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Blues, Jazz and Musical Tastes

Meadow337

Meadow337

Former Moderator
Moving this discussion from another thread:

If you like Blues then there is quite a lot of Jazz you may well like , it's a broad genre with myriad segments/definitions within the genre , many of which are rather Blues-based.

It's a given that certain styles of Bop or Free Jazz aren't to most folks taste , even to a fiend such as myself Sun Ra , Albert Ayler or even at times Charlie Parker sounds like someone trying to strangle their horn.

Hank Crawford , Nat and Cannonball Adderley , Wes Montgomery , Kenny Burrell and myriad others are entirely a different cup of tea.

And then there are the artists who crossed back and forth and defy convenient labeling , was Billy Holiday Jazz or Blues? Or was she something all to herself , Grover Washington is sometimes one , sometimes the other , sometimes both , Big Joe Turner similar.

Was Gil Scott Heron either , or just a brilliant spoken word poet and political activist with some of the most relevant sociopolitical commentary ever to run down the pike?

And then there are of course the genres that some folks toss under the convenient "jazz" label , Zydeco is *not* jazz , though quite a few attempt to label it as such.

My musical taste is all over the map , from certain classical to Irish Punk and much that's in between , new or old , I don't much care as long as it's pleasing.

That said there are of course artists I don't much care for , many of them modern , as an example my personal opinion of Brittany Spears runs to " Spear Brittany before she attempts to sing again."...........
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I have to confess that I'm yet to listen to jazz I like. It's either 'out there' musically so that it just sounds like a mishmash of noise to me :( or its repetitive and boring. Perhaps I haven't tried hard enough to find the 'good stuff' but there is so much other music that I like that seeking out stuff I don't particularly like in order to find something I might like doesn't come high on the list of priorities in the day.

I like blues guitar, but I'm picky. I like certain songs rather than certain artists. Actually I'm like that with all music. I like a song rather than an artist.

Oddly I kind of like rap (so long as I don't listen to some of the lyrics too hard at which point steam kind of starts coming out of my ears with some of the lyrics) but the blander main stream rap isn't too bad lyrics-wise. Jay-Z's book really opened my eyes (and ears) to rap as a genre. And one or two of his songs are pretty good.

I'm a little stuck in the past with most of my music choices - some stuff from the 50's quite a bit from the 60's - just skip the 70's entirely and then quite a bit from the 80's.

And then I like random stuff like "Wavin' Flag" by K'naan. Yes I know it was the Coca Cola World Cup song, but there is something about the song and the story behind it that makes it appealing despite the blatant commercialism

Ai lol just looking at my playlist I'm struck again at how 'all over the place' it is.
 
Meadow, I have to say you have the most interesting threads-kudos to you for that. I listen to a blues station via SIRIUS satellite radio and I absolutely love it. Can't say enough about Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, and James Cotton. I haven't warmed up to jazz much, perhaps I just need to press the button a time or two and I'll find something good. Until then, it's blues,classic rock, and some contemporary hard rock for me.:cool:
 
I have to admit to having a very mixed taste in music. I like classical/traditional Chinese music then again I listen to Paul Simon and to songs like'play that funky music' by wild cherry. :)

I have to say I also like "Wavin' Flag". :p
 
Muddy Waters is good :) Bo Diddley, Willie Brown, John Lee Hooker and B.B. King all good too.

Hard rock shading over to heavy metal generally doesn't do it for me. Meatloaf is about as 'hard rock' as I will go.
 
Another favorite is that song that go's " I would walk five hundred miles and I would walk five hundred more..."

I do know the title, I just can't quiet fully remember it right at this moment...
 
Sparhawk said:
Another favorite is that song that go's " I would walk five hundred miles and I would walk five hundred more..."

I do know the title, I just can't quiet fully remember it right at this moment...
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The Proclaimers 500 Miles
 
I really enjoy listening Jazz fusion, Nu Jazz ( electronic jazz ) ...
● ERIK TRUFFAZ QUARTET - Akiko

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● AMON TOBIN - Stoney Street / Easy Muffin
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I'm late to this thread , a thank you to Meadow for splitting it off so as to foster a discussion.

Pertinent to the discussion is the factor of the wide variations within both Blues and Jazz , within the context of the latter , and as I stated to Meadow prior , even to someone such as myself certain of the " Hard Bop" or Free jazz genre is relatively speaking unpalatable , Albert Ayler , Sun Ra and some Charlie Parker tunes sound much as if they were doing their level best to strangle their horn to death.

That said there is a wide variety of crossover between Blues and Jazz that relatively speaking defies labeling, I'll throw up some artists for perusal as I get to it.
 
sparkchaser said:
The Proclaimers 500 Miles
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That's the most well known version. The song is generally credited to Hedy West in 1959 or '60 and was copyrighted by Aztal in '61 , the first widely released version came in '61 with The Journeymen. An example of how a song originally from the Folk Revival can move into the "Rock' ranks.

Also covered by The Kingston Trio , Peter Paul and Mary , and myriad others.
 
I kind of like it in the Scottish accents although the Kingston Trio with presumably Jamaican accents could also be quite interesting.
 
Anybody heard any Gary Clark Jr. ?
Pretty nice contemporary blues guy. Sounds like Jimmy's blues a little bit, and a lot of other people, but I think he is pretty talented.
 
753C said:
Anybody heard any Gary Clark Jr. ?
Pretty nice contemporary blues guy. Sounds like Jimmy's blues a little bit, and a lot of other people, but I think he is pretty talented.
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Austin homeboy , launched by Clifford Antone and one of the best of the current crop of Blues based young guns.

A plug for Austin , almost inargueably the best " music town" left in the States , Nashville is nowhere nowadays what with the heavily over produced sound and a buncha country versions of The Back Street Boys and Britney Spears , Memphis is dead since they turned Beale Street into a tourist trap , New Orleans can still be decent if you know where to go , as can quite a bit of Acadiana , Houston is hit and miss............but Austin.....250 or better clubs with live music on a weekend night , many of 'em in a ten block stretch of 5th and 6th streets.

Austin flat out JUMPS. From Swing to the Blues and anything in between and beyond.
 
@ Bluenote (since I don't know how to quote anything anymore).
I was in San Antonio two weeks ago, and everybody was talking about Austin. For food, for music, for clubs, for pretty much you name it. At least so far as entertainment and good times go. It's on my list... Didn't know Gary Clark Jr. was from there either.
 
Bluenote said:
That's the most well known version. The song is generally credited to Hedy West in 1959 or '60 and was copyrighted by Aztal in '61 , the first widely released version came in '61 with The Journeymen. An example of how a song originally from the Folk Revival can move into the "Rock' ranks.

Also covered by The Kingston Trio , Peter Paul and Mary , and myriad others.
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Actually (and sorry for resurrecting this thread just to be picky) those are two different songs. The Kingston Trio et al "500 Miles" and the Proclaimers "500 Miles" share only the title and some acoustic guitars. My favourite version of the "classic" "500 Miles" (which apparently goes back to the US civil war) was always The Hooters:


To continue the thread itself, I'm one of those weird people who actually like my jazz free and wild - I've spent much of the last week blasting Coltrane's "Ascension" and Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" while reading. It's been said that jazz is the only uniquely American art form, and as such, it must be allowed to sprawl, brawl, get loud and obnoxious at times, but always have a big heart somewhere underneath. I'll see if I can find some good examples to post...
 
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