Jazz performances inform you of the musician's motives more clearly and that makes their improvisations more understandable. You can also see how the performers interact to dismiss any silly notions of the musicians just "doing their own thing."

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That's interesting. Sketches of Spain is probably my favorite Miles Davis album. What did you think of it?

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Hopefully my rating doesn't anchor this album down unduly, but this was not for me. I found this stressful to listen to. Not good-stressful like Giacinto Scelsi or Chelsea Wolfe. Stressful like I was being subjected to an unpleasant stimulus that I could not end and could only wait out. This is not my first avant-garde jazz album, but I've probably heard fewer than ten. To be fair, I understand that avant-garde jazz takes a trained ear to appreciate, and that a significant amount of its value is in the musical theory and technical details, but as someone who listens to music and doesn't play it, I simply found it a mess to listen to; unpleasant and frustrating chaos that felt like work. I have not thrown in the towel on jazz, but this is not what will be my eventual gateway album. Mea culpa.

Exactly how I felt listening The Fall and a couple of other albums I had to listen to the last couple of weeks.

If you want a Jazz album ease into the genre then I would highly recommend Moonlight in Vermont by Johnny Smith featuring Stan Getz on sax. I love that album dearly, it is one of my all time favorites.

:laughing: :clap:

A short excerpt of Elvin Jones explaining his style. It might add a tiny insight to his style of drumming, maybe it will help to understand and enjoy album a little bit more.
Elvin Jones Drum Solo Demonstration

Cool video. I'd be really interested in his thoughts on Coltrane as a bandleader and his thought process when it comes to recording this album in particular.

This album is a mess, it's all over the place, but it's great and I love it. It's very avant garde, so I can see why some people would hate this because it's similar to Trout Mask Replica where it's just bat**** crazy and it doesn't seem to follow any patterns really. I like when music does that.