Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum why do I hate jazz?

Hmmm, this is pretty tame I'd say . I'm curious, do you find that they don't sound like they are together or does it seem to fit together but just sounds random to you? I'd like to try to help you figure out what it is and maybe even give some tips on how to hear it differently. Of course, no offense if you're just not interested. I will say that I once didn't get this kind of stuff either, but now I'm into things way more "out there" than the MJQ. I just knew there had to be something there that people liked and that's what I wanted to understand... long story short, I ended up with a masters in jazz piano .

Glen, If I understood the more abstract form I would be better informed opinion wise??
Is that the same as If I had the recipe for my mums shepherd pie it would suddenly stop tasting like catfood?

I am totally informed about motorcycle accidents, having worked in a motorcycle shop..but I still dont like them.

I dont see how mentally disseminating what my brain finds unacceptably abstract ( as in the link example) will allow my ears to enjoy it.
I admit I didn't know Nat king cole and tiger rag , midnight in moscow was all classed as jazz. so indeed I do like somethings that come under the heading Jazz... its the stuff in the link's ilk I think is called modern jazz that I dont seem to be able to get on with. My mind wants a piece of music to have a melody, I need to find out why this is so.

To appreciate this kind of jazz you have to try to understand the structure. You had mentioned earlier that you hate jazz that doesn't have a melody. This one actually does have a melody. The tune is called "Django" and is a tribute to the great gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. The piece starts with a statement of the theme (also known as "the head"). This is played by the vibes, with some accompaniment by the others, between 0:44 and 1:24. See if you can identify and hum the melody.

After the statement of the "head" the vibist launches into an improvisation. It is not free improvisation but one that follows the harmonic structure of the piece. You can hear the pianist playing the chords that underlie the piece, along with some embellishments. After the vibist plays his solo the pianist takes his turn at improvisation. It's like a theme and variations.

At the end they restate the theme. Can you recognize the theme when it comes back?

Scott I am totally interested.....and confused, I feel confident that with help I could understand the non-melodic abstract stuff as to how its constructed... I just dont think I could like something without a melody. Yes it does sound random, worse, it sounds like if it was words it would be "speaking in tongues"
Lots of folk do love jazz, and I know they are far cleverer than I could be, so I know there must be something that gives enjoyment to so many people, My brain says people love it, my ears say " Q tips please"

Well, glad to hear that you would like to try! For now I'll just say that the melody is always "there" even during the so-called non-melodic parts. Also, what jazzyprof said about the head and chord changes is right. I'm checking out for tonight but I'll put something together with this tune that I think might help and post it tomorrow and we'll go from there.

Jazzyprof....
To answer your question about the theme.. I had to go and listen to it again... (thanks! lol) seriously, yes there was a melodic theme at the begining , but, then when the (procrastination my ears say) "improvisation" happened any theme just seemed to vanish and I had to listen to it all the way through untill the end when the short melodic theme came back ...
I did this because I have respect for Django and the difficulties he overcame as to physical problems what with the fire , but I only found that out on wickepedia a few moments ago.
At first I mixed him up with the great Paco Pena, whom I could listen to all day....Flamenco is melodic to my ears. .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG9ctrS0xQE

Here's the sheet music. Django
Try playing the theme (head). You'll see what a lovely, haunting melody it is. Note the chord symbols written above the melody. During the solos the players follow the chord structure and may play melodic lines that outline the harmony...what some call "harmelody".

You will notice that in this particular piece, the "A" section is the theme. The "B" and "C" sections do not have a melody but are just a set of chord changes over which the players improvise. If you listen to the improvisation carefully you may be able to tell what the underlying harmony is. Try listening to the improvisation while following the chord changes ("B" and "C" sections) on the sheet music.

I agree, I thought that MJQ piece was quite pleasant. There is some jazz i rather like, and there is some, say like Ornette Coleman, I just don't get.



To me, this sounds like noise.

If you need to get that Ornette Coleman piece out of your head, listen to this much more melodic music:



No need to watch, as it's just a static image, just listen.

classical>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I know exactly how Rostosky feels. All the voices talking at once is a good analogy. It certainly causes a very strange emotion unlike any other music i have experienced. I too have a wide interest in different types of music but modern jazz, though maybe not all of it, leaves me feeling like screaming. It is akin to having toothache. It really is bizarre.

It just seems to go on and on without ever resolving.

Well, I like SOME jazz. I don't think that makes me more or less intelligent than some one who hates it, though. I do not like what I consider to be the more atonal and almost non musical forms of jazz. I do like MJQ. I really don't think they were "abstract" or atonal at all. Ornette Coleman and the like, though, I can really do without. That is what I would consider as abstract music. I am also not fond of Joe Sample and most other so-called "smooth jazz" artists. I find them overly repetitive and somewhat boring. Maybe there is something wrong with me?

Please discard the idea that there is something wrong with you, Rostosky. That certainly isn't the case. You, like me, just know what you like.

Its getting hard to try and answer everyone but here goes....Jazzyprof, (its 4 am in here in the UK!) I will check out the sheet music in the morafternoon tommorrow!
The chords are not very familier with me so I will need to do quite some work....but will try to see just why I find the whole thing distastefull soundwise.
I will get back to you tommorrow night after trying to disect it some. FormerFF that ornette is not so much "dancing in your head " If given the choice I would prefer a running two stroke chainsaw be surgically implanted in my head then hear that ever again.
"Noise" was a very fine attempt at definition Sir, but a whole new word needs to be invented for that particular sound, if God sent an angel to visitate upon me and the angel said "that is played in Hades 24/7"
(a.) I wouldn't be surprised
(b.) I would take a vow of celibacy and become a nun.

Scott , thanks look forward to it.

This is the stuff that I just don't like. The one above was pleasant, but I personally found it boring. I didn't hate it though.

What I really really love though is jazz with other genres like blues and rock. I'm talking about things like Stevie Ray Vaughn's Rivera Paradise or Lenny or anything by the band Morphine. I wish there was more music like that.

Don't worry about the chords then. Just play the bass note, i.e. if you see a chord symbol G7 for example, just play a low G. If you follow along with the solo this way while counting the rhythm you'll be able to make sense of the cacophony...um, improvisation.

Here's another cool version of Django: Grant Green

Rostosky -- it seems to me that you're not really saying you don't like jazz, you're saying that you don't like the kind of jazz that you don't like. But isn't that true for everybody?

Anyhow, what does it matter what kind of music you like? It's not like there isn't a lifetime's supply of music in just about every genre.

Rostosky, as others have posted, I also know exactly where you're coming from.

In recent months I've tried very hard to "learn" to appreciate the more "purist" kind of Jazz, for want of a better description. I've even spent quite a lot of money on several albums by Bill Evans, Ahmad Jamal, Thelonius Monk, Bud Powell etc. I even bought the de rigeur jazz Mile Davis album, "Kind of Blue". Most of what I've listened to does nothing for me at all, except bore me.

Jazz has so many sub-genres that I don't think one can generalise and say that they "hate jazz" per se. For example, one of my favourite recent discoverys is Keith Jarrett's "Köln Concert".

However, my time and money was not wasted. The process has been illuminating and has clarified for me the kind of music that really moves me, and that is mostly but by no means only, "classical".

I'm OK with a lot of the Jazz music (some of it can be a bit chaotic to me). But, I feel like you do about Ragtime. It just doesn't do anything for me and I have no interest in playing it.

I loved it! I just bought one of their albums (MJQ) a few months ago. I love jazz, but can't play it.

I have listened to and played plenty of Mozart. Still bores me. I really don't think it's necessary to understand why, I just don't like it.

You obviously do like it and that's fine too.