Jazz has a tough time of it in this modern, convenient world. People
have grown used to getting everything fast and easy. Restaurants and
gourmet food emporia offer speedy take out and drive through--or even
delivery. Quickie tune-and-lube shops offer car service with 10-minute
fast-or-free guarantees. Vacation photos are back in an hour. And when
people get sick, they want the doctor to prescribe rapid
relief...preferably over the phone.
When it comes to music, many people don't want to work too hard there,
either. Most listeners settle for what gets played on the radio. Trouble
is, much FM radio music these days is programmed to attract the widest
audience possible. Simple melodies and upbeat, brainless lyrics are
signs of a potential hit song and bigger advertising dollars for radio
stations.
But there are more satisfying varieties of music. Jazz is one of them.
If you are relatively new to it, you may think jazz sounds complicated,
and you may have trouble connecting emotionally. Don't give up. Many
current fans felt the same way. I didn't know quite what to make of
Miles Davis when I first heard his music--at a time when most of my
peers were into Woodstock and acid rock.
The purpose of this chapter is to give you a set of altered ears. In
this book, I give you just enough information about jazz that you can
begin to hear it...and feel it. In Appendix B, you find a detailed guide
to songs on the CD that comes with this book. But for the moment,
consider jazz in more general terms.
Seven wild-card albums:
Lennie Tristano, Crosscurrents (Capitol)
Cecil Taylor, Unit Structures (EMD/Blue Note)
Machito, Mucho Macho Machito (Pablo)
Lester Bowie, The Great Pretender (ECM)
Dorothy Ashby, In a Minor Groove (Prestige)
Jo Jones, The Essential Jo Jones (Vanguard)
Jim Hall, Dialogues (Telarc)
