How does one get into Jazz?

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How does one get into Jazz?

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I find that a sense of self-importance and pretentiousness are pretty standard issue for anyone who labels himself as a jazz enthusiast.

Just walk around with the mindset that your taste in music is better than that of everyone else and you'll probably be on the right track.

To answer OP, Kind of Blue is a great place to start. You should look into some Blue Note records from that era as well. John Coltrane - Blue Train, for example. If you like Kind of Blue, try out some Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus. If you have Spotify, I'd just fart around on there and you can find volumes and volumes of stuff.

Become a Watermelon Man

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Spaulding Smails

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How does one get into Jazz?

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Watch the Ken Burns Jazz documentary for starters

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that a sense of self-importance and pretentiousness are pretty standard issue

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Jazz just might be for me!

Liking jazz isn't that hard, it's the requisite years of pent up sexual frustration that gets to most people before they can acquire a taste for it.

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Watch the Ken Burns Jazz documentary for starters

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Concur with this. This is good stuff.

IMO, getting your hands on some of the most famous jazz albums of all time gets you introduced to some great stuff, and then investigating some of those artists' deeper cuts will help you appreciate some more.

I am not going to try to act like I am some jazz connoisseur. If I hear it, and it sounds good to me, I listen to it. There is some experimental stuff that I really don't get.

My favorite jazz album is "Soulville," by the Ben Webster Quintet



Full Album on YouTube

It isn't a very edgy album, pretty straightforward, but it just sounds great. I like to put it on when I am having a steak dinner at home.

I can't tell you how great these three are, and I'm absolutely hooked on Bill Evans. He was Miles' pianist for a while, and I only recently learned that he was educated at SLU and is buried in Baton Rouge.



Also, it may be a bit cliché, but these never get old for me:



This is all 1920's stuff that predates Armstrong's mainstream cornball stuff later in his career.

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If you have Spotify, I'd just fart around on there and you can find volumes and volumes of stuff.

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This. A Pandora station will do you wonders, too. Hey OP, is there a particular instrument or era that tickles your fancy?