It’s a small word jazz, but it’s a huge genre covering a multitude of styles. Some like dixieland jazz I don’t get along with but others like Keith Tippet and Miles and John Colytane, I love. I often meet people who say “I don’t like jazz” but it usually just means there’s a sub genre of jazz they don’t like.
That said, until I was maybe 40, I resisted it all. Despite jazz being everywhere in life, especially theme tunes and soundtracks, many of whom I loved , like the music in the Ipcress File and many cop dramas. Theme tunes, usually performed by Johnny Dankworth, like Tomorrow’s World were a part of weekly life.
So it wasn't alien really. Miles’ Kind of Blue must have featured in a hundred movies and shows but I was a heavy rock kid and felt it wasn’t really for me. Ironic really because I was, amidst much criticism, an early jazz-rock fan of things like the Mavishnu Orchestra and Jeff Beck and Brand X. I sold that to myself as more rock than jazz but it meant that once I was able to properly embrace jazz, I found its offbeat approach and radical sonics to be second nature.
And there was so very much to educate myself about. A huge history to delve into and though I’ve got to grips with it all now at 65, compared to my rock music knowledge, it’s tiny. Obviously, I sought out many of the classics. Miles, Coltrane, Dave Brubeck, Tippett, Sonny Rollins, Kirk and many more and the sheer volume of records they’ve all released is intimidating.
Of course, I started to understand more about where the jazz-rock I loved evolved out of and discovered it was often less different than I had thought.
The cat loves piano jazz, it seems to calm him and send him to sleep and as time has gone on, I’ve begun liking more ‘difficult’ jazz but then again I always loved the beard honk honk bang a gong jazz, so popular in the mid 70s. When it all clicks its like entering a different cosmic plane and it touches the face of god.
There’s also a limited amount of jazz tees out there beyond the obvious stuff. I wish I knew more to be able to select the most interesting but I’m still learning. If you’ve got any suggestions, do drop me a line.
