My Friends Don't Like Jazz? Boo!!

I have two tickets to the season openng Jazz concert at the Disney Concert Hall, with Keith Jarrett, tonight and I cannot find anybody who wants to go. Why? Because all my friends are uncultured dunderheads who don’t like jazz! That’s why. They don’t like Jazz, well phooey on them!

I apologize for the lack of true vitriol in this rant, the complaint is fairly lame and they are still my friends. Stilll, I am stuck with this extra ticket and it should thrill the bejeezus out of anyone to get to go to the premeir jazz concert at the beautiful new Disney Concert Hall, but they are all, ‘meh’ and stuff and I am all like ,‘C’mon’ and stuff and I just don’t get my friends.

Jazz sucks.

Some friends they are. If a friend of mine invited me to that i would be eternally greatful.

Scotcho

Maybe they were polite and didn’t want to tell you that they didn’t like Keith Jarrett? Just kidding, I do like his playing, though I know opinions on him differ.

Just tell your friends that Keith Jarret plays a mean Banjo and I’m sure that they will gladly follow you to the concert.

Just lie to them and tell them it’s a polka party. Who doesn’t love polka?

Sadly, jazz is a musical style that many people just don’t get. Part of the reason is lack of exposure, which is truly a shame. Jazz is a style of music that is truly american in its origins, and one that we should be proud of. Unfortunately, many jazz artists find much more success in places like Europe and Japan, where they seem to have a little more of an open mind and a better appreciation of the skill and artistry behind what they are listening to. I suspect that it also may have something to do with a more comprehensive approach to music education in these places.

The cerebral nature of Jazz is easier to appreciate when one has a deeper understanding of music. The more knowledge you have about music in general, the more levels you appreciate in jazz. Also, it makes it easier to understand the improvisational mastery required to perform this style of music. That is why jazz tends to be popular among serious musicians. They are able to appreciate what is so special about it. Not that others can’t, but it requires a bit of an open mind and an ability to look deeper into the music than just what some lyrics are saying or whether or not it has a catchy beat. That sometimes seems to be all that we require for music to be considered good in this country.

I would have gone to that concert in a heartbeat. I’m dying to see the new Disney Concert Hall and I happen to love Keith Jarrett.

OK…so the reason I don’t care for Jazz is that I’m a bigot who is just not intelligent enough to appreciate it.

Got it.

While you’re at it, what failings of mine make me not like contemporary country either?

Gangster Octopus, your friends are doofi. I’d love to hear Jarrett live. Is he playing with his usual trio?

A bigot? Huh?

I don’t think musicguy was suggesting a lack of intelligence as much as he was alluding to a lack of education, specifically music education, as a reason why jazz isn’t as appreciated as much as other genres of music in this country.

For what it’s worth, I know more people who like jazz than those who don’t.

I never heard the person you refer to, but jazz sucks just like rock sucks: i.e. 90% of it is crap. But the rest of it is good.

Thank you, JuanitaTech, that is what I was trying to say.

Balle_M, overreact much?

From your post:

I’m having a really hard time understanding why you are so offended by my post. I don’t recall suggesting that anyone who doesn’t like jazz is an uneducated bigot.

Maybe I can share my personal experience which will hopefully shed some light on where I was coming from. As a young musician, I liked jazz to some extent. I thought the horns were cool and I liked watching the drummers. I thought the sound was cool but I didn’t really understand what was going on within the music. As my musical education progressed, I started to hear more things going on in the music that I wasn’t aware of before. I started hearing how a soloist was actually playing around the actual melody of a song and not just hitting random notes. I started hearing how chord substitutions were being used. I started to understand how it was that a soloist was able to improvise on the spot in very musical ways. A better understanding of these things (among many others) helped me to hear complexities that earlier had gone right over my head. The result was that I started to listen to a lot more Jazz and trying to listen for all of these things. It made it much more enjoyable to me and helped me in my personal quest to learn how to play this style of music.

From my teaching experience, I have seen many of my students develop a taste for the music that they didn’t originally have. As they learned a little more about what was going on, they were able to enjoy it more. I have also had students who loved jazz and didn’t like rock and roll. A lot of them hadn’t really had much exposure to that style of music and didn’t really get it. Same thing for latin music, country, classical, and just about every other genre. I have found that sometimes a persons appreciation level can increase once they are a little better educated on what is actually going on in a particular style of music. I think the same can be said for other artforms as well. Take an art appreciation class and you might find your taste in art changes. Take a literature class and you might find that works that you previously found boring, become more entertaining as you get a better perspective of the author. There is nothing wrong with expanding your knowledge on a subject and developing a better understanding of it. But if you choose not to, that doesn’t make you a stupid bigot. It just means that you may be limiting your choices in what is enjoyable to you.

It’s Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, and Jack DeJohnette.

I would really hate for this ticket to go to waste. If anybody wants to go, no charge, maybe they can email me.

No, and I oughta crawl through this &%$# monitor and give you the thrashing of your life for even hinting I do…<G>

Actually my post came off sounding far nastier than I intended it to be, but I’ll explain.

You used the phrase “open-minded” twice. I read that as implying that if one doesn’t like Jazz, he is closed-minded which is a large part of my definition of a bigot.

As far as education goes, I feel that I have an excellent grounding in music. I play myself and have been exposed to some fine musicians in all genres including Jazz. The suggestion that if I only had more knowledge on the subject I would like Jazz wrankled me a bit.

One more comment and I’ll put this to bed. My best friend (and a fellow Doper) is an excellent musician and is heavily into Delta Blues. He not only plays it but has studied both the music and the history behind it. Blues is a major part of his life.

He is without a doubt the most fad-resistant person I have ever met, so if this music meant so much to him I felt there must be something to it. Yes, I found some songs I liked, but it will never impact me on the visceral level it does him. And that is fine with both of us. He listens and shares his Son House and I listen and share my Milt Brown without one feeling the need to convert the other.

I think musicguy et al, it works like poetry.

Poetry, to someone who doesn’t know how to read it, will most likely be boring, nonsensical, and pointless.

Knowing how to read poetry allows you to crediably say you hate it (or not).

So, liking jazz does not at all depend on musical knowledge. But, having an opinion that matters does.

Sounds alot like learning to appreciate fine wine, too.

I agree. That post was just ever so slightly snooty and elitist. So, people don’t enjoy jazz because they don’t “understand” music, and/or aren’t “smart” enough?

Shoot. I’ve been playing/singing and studying dance since I was about three. Including classical music. I still don’t like certain genre’s of music.

To suggest that a person’s taste is contingent upon their characteristics and qualities (such as open minded vs non-open minded) is pretty,well close-minded.

Some people like it, some don’t. It’s a shame that the OPs friends aren’t fans. I feel bad that he doesn’t have anyone to go with. I take issue with the insinuation that it’s because people who don’t like jazz aren’t smart enough, or don’t have a deep apprecation of music.

Sounds like snobbery, a bit.

Obviously, Gangster Octopus’s friends are too independent. Get some friends with low self esteem that you can push around and exploit.

I don’t think musicguy’s posts sound snobby, at all, and Eonwe makes a very good point, too. Too many people don’t know what to listen for in jazz so they dismiss it out of hand as amelodic crap. I know that in my admittedly small circle of friends, only 1 other person has any love or appreciation for the artform and the rest refuse to even give it a chance. These are types of people musicguy is addressing, not people like Balle_M and CanvasShoes who appear to have arrived at their opinions honestly after having given the music a fair chance.

BTW, is this the recently opened Disney Concert Hall in LA, designed by Frank Gehry? If so, why don’t you try selling the concert to your friends as a chance to check out a cool piece of architecture? I’ve only seen photos but it looks gorgeous.

Ooooh. Jazz!

Isn’t that what Kenny G plays?

I love Kenny G!

I love jazz!

<homer>

I am so smart … s - m - r - t!

</homer>

:smiley: