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Anteater · 04-11-2014, 08:29 PM

Part 5 (End): Jazz

The thing about jazz that's always interested me since I was a kid is it's capacity for endless permutation: it could literally fit itself into any context and compel you to listen no matter what you normally dig. Are you into punk or hard rock or metal? There are plenty of bands and artists who bring jazz into the mix. Like electronic, folk, even dance pop? Jazz has inserted itself into all of those worlds as well. It's not just the instrumentation that's distinctive: anything remotely improvisational or constructed outside of the typical "pop" formula has a touch of the jazz spirit somewhere in its DNA. And yes, this includes a lot of the contemporary smoother stuff I was reviewing over in my other journal for awhile.

So for this last look at my coming of age genre introductions, here's a couple of key songs and how they shaped me.

Herbie Hancock
Maiden Voyage (1965)

The best musical equivalent to a morning cup of coffee in our multiverse by a country mile, and the song that got me into jazz. Funny how stumbling on the "wrong" radio station as a 15 year old test driving your dad's old car can open your soul up to a brand new musical course you'd never have appreciated otherwise, but this song really is perfect for getting anyone into jazz: it's not too crazy, its laidback like a bawss and has a beautiful melody underpinning it to boot. The album this came from became the soundtrack to my morning drives to high school for a long time after this.

Sun Ra
Space Is The Place [the album] (1973)

Back in the early 2000's, ITunes would recommend you all kinds of crazy stuff based on whatever albums or songs you had bought in the past before they and other services ended up perfecting whatever algorithms they use. Sun Ra popped up one day while looking through a few Hancock and Bill Evans albums, and you can imagine how much of an ear opener Space Is The Place was for me if you have any idea how bizarre Sun Ra is. Kind of like getting tossed into a cold lake after a hot shower actually, but any album that can convert a complete ignoramus into a free jazz lover is something special.

Pat Metheny Group
Proof (2002)

Funnily enough, my first exposure to Pat Metheny was through a random episode of Two And A Half Men, where show creator Chuck Lorre mentioned that seeing Metheny perform on guitar back when he was younger convinced him to quit being a guitarist and go into television because he'd never measure up. 'Proof' turned up during a random search, and it led me to re-evaluate (at the time) my attitude that "smooth jazz" couldn't be challenging or stimulating. Guy's a friggin' genius, and this song is a perfect example of why.

Jun Senoue
Fly In The Freedom [from the Sonic Adventure 2 OST] (2001)

When your a kid, video game soundtracks can be excellent entry points to music you'd never normally find on your own. Some people get into jazzier soul/pop and its ilk through exposure to Motown, Stax..or, I dunno, Sinatra maybe. Me? It was the port of Sonic Adventure 2 to the then brand-new Gamecube system from Nintendo. The game was pretty decent, but it was the eclectic soundtrack that really opened my ears and whet my palette. This song also arguably made me aware of bossa nova as well. Hell, I actually owe more to Sonic the Hedgehog than I thought. Screw you SEGA!