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George Richardson

About Me

My Jazz Story

I love jazz because of the freedom of expression and endless fusion of genres and styles old and new. I was first exposed to jazz when my college tutor played Charles Mingus "Haitian Fight Song" in class and it just opened my mind to a world of musical possibilities and that's where my journey started. After that I continued to explore new genres always looking forward to be moved again like the first time i heard pure soul and feeling poured out in that stampede of a bass solo! The best show I ever attended was GoGo Penguin--all of their concerts have be a life experience. The first jazz record I bought was Charles Mingus Featuring Eric Dolphy, Live at Cornell 1964. My advice to new listeners is don't just give up because of some confusing manic be-bop line that sound's like noise because you've never heard anything like it before. It takes time to appreciate new art whether visual or audio but like all art there are many styles, sub-genres and beautiful marriages of different musical cultures under the canopy of "Jazz" music. It's so vast it's worth searching for that first composition or artist whose sound suits you and once you find that you will grasp a deeper understanding of art in its creativity and still see its ever evolving form changing and growing right in front of you. Whether musician or listener being open to one thing can lead to the ability to be open to many other things both in and out of music but music can be a great catalyst for starting a creative journey of your own that will hopefully never end.