it's not what you know

[lauralh]

* Steve and I have reached a compromise: I can say I hate jazz if he can say he hates Seinfeld.

* Apparently we ordered the wrong refresh rate RAM for our new computer. Bah.

* Drinking wine and vodka before going out to karaoke is not as good an idea as it seems. Although I think it did encourage Faith and myself to make out with every single person at our table, after the FEBs left.

* Romy and Michelle is a great hangover recovery movie.

Comments

[discogravy.livejournal.com]

I can say I hate jazz if he can....

My estimation of your taste has just dropped like 10 notches.

Not to get on a preachy bender, but saing you hate jazz is like saying you hate electronic music. The sheer breadth of all the things you are missing out on makes you seem like fool who wouldn't recognise good music if you found it wallowing in your panties, chewing on your clit. I mean, just like electronic music, there's flaccid jazz bullshit assholes who know how to play one beat and then drop a sample from a movie or an old song on there in order to make it sound like there's content or depth or something, and then there's the guys who really really really know what they're doing and do it well and elegantly.

For every Kenny G there is an equal and opposite John Coltrane is what I'm saying; just like for every "BEST OF IBIZA!!!1! VOL 69 LoL!!1!" you'll find something like FSOL's "Dead Cities", in jazz you'll come across your average "BEST OF SWING MUSIC 1945`!!" (or you know, "smooth romantic jazz" type things,) which are safely burnable, and find yourself a nice Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" (or 'trane's "A Love Supreme", etc.)

Incidentally, you're the 3rd person today to mention bad RAM to me.

[jimbojones.livejournal.com]

so post an easily digestible "list of jazz mp3's to go download and audition that are pretty much guaranteed not to suck", because I hate jazz too, really.

I love blues, but what I've learned - rightly or wrongly - about jazz is that it's a bunch of people frantically doing weird things to perfectly good acoustic instruments that would sound really good if somebody would just use them to play the blues instead.

[harryh.livejournal.com]

Sorta like that quote from The Commitments?

"What were you playing out there, that wasn't soul, soul has corners. What you were playing spiraled, that's jazz, and jazz is musical wanking."

[herbaliser.livejournal.com]

Heh. Very good.

(Although I am a big fan of acid jazz - I didn't just call myself "Herbaliser" because I smoke out.)

[drisrael.livejournal.com]

I can say I hate jazz

you are a philistine.

[drisrael.livejournal.com]

easily digestible jazz

you sir, need to be shot.

jazz isn't meant to be digestible.

digestible jazz is smooth jazz, and you having made me realize that fact makes me want to rip your testicles out through your eyesockets.

digestible like tapioca pudding

[herbaliser.livejournal.com]

OK, I can definitely say that I hate smooth jazz without an ounce of prevarication.

[discogravy.livejournal.com]

ok, some suggestions below. I have tried to keep it pretty "normal"-ish (no Sun Ra, for example; although his "Nuclear War" was covered by Yo La Tengo in a fantasssssstic way). most jazz, that I listen to anyway, is more oriented to albums rather than single songs. Kind of Blue is best heard as a whole, but "So What" still sounds good on it's own. Some songs you're bound to have heard already (strange fruit it the most likely, i bet)

bill frissel - egg radio; girl meets boy
miles davis - moon dreams; so what; bitches brew
john coltrane - a love supreme
thelonious monk - straight no chaser; well you needn't; ruby, my dear
duke ellington - take the "a" train; don't you know I care (or don't you care to know?)
charlie parker - all the things you are
billie holiday - strange fruit
charles mingus - goodbye porkpie hat
nina simone - i put a spell on you

If you can't get laid listening to nina, you might as well just give up.

[vileinfestation.livejournal.com]

As a jazz fan and (for lack of other employment) professional musician who knows her, I'll throw my 2 cents in.

Laural does indeed hate jazz. But, she has good taste. Her tastes in the types of music that she does like (which are many) are nearly as picky (and, hopefully, well-chosen) as mine are in jazz and the types that I like.

She's not the closed minded sort who, as an ex of mine once did, would refer to Charlie Parker as "that crap you listen to."

My drummer (one of the best jazz drummers I've ever heard) and I were at a jazz jam the other night, and as we watched the noodling on stage, he said, "no wonder people hate jazz." Very true. On account of all the lousy jazz in the world, I am totally sympathetic to anyone who says that they hate the music.

That said, Laural has happily listened to good genuine blues music of mine (and it's a sign of good taste to like REAL blues -- not fat middle aged white guys). And she's enjoyed my Irene Reid/Charles Earland CDs, too -- featuring not merely Earland, but Eric Alexander and James Rotundi. It doesn't get more "jazz" than that. (She even went to SEE Irene Reid at a club!)

At this point, I'll risk offending all jazz people who may read this by getting to the larger issue that I'm dancing around. Which is: most jazz stinks. And even a lot of the jazz that is "good" is totally unfathomable to most people.

Starting with Charlie Parker and Kenny Clarke and all the others who deliberately set about trying to create something so complex that nobody else could play it, "jazz" has become something totally inaccessible to the average (or above-average) listener.

Up until "bop" and "post-bop," jazz music still retained the swing era's sense of being danceable and hummable and pretty (Coleman Hawkins said he just tried to play the pretty notes). But, eventually, it became something as complex as Quantum Mechanics. There is no way for the average listener to be expected to like it. But jazz fans and players get pretty darn obnoxious and high on themselves and somehow expect people to be instantly charmed by hearing some lousy noodling Bill Evans album. I can't for the life of me figure out why Kind of Blue (and Miles Davis, in general) is so doggoned popular -- no wonder people don't like jazz, if THAT's what they are always told to listen to.

I'm listening to A Love Supreme right now as I type this. I love it! John Coltrane belongs up there with Einstein. But, just as most people couldn't possibly explain any of Einstein's theories and discoveries, most people can't be expected to just fall in love with Coltrane (especially later Coltrane albums!). They need something to relate to, if not to dance to -- the fact that Elvin looks like a wild animal when he drums, or the fact that John Coltrane and Johnny Hartmann is the world's finest booty album (instead of the Jazz for Lovers tripe on the cheap racks) would work better.

But, if people are going to like jazz in this day and age (which I don't think will ever happen), the jazz-people need to do a better job of making the music accessible (while not dumbing it down completely the way classical music now is). Irene Reid singing about her "Big Fat Daddy" is cool and funny! Lee Morgan's albums are funky (plus he was shot to death on the bandstand by an ex!)! And, maybe most importantly, show that jazz isn't some lame Wynton Marsalis museum piece of old dead guys or non-swinging Miles Davis and Bill Evans. I got a class of grumpy inner city kids to like jazz just by showing them James Carter's picture.

[drisrael.livejournal.com]

disagree. her mix cd track listings are abominable.

the only reason i let it slide was because i assumed she had some modicum of taste buried deep down inside that she merely wasn't tapping into.

however, we now see the truth.

Re:

[vileinfestation.livejournal.com]

Well, my reply was mostly reason A. Reason B is of course, Laural is HOT, so she can listen to whatever she likes.

[drisrael.livejournal.com]

so, we've uncovered another truth. laual surrounds herself with horny winnars so as to justify her foul predilections.

though laural makes out with girls in public, and that's cool as hell - it's important to maintain substance over style, my friend.

[herbaliser.livejournal.com]

I don't like you anymore.

[drisrael.livejournal.com]

yeah, "evil forehead" pic clued me right in.

heh

[das-prompt.livejournal.com]

...if he can say he hates Seinfeld.

My estimation of his tastes has just dropped significantly.

I mean, I don't want to offend anyone here, but saying that he doesn't like Seinfeld is like saying that he doesn't like The Cosby Show. The vast cast of crazy characters alone is enough to show that he wouldn't know good humor if Kramer himself busted through the door.

For every stupid bit about people eating candy bars with a fork and knife, there's a soup nazi waiting to crack you up. Granted, there's the horrible clip-show ending, but what about being "Master of my domain?"

Oh, BTW, karaoke was rad.

[atypical-gnu.livejournal.com]

I know that Faith didn't make out with everyone at the table, but I'm pretty sure that you did.

[herbaliser.livejournal.com]

i didn't make out with any of the girls but Faith. Nor Steve.

[drisrael.livejournal.com]

i think there's a major difference between not liking jazz and not liking Seinfeld.

saying you don't like jazz is like saying you don't like having sex - very general.

saying you don't like Seinfeld is like saying you don't like being anally gang raped in prison - very specific.

[disarrayed.livejournal.com]

I had a thought, but I've since forgotten it after reading about loving/hating jazz.
Oh yeah, karaoke. I've found the most fun way for karaoke/drinking is saki. This is strongly enhanced by Asian guys singing Stevie Wonder and Bon Jovi back-to-back, along with other 70s and 80s staples.