All That Jazz
I have been thinking lately about what it is about jazz music that I enjoy so much.
No one would call me a student of music theory and I cannot explain every chord progression but I do know what I enjoy.
Jazz appeals to me and my personality where I appreciate structure, but I also enjoy the freedom to wander within it.
Jazz is composed but it is messy. Jazz musicians share that rhythm and then one of them go off on their own solos to make it uniquely theirs, all while the rest of the band keeps going to wait their turn to explore, wrapping it all up together in a nice package.
I am drawn to the spaces between the notes as much as the notes themselves. The pauses. The hesitation. The antici.....pation of what might come next.
In my mind there is no sexier instrument than the saxophone. It improves and changes everything all at once. When mainstream music stopped integrating the sax (late 1980's) the quality of modern music and the industry went downhill quick. Prove me wrong.
Davis, Coltrane, Mingus, Monk, Ellington, Baker, Hancock, Rollins- all maestros.
You're damn right I got the Blues
Blues music hits me in a different way.
Where jazz stimulates my curiosity, the blues will reach down somewhere more personal. Every.single.note has an emotion behind it.
A few notes from a blues guitar will communicate something that might take me several paragraphs to put into words. A rough voice, simple lyrics and nothing more.
Despite its name, the Blues isn't always sad. There is shenanigans, desire, frustration, and something else I can't describe.
Every single music genre that came after the blues, including jazz, metal, funk, rock-n-roll can trace it's roots back to those old negro spirituals aka the Blues. Prove me wrong.
King, Hooker, Waters, Clapton, Hendrix, another King, Guy, James- all maestros.
In the evening, I'll listen to my Late & Loud playlist. On a weekend morning, the Loft Sessions playlist comes out.
After a long day, I will put on a record, pour myself a drink, and soak it all in.