so i like jazz... what now?

[Jim Campbell]

I never really cared for jazz very much in the past, but it seems like lately I keep "discovering" really interesting jazz players that have changed my mind. Django Reinhardt, Brad Mehldau, and most recently *drumroll* Charles Mingus. I love his basslines (even though they are barely audible). These people have shown me that jazz can be fun to listen to, unlike other jazzers where I feel like I need to have a degree in music theory to appreciate what they are doing.

I would very much like to learn to play jazz, but it seems so intimidating. Where and how should I start? I'm also scared that I'll be wasting my time learning to play since I've heard that jazz players don't care much for bass guitar, and I have no interest in learning double bass. Any TB brothers care to point me in the right direction in terms of training?

you may not need a degree to listen to and appreciate jazz,but to play it at all well you gotta know your onions.....

 

[Ed Fuqua]

Good suggestion!

However, unfinished and/or part fantasy or not, "Beneath the Underdog" is an autobiography and gives some insight into Mingus the man, as written by himself.

JMHO

Maybe not, Dannie Richmond contended that BTU was almost entirely a work of fiction loosley based on Mingus' life written by some college girl he was "involved" with. And he would be in a position to know.