Someone should have told me about Jazz.

Fastfwd · #1 07-04-2006, 06:59 AM

I live near Montreal, lived there pretty much all my life which is 30 years now.

For the first time sunday I went to the Jazz festival. I went to see Alain Caron and Bireli Lagrene. It was just amazing.

I always assumed that Jazz music was for the music pros or the poseurs. I guess I had just been listening to bad jazz.

Now I feel like I should learn to play a little jazz.

I also feel like dirt, more like somewhere deep beneath dirt actually. Something deep like the earth's core. Alain Caron can outplay me by about a factor of x100 tempo, without any mistakes and on a fretless bass.

I got some practicing to do. Lots of it.

Lowtonejoe · #2 07-04-2006, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fastfwd

I live near Montreal, lived there pretty much all my life which is 30 years now.

For the first time sunday I went to the Jazz festival. I went to see Alain Caron and Bireli Lagrene. It was just amazing.

I always assumed that Jazz music was for the music pros or the poseurs. I guess I had just been listening to bad jazz.

Now I feel like I should learn to play a little jazz.

I also feel like dirt, more like somewhere deep beneath dirt actually. Something deep like the earth's core. Alain Caron can outplay me by about a factor of x100 tempo, without any mistakes and on a fretless bass.

I got some practicing to do. Lots of it.

I hear you man.

I have been seriously bitten by the Jazz bug recently. My interest in it has been growing by leaps and bounds over the last couple of years but recently I passed over some kind of threshold.

I want to play real Jazz real bad. No, not badly.

The group I am in will let me do some of that as my skill level increases. I feel pretty lucky about that. But learning Jazz on the bass is up to me and so far it has been slow going but I feel like my plateau is about to take a leap up. How far? I don't know but I am pretty excited about it. Progress is preogress after all.

Good luck! First and foremost, let it be fun!

Joe.

Bruce Lindfield · #3 07-04-2006, 07:19 AM

I think that taking classes and lessons with Jazz pros really opened it up for me - along with playing with other people a lot!

But there's really no substitute for being able to ask somebody who knows, the questions you really want to ask and no book can give you the same thing!

Lowtonejoe · #4 07-04-2006, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

I think that taking classes and lessons with Jazz pros really opened it up for me - along with playing with other people a lot!

But there's really no substitute for being able to ask somebody who knows, the questions you really want to ask and no book can give you the same thing!

Yeah, I totally agree.

heh heh, but at the moment my questions go something like this...

Q:How did you do that?

A:What?

Q:That thing you did in the last song, in the beginning part.

A:Oh, you mean in the intro?

Q:No just after that.

A:You mean when we started the 'A' part of the song?

Q:I don't know that song well enough to know if it was in the 'A' part.

AARRRGH!

Oh well, it's coming, slowly but surely.

And I like it.

Joe.

Philbiker · #5 07-04-2006, 08:18 AM

You don't have to be able to play it to appreciate it. I've never played jazz but I've woodshedded along with Miles a few time. I can appreciate what those guys are doing without being able to do it myself. Though I'd like to......

peteroberts · #6 07-04-2006, 11:03 AM

Quote:

I always assumed that Jazz music was for the music pros or the poseurs. I guess I had just been listening to bad jazz.

what were you listening to, Kenny G??

You have to really reach to find 'bad' jazz in my opinion, get anything that Miles did w/the 1st and 2nd quintets, any Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, you can't go wrong with any of that stuff!

Jazz music is for EVERYONE, enjoy it!

Fastfwd · #7 07-04-2006, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peteroberts

You have to really reach to find 'bad' jazz in my opinion

What I had heard before was'nt really bad but it was bad for me because I was'nt able to understand it. Most of it sounded like random notes to me. But what I saw at that show was great. It still sounded like jazz but the notes flowed together like they should, not like someone who is just playing at random.

That's why I figured that you either had to be a musical genius or pretend to be one to like jazz. Now I know better.

Philbiker · #8 07-04-2006, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fastfwd

What I had heard before was'nt really bad but it was bad for me because I was'nt able to understand it. Most of it sounded like random notes to me. But what I saw at that show was great. It still sounded like jazz but the notes flowed together like they should, not like someone who is just playing at random.

That's why I figured that you either had to be a musical genius or pretend to be one to like jazz. Now I know better.

I find that jazz music is much more accessible when you watch the musicians perform it. When I listen to a Chick Corea Elektric Band album I'm completely blown away. When I see Chick Coreal Elektric band in concert, it's a whole different experience. I find this to be the case with most very complicated music. I have a similar reaction to King Crimson, as well as classical music.

Da_Niet · #9 07-04-2006, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philbiker

I find that jazz music is much more accessible when you watch the musicians perform it. When I listen to a Chick Corea Elektric Band album I'm completely blown away. When I see Chick Coreal Elektric band in concert, it's a whole different experience. I find this to be the case with most very complicated music. I have a similar reaction to King Crimson, as well as classical music.

True. But, that goes with ANY music that you like. There's nothing like watching the magic with your own eyes.

Aaron Saunders · #10 07-04-2006, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peteroberts

You have to really reach to find 'bad' jazz in my opinion, get anything that Miles did w/the 1st and 2nd quintets, any Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, you can't go wrong with any of that stuff!

^^ This man has good taste.

tZer · #11 07-04-2006, 08:24 PM

Yeah, I know the feeling. I "played" jazz in high school and a little in college - but I never "got it".

In know my "in" into jazz is not necessarily a full out jazz outfit, but after seeing Bela Fleck and the Flecktones my brain split wide open and I realized that I needed to get into this thing that lets musicians 'go where they wanna go' - and have that place be a different destination every night...

Jazz... damn...

christobass 416 · #12 07-04-2006, 08:25 PM

Jazz and jazz fusion have this vibe to them that I can't describe, it's incomparable to anything I've ever felt before when listening to music. Miles Davis 80's stuff is absolutely astonishing.

sargebaker · #13 07-04-2006, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fastfwd

I live near Montreal, lived there pretty much all my life which is 30 years now.

For the first time sunday I went to the Jazz festival. I went to see Alain Caron and Bireli Lagrene. It was just amazing.

I always assumed that Jazz music was for the music pros or the poseurs. I guess I had just been listening to bad jazz.

Now I feel like I should learn to play a little jazz.

I also feel like dirt, more like somewhere deep beneath dirt actually. Something deep like the earth's core. Alain Caron can outplay me by about a factor of x100 tempo, without any mistakes and on a fretless bass.

I got some practicing to do. Lots of it.

I was at that show, It was somethin alright! I was underimpressed with Birelli oddly enough.

gottawalk · #14 07-04-2006, 08:39 PM

Once you're "bitten", jazz is highly addictive! I caught it in high school and took it all the way with me until now. I play other stuff, too, but when I play in a jazz Band, combo, or big band, and it comes together, there's nothing else like it!

P.S. Make sure you have a good DRUMMER! or it's a lot of work! Just FYI!

Aaron Saunders · #15 07-04-2006, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gottawalk

Once you're "bitten", jazz is highly addictive! I caught it in high school and took it all the way with me until now. I play other stuff, too, but when I play in a jazz Band, combo, or big band, and it comes together, there's nothing else like it!

P.S. Make sure you have a good DRUMMER! or it's a lot of work! Just FYI!

Yeah man, when you lock it in with a good drummer...it's like nothing else. While I don't particularly mind playing jazz on slab, it's laying four-on-the-floor using my DB and playing with my drummer that it just feels great.

Any Ottawa bass players...there's a guy named Andrew Wales coming there this fall to college. If you want to jam with a good drummer, look him up in September.

paintballjunkie · #16 07-04-2006, 10:01 PM

why does everyone seem to hate kenny G? i'm not a fan, but i've heard a song of his before and kinda liked it.

gottawalk · #17 07-04-2006, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paintballjunkie

why does everyone seem to hate kenny G? i'm not a fan, but i've heard a song of his before and kinda liked it.

"A song". The rest will probably sound quite similar, so you might as well pick up an album or 5. Just for the "sale"

Go for the masters and big bands and you'll see a real difference! Buddy Rich Big Band; Woodiy Herman, Chic Corea, Count Basie, Maynard Ferguson, etc. Time to go back farther than the '80s! Grab that "research" tool and go for it and find some REAL jazz!

P.S. for an interesting album combining jazz band and current stuff, check out Phill Collins' "A Hot Night In Paris". Excellent band; great arrangements of his current tunes and also some other stuff that is pretty cool, like "Chips and Salsa" that's a great latin groove. Check it out!