So You Don't Like Jazz
5 Epic Jazz Songs That Forever Changed the World
by Alan Bryson
So You Don't Like Jazz normally focuses on ways to turn people on to jazz, but this column focuses on five jazz songs whose impact profoundly changed modern music. In the process they also demonstrated that jazz could be successful in a modern culture dominated by pop, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues. Arguably the two most powerful examples were released in 1959, on the cusp of the '60s, followed by another in 1961, and then two more examples ...
Continue ReadingAll About Music—My AAJ Experience
by Alan Bryson
Music & Taste Music and food have a lot in common. Variety is the key--without it, even the best prepared food loses its appeal. It is telling that we speak of “musical taste," even though we experience music through our ears. Genres like jazz and classical music weave together themes, patterns, harmonies, and mathematical relationships that usher the mind into a world of stimulating complexity. These genres are like a fine, multi-course meal--each movement and variation unfolding to ...
Continue ReadingThe Unlikely Story of Cannonball Adderley's Rise to the Top
by Alan Bryson
For me, the most gripping music stories are the tales of “overnight sensations." In the jazz sphere, we have our share. There is the story of an eighteen-year-old Billie Holiday, discovered by producer John Hammond while she was a hostess in a Harlem club. There is the tale of a seventeen-year-old Ella Fitzgerald, whose triumphant debut at an Apollo talent contest soon landed her a spot as the vocalist for Chick Webb's orchestra. Even more remarkable is the sheer chance ...
Continue ReadingDon't Like Jazz? Give Me Six Minutes And Forty-Two Seconds
by Frank Housh
Don't like jazz? I think I understand. For many, jazz seems hyper-intellectual and inaccessible and, to be fair, it too often is. At its best, however, jazz represents the heart of the creative instinct; it began by taking popular songs and changing their harmony and melodies. This “variations on a theme" is nothing new. What jazz added was a unique, improvisational approach that discarded existing rules of interpretation, transforming familiar tunes into something new and different. Let's take ...
Continue ReadingMichael Jackson & Jimmy Smith to Stevie Wonder & Dizzy Gillespie — My Top Ten Jazz/Pop Encounters
by Alan Bryson
It's a good bet that most of us have heard people say they don't like jazz, or even worse, drop the H-bomb, “I hate jazz." If you choose to engage, the key is to tread lightly and tailor an approach that considers the tastes and sensibilities of the other person. The “So You Don't Like Jazz" column explores ways to do just that. One of my go-to approaches is finding common ground, and pop music is perhaps the ...
Continue ReadingGulda: Classic Bad Boy
by Alan Bryson
It's a good bet that most of us have heard people say they don't like jazz, or even worse, drop the H-bomb, “I hate jazz." If you choose to engage, the key is to tread lightly and tailor an approach that considers the tastes and sensibilities of the other person. The “So You Don't Like Jazz" column explores ways to do just that. Imagine Mozart had been born in 1930 in Austria, instead of 1756. Would he have ...
Continue ReadingTop Ten Kennedy Center Musical Moments
by Alan Bryson
It's a good bet that most of us have heard people say they don't like jazz, or even worse, drop the H-bomb: “I hate jazz." If you choose to engage them, the key is to tread lightly and tailor an approach that considers their tastes and sensibilities. This So You Don't Like Jazz column explores ways to do just that. One particularly effective approach is to ignore labels and concentrate on the joy of music. To that end, ...
Continue ReadingKhruangbin: The Sly Art of Containment
by Alan Bryson
It's a good bet that most of us have heard people say they don't like jazz, or even worse, drop the H-bomb, “I hate jazz." If you choose to engage, the key is to tread lightly and tailor an approach that considers the tastes and sensibilities of the other person. The “So You Don't Like Jazz" column explores ways to do just that. This month's column begins at the dawning of the 1960s, a pivotal period in jazz ...
Continue ReadingJack Broadbent: the Road to Success Started on the Street
by Alan Bryson
It's a good bet that most of us have heard people say they don't like jazz, or even worse, drop the H-bomb, “I hate jazz." If you choose to engage, the key is to tread lightly and tailor an approach that considers the tastes and sensibilities of the other person. The “So You Don't Like Jazz" column explores ways to do just that, but given the season I also want to share a story of hope for struggling musicians everywhere. ...
Continue ReadingDerek Trucks: Chops, Romance & Dance
by Alan Bryson
It's a good bet that most of us have heard people say they don't like jazz, or even worse, drop the H-bomb, “I hate jazz." If you choose to engage, the key is to tread lightly and tailor an approach that considers the tastes and sensibilities of the other person. The “So You Don't Like Jazz" column explores ways to do just that. In this month's column we zero in on three particularly important factors which impact the popularity and ...
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