What is it about jazz that is so appealing to so many people?

I love jazz. It’s just the tempo, the words, the beat, geez, everything. There’s nothing better than a good jazz band.

jazz hands.

It challenges my ears to listen to certain kinds of jazz, mostly bebop and on through to the late 60s. I’m so used to pop music that listening to something like John Coltrane or Miles Davis is akin to going on an adventure. A sonic adventure!

I’ll think the melody’s going one way (when I first hear a recorded piece) and then it goes entirely somewhere else. Whee!

It’s an acquired musical taste and jazz has so much potential for improvisation and creativity that, for many, it just hard not to like it.

Most tunes do the same thing over and over again. They get boring by the second verse. There’s nothing there for the mind to latch onto, and the mind craves newness.

Jazz has that, because it is based on improvisation. Sure, it conforms to standard chord progressions, and AABA forms, but you get two or three people’s take on every tune. That’s one thing that’s interesting. The next thing is the communication between the musicians, how the horn picks up on the form of the rhythm, or even more cool, when the drum plays with the melodic instruments. Jazz has so many games it plays, and it’s fun to catch them, although to catch more of them, you need to play it.

It’s full of mysteries. Do you know why Miles Davis played with his back to the audience?

Now, to keep this newness and invention, usually you have to go into new territory—both melodically and rhythmically. You can get atonal and harmonic, and you can get into twisting the quality of the sounds—screeching and honking. What is going on here is energy, and the musicians are creating it, but also being created by it. You have to imagine this interplay and imagine how it would feel in your body in order to begin to understand it. Jazz is a very physical music, but not like club dancing. Clubs use volume to move people. It’s not a subtle approach. Jazz does it with manipulation of many different forms of energy, and none of it is enhanced. That’s a big trick.

It might help to see it live. It’s very different that way. And if you do go, sit right next to the band if at all possible.

@daloon Ooohh, I KNEW you’d jump on this question, LOL. Have you ever listened to Squirrel Nut Zippers? Love them!

@jbfletcherfan – I like Squirrel Nut Zippers – so does my daughter. In fact, I can’t find my CD. Glad it’s on my iPod. Do you like Diana Krall? I see her to the right – we really enjoy her.

What is it about jazz? It’s an old friend. It’s there whenever you need it. It’s up and it’s down. It’s there to get the conversation going. It’s not the background, it’s not the foreground. It’s right there with you. I can start a playlist and all of the family comes out. We all like jazz. Hmm along, sing along – make your own words up. Jazz is good like that.

To me, jazz is woven in America’s fabric, it’s just a part of us.

You know that jacket that you never want to donate? It’s perfect, well worn, but still so interesting? That’s jazz.

@cak Do you have HOT? That’s my favorite. If you ever need it, I’ll burn you a copy & send it to you. :-)

@jbfletcherfan – We have it! That’s one of my husband’s favorites!

@cak Yee-haw! Mine, too!!! :-)

One man’s… or woman’s.. junk is another man’s.. or woman’s.. treasure.

Everyone is different.. I could ask what the appeal is of that “throating” music where it sounds like the guy has laryngitis complicated by strep throat with a couple of boulders lodged in their esophagus .. but… some people just like that kind of stuff.

@eponymoushipster…jazz hands.

@Blondesjon only “een Amar-eeka”

@eponymoushipster…jazz hands likie that would keel your brother

I don’t get it either Jazz, to me, is a bit like Shakespeare. I know I should appreciate it but I really don’t.