty straightforward and very melodic and generally impossible to dislike.

 

[danny la rouge]

I've been wanting to check out some Jazz and I saw Duke Ellington - Such Sweet Thunder in a charity shop today. Should I get it? Am I jumping in too deep? Is this record an aberration in an otherwise amazing back catalogue?

Go for it, it's a Shakespeare-themed concept album!

It's not the absolute pinnacle (which would be the so called Blanton-Webster era), but it's Duke. You can't go far wrong.

 

[xslavearcx]

Well, quite.

As I said in the other thread, 70s jazz fusion is, on the whole, bad patter.

That was my portal into jazz music... Similiar to your story of metalers getting tuned into jazz in a maryhill flat ... Myself and two pals in which we were in a death metal band borrowed 2 return to forever albums from my dad and gave them a listen to in my mates flat in Govanhill ... I was bassist and was bored of the fact that for bassists there was not much divergence from following guitar riffs ; drummer was into Meshuggah and we all of course like guitar solists such as Hammett, mustaine , Friedman : the usual stuff really . Bear in mind that death metal and thrash people quite often appreciate technical instrument play.. Anyhow listening to those albums totally blew us away with the amazing bass solos from Stanley Clarke , the solos by Al dimeola that would make malmsteen cry; and of course the drumming by Lenny white - very technical as you would expect by a jazz drummer , great dragging of snare etc but I think it was the fact his drum rolls where very similiar to metal (only much better) that made this stuff appeal to us a mettaler audience.

I can see how jazz peeps can cringe at some of the fusion stuff like that but I would definately categorise IT as jazz albeit jazz musicians playing rock. And certainly the lineage of chic corea and John McLaughlin to miles davis bitches brew album has gotta by extension place Mahavishnu orchestra and return to forever in the jazz signifying chain...

Listening to those albums now I get that they are cheesy, less free , less dischordant than say bitches brew and more riff driven (I can see why metallers can get into that) and I can see that such stuff can pave the way to generally considered to be shit music forms such as shredding guitar (satch, vai, petrucci claim di meaola as influence ) and to level 42* but I still love that both for the music itself and for the fact it opened up jazz to me (although jazz is very much uncharted territory for me but I do love it just haven't gone beyond scratching the surface)



*i do like a bit of level 42 but I know it's shit

 

[toblerone3]

I'm introducing some squares to the Jazz thread.

 

[danny la rouge]

(although jazz is very much uncharted territory for me but I do love it just haven't gone beyond scratching the surface)

There's so much to mine. I look forward to hearing what test shafts you've sunk.*


*Takes metaphor too far.

 

[danny la rouge]

This is the look I'm giving you, toblerone3 :

 

[xslavearcx]

There's so much to mine. I look forward to hearing what test shafts you've sunk.*


*Takes metaphor too far.

I'm going to be working my way through this thread actually... Just got my hifi set up which was in storage after moving into my girlfriends so looking forward to listening to new stuff on speakers rather than earphones on my phone...

 

[heinous seamus]

Go for it, it's a Shakespeare-themed concept album!

Yeah, I read that and it raised an eyebrow

I'll pick it up then, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't getting something that's universally-acknowledged as his worst ever or something.

 

[danny la rouge]

Yeah, I read that and it raised an eyebrow

I'll pick it up then, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't getting something that's universally-acknowledged as his worst ever or something.

No, it's a late gem. It has Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Clark Terry and Jimmy Woode, amongst others. Even on an off day they'd sparkle.

 

[youngian]

Coleman Hawkins was my entry into jazz, he's a more accessible entry than the Be-bop greats while more challenging than the familiar swing era giants.

This is the look I'm giving you, toblerone3 :

He looks rough there. Too much Klingon ale by the looks of it. I saw him pop up in an episode of Miami Vice as a washed out junkie which he played very convincingly and was possibly his last appearance.