Jazz, what's so good about it?

I'm going to the Dakota tonight (it's a jazz club downtown).

I have never understood music.

As far as I could ever tell, people were in love with the idea of being a rockstar as much as they were the music itself. The 80's were more honest about this (kind of) by focusing on the beat and making the tunes very catchy, at least that's how I've seen it and I could be wrong. It does not help that I can never actually understand the lyrics to a song whether it's Hip to Be Square or something more recent like [insert Dave Matthews song title]. When I look up the lyrics online, the themes are almost always sophomoric at best - most songs seem to be about love or other emotions. Jazz is supposed to be different (the image coming to mind is the mercenary in Collateral played by Tom Cruise who despite his criminality I considered a very thoughtful character of meticulous-nature). I found this article in "WikiHow":

http://www.wikihow.com/Appreciate-Jazz-Music

1. "Start where jazz history started, Ragtime. Listen to Scott Joplin, the Entertainer especially, then the Maple Leaf Rag, these are extreme favorites. try moving to these. You might develop a love specifically for ragtime!
2. Now, try listening to the swing. You can dance to these easily. Possible favorites can be "Hit the road jack" by Ray Charles. You will love this one! Otherwise try listening to this upbeat instrumental called In the Mood by the Glenn Miller
3. At night to cool down, listen to Cool Jazz. Artists such as Chet Baker in songs such as "Someday my prince will come" and artists such as Gil Evans and Stan Getz are also quite good. This is also a distinct style. If this doesn't please your tastes, try be-bop.
4. Many people love be-bop. try listening to Dizzy Gillespie. he is quite good, with a lot of energy in his songs. Charlie Parker and him played together once.
5. Try listening to the blues, this will get you used to the soul and heart put into some jazz songs. Try Bobby Rush, Denise LaSalle, Sir Charles Jones, Bettye LaVette, and Peggy Scott-Adams. Try to learn the lyrics so you can sing along. You don't have to buy the CDs listen to them on youtube, or buy it from iTunes, but sample it first!
6. Figure out what you listened to before, and try to find a genre of jazz that you may like off of that. If you enjoyed, say, New Age, try listening to artists like Keith Jarrett, or if you listened to rock, try out Fusion. Later forms of jazz started shaping around mainstream popularity, so there is a genre of jazz for almost all music (even Jazz Rap)! But be sure not to get stuck on the sub-genre; try branching out to more solid forms of jazz."

It starts with the history. I believe music may be a way to connect to the past. Let's assume that music is a way to connect with emotional states. Emotions are highly connected to memory........... And if these guys are doing more than just writing music themed on sex and love but on political problems of the time, society itself, then a thorough understanding of history and music will allow me to better understand both. I will fill in the composers later as they are the vocabulary in this new language (I likely will need to download these from bittorrent as they are too expensive any other way).

Music likely is cultural transmission, it almost certainly is not completely disconnected.


Steve will probably not understand this article, Jarrod will.