Ever require a "break" from jazz?

[Shawn]

Of late I've found myself reaching more for other forms of music...I still love my jazz but my moods don't always seem to coincide with the music. This was started by re-aquiring my old vinyl collection of Rock LPs which I hadn't listened to since around 1993 or so. While spinning some of these old gems I was amazed at how much I still enjoyed many of them (while others left me scratching my head).

While I don't really see this as a "change" in my musical tastes, because I admire many forms of music, it does bring about a difference in my listening habits since I've been primarily listening to jazz for many years now. In addition to this my purchasing habits have changed because now I'm scouring the used LP bins for cheap records to suppliment my collection, very few of which have been jazz LPs.

So at the moment the jazz CD collection is gathering a little dust while I re-live music from an earlier period of my life.

Is this a common thing among music-philes?

[connoisseur series500]

I am all-jazz! Won't even listen to blues music.

Basically, I'm trying to really listen to my cd collection. That will take forever!

[Jazz]

Right now I'm making the list for a rock compilation of newer stuff that I dig. I've been taking a pretty long break from Jazz (I still listen, just not as much as I used to), but for more personal reasons than general reasons. Still, when I was studying to be a jazz musician, I still required some bouts of rock or blues or soul or funk or the very few classical pieces I'm into.

So, yeah, I guess the answer is a hardy YES! There's plenty of music to enjoy besides Jazz, though I will always STAUNCHLY contend that Jazz is the most artistic, passionate and communicative ART FORM across all the mediums.

[.:.impossible]

Same here. I really started delving into jazz music about five years ago. For the past almost two years now, my perception of music has been less serious. I realized again that even pop music can have redeeming qualities. Pop is just one example of course. Another thing I realized was all the good rock music I missed out on. I've still got decades to check out, entire decades, including the ones I've lived through.

Someone I've really grown to admire greatly is Jeff Tweedy. His affiliations are incredible. There's a lot of great music out there, that's for sure. Ain't all of it jazz.

[neveronfriday]

Interesting topic, Shawn.

I've always found that sticking to one type of music is very limiting. Throughout my life I have always listened to different forms/styles of music and have discovered a wealth of really good material.

It's just that lately I have turned more intensively to jazz than ever before, although the love for jazz has always been there.

I don't really understand the reasons, but I rather suspect that I've simply gotten bored with much of the rock/pop/blues stuff out there. Mind you, I have tons of it and do listen to it, but I get tired of it easily, more so than ever before.

The jazz music I have simply gives me more listening pleasure right now. Let's take Bill Evans, for example, or Horace Silver. I have listened to recordings by these two particular artists over and over again this year and I just keep on discovering new things. The music keeps my interest up and my head busy.

At the same time, you can also do some pretty good hoovering to Horace Silver.

Cheers!

[Rooster_Ties]

I go through phases, that seem to last at least year or two each. I always have at least some interest in rock/alternative music (though never as my "main" focus), and I go back and forth between jazz and modern classical - as my primary interest.

I've been in a 'jazz' phase for about 2 years, and before that - a 'classical' phase for about 2 years. I never loose interest in the other music, but my listening choices seem to gravitate one way or the other for long periods.

[Spontooneous]

I get paid (not a lot) to write about jazz -- but I admit, I get burnt out on it, and sometimes I reach the point where it's the last thing I want to hear. Fortunately, that feeling passes.

When the burnout is coming on, often it's because I've been listening to the same style or period. Gotta mix things up.

I've been a classical listener since I was about 7 (that's 37 years ago), and I've been through classical phases so intense that I've temporarily burned myself out on that too. Right now I try to balance jazz and classical every day. A little blues and some rock too.

[Jazzmoose]

Shawn, I'm going through the same thing right now. I've been in an intense "jazz run" for about five years now, and recently started rebuilding the new wave/rock vinyl 'collection' I had in my late teens/twenties. It's a lot of fun, and I'm enjoying it, but after a couple of months, the jazz jones came back full strength, so now I'm doing both. I think I'd pinned myself down to just one kind of music for about as long as I could, although the effort was rewarding.

[JohnS]

I'm all jazz too. I find that if I need a change I'll change the style of jazz I listen too. I might go from say, Coltrane/Ornette back to early bebop for a spell. Then after a while I'll feel like going back to hard bop and so it goes. The thing is I never get tired of jazz and nothing I've ever heard gives quite the same kick.

[robviti]

Although 90% of my collection is jazz, I couldn't conceive of listening only to jazz. i love steak, but eating steak morning, noon, and night would eventually become monotonous. The fact that Bird dug Bizet, Stravinsky, and Wagner encouraged me to listen to classical music, just as Coltrane's modal improvisations led me to seek out eastern musics with similar harmonies. I also enjoy the blues and good popular music for what they are. I appreciate those times when my mood or musical appetite hungers for the Beatles, Howlin' Wolf, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, etc.

[marcoliv]

i´m kinda like you Rooster

i´ve started my life listening to jazz and when i moved to Africa, reggae became my favorite style. later i´ve switched to Funk until 1985 when my Prince addiction started heavily. at the same time i was impressed with Sting´s first solo output and by the british pop. back in Brazil by the beginning of the 90's, i was only listening to Prince until 1995 when i was introduced to Salsa. on 97-2000 i´ve build my CD collection on the Funk side and my Prince dependence reached its heights. on year 2000, at last my jazz fever came back and nowadays i only listen to jazz, occasionally some Funk and Prince took a nap on 2003.

Marcus Oliveira

[neveronfriday]

[...] Steely Dan [...]

Cheers!

[John B]

Constantly. Variety really is the spice of life, musically. I also find that I appreciate jazz more when I revisit my old favorites with a fresh set of ears.

[Rooster_Ties]

And to follow-up a bit on my earlier post in this thread...

I think mine tends to run more in terms of me getting bitten by the 'bug' of particular artists/composers, more than getting a more general urge to go the jazz vs. classical route.

I mean, for about a year now I've really been on a HUGE Andrew Hill kick (in case you hadn't noticed ). And Greg Osby and Jason Moran have also figured heavily in my listening for about the last year or two.

But two months from now, I might meet somebody knew who has a passion for classical music, who turns me on to several composers that I haven't heard much by - and bam, I'll shift into a different mode of interests for a while.

It really has as much to do with what my opportunities are for expanding my musical horizons, consistent with my core musical interests. So outside forces play a role, definitely, in my case.

[BeBop]

I've never been 100% jazz. I may be 60, 70, 80 or 90%, but life's just too short and there's too much good music out there to be too narrowly focused - especially when the defining terms - jazz, blues, avant, 'classical', prog, techo, house, dance, remix, hip-hop - have become rather squishy anyway.

That said, within the 'jazz' category, there's plenty of diversity, so perhaps one could stay within the genre (however defined) and not suffer too much burnout.

[chuckyd4]

I still listen to all different kinds of music even after slipping down the "jazz hole" quite a few years ago. Lately I've been deep into a lot of the more interesting hip hop out there, but my tastes have always gone towards reggae, afro beat, blues, other stuff like that. There was a time when I listened to some indie rock, but i can only stand whiney white boys for so long .

I guess there was a period for the first two years or so when I got deep into jazz where I listened to nothing else, but same thing as some others: when I started going back to some other cds I remembered there was other good stuff out there too. Also working in a variety of CD stores over the years has helped.

[JSngry]

So at the moment the jazz CD collection is gathering a little dust...

Damn dude, you could have just left it here with me!

[John Tapscott]

The short answer is "NO." What I need a break from is all the other music one hear in our culture without choosing to listen to it - in the malls, barber shops, supermarkets, radio, TV, CD stores (they're the worst), etc. 99.5% of the music I deliberately CHOOSE to listen to is jazz.

[Stefan Wood]

I can't listen to one form of music exclusively. I need variety. Actually, for the past six months or so I have listened to very little jazz (compared to when I was ravenously trying to buy everything from Blue Note and experiencing the music for the first time). Salsa, blues, classical, some pop help balance things out for me.

[AfricaBrass]

I listened to about 95% jazz for about 12 years until 2 years ago. I hit jazz collector burnout. I was so consumed with listening and aquiring jazz that I forced myself to take a break. I didn't listen to any jazz for about 3 months. In that time, I rediscovered my love for all kinds of music. Now I listen to about 25% jazz, 25% old country, 25% rock, and whatever else I can find.

I do find myself enjoying jazz more than I had in a long time.

[ghost of miles]

Maybe not the best way to put it, but jazz has a permanent shelf-life for me. Somehow I instinctively sensed this when I started getting into it, which is why I didn't hesitate to put so much time, effort, and money into it--I just knew that I would love this music for the rest of my life. I've been a music fanatic since I was a kid, and in jazz I found a convergence of all of the elements that I love about music. I do go through phases, though, where I think, "Damn, I want to listen to some rock," and then I do, whether it's spinning old Ramones re-issues or Wilco's YANKEE FOXTROT HOTEL. Sometimes a particular artist, such as Elliott Smith, will come along & momentarily take up a lot of my listening time; I also occasionally get bitten by the classical bug, though this hasn't happened for awhile. And posting here (as well on the old Blue Note board) has been a great way to discover new artists, both jazz and non-jazz, or just artists that I'd heard of but hadn't paid much attention to.

I also tend to try to mix periods & styles a lot throughout the listening day, unless I'm delving into something new & wonderful like the Mulligan Mosaic, in which case I may listen to it straight through. Otherwise I like to throw a hardbop, big-band, vocal, bebop, and free CD all into the mix... That keeps my ears from getting too jaded. I rarely get tired of it, though--my love for it just goes so deep, you know?

[chris]

I agree with Ghost of Miles and others-- although I listen to other kinds of music and find some of it intensely enjoyable, I always return to jazz as kind of the "real thing." I like eating an occasional twinkie or stopping by Taco Hell too... but in the end I prefer a good poached salmon or a nice rare steak. That's jazz-- the meal that comforts me and is never far from my mind...

I love hearing what other jazz folks are into when they aren't spinning a jazz disc. My attachments are rather diverse and I won't claim anything profound about most, but I know Aimee Mann, Elliott Smith, Ben Folds, Audioslave, and Counting Crows spend a fair amount of time in my CD player (amongst many others). None of them have spontaneously combusted due to proximity with Coltrane, Mobley, Ellington, etc

[jazzypaul]

I don't think that I ever consciously decide between forms of music. I'll end up on funk binges where there are a couple of weeks gone by where nothing has been in my CD player but P-Funk, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield Stevie Wonder and Tony Toni Tone, but even then, eventually, that'll turn into the Scorpion and Alive!, and then that turns into Search for the New Land and Night Dreamer, and then I come back home to The Shape of Jazz to Come and Crescent. I guess this is to say that I'm constantly changing it up, but never with an agenda...

[Dave James]

Up until about two years ago, I was listening to jazz exclusively. That had been the case for at least the 10 years prior to that. Around that time, I was on my way to a reunion of some college buddies, and I thought it might be fun to bring along some of the music we listened to when we were in school. So, I stopped by a local indie store here in Portland and picked up some Zeppelin, Doors, Allman Brothers, Paul Butterfield, Santana, Creedence and King Crimson. Of course, that meant I had to listen these along with everyone else, and when I did, I was pleasantly surprised by 1) how much I missed this old music and 2) by how good it was. That kind of launched me on a musical bender of sorts that included getting into the Grateful Dead for the first time in my life and revisiting some of the Philadelphia soul music I was so partial to in the late '60's and early '70's. Now, while I still listen to jazz probably 90% of the time, I'm pretty much all over the board when it comes to other kinds of music. I even spend a fair amount of time with Dean Martin. If anyone had told me two years ago that that would be the case, I would have thought they'd taken leave of their senses.

BTW, great topic. Why can't I ever think of these?

Up over and out.

[Jazz]

Aimee Mann, Elliott Smith, Ben Folds, Audioslave, and Counting Crows

Some great rock there!

I've just been recently getting into Aimee Mann (Bachelor No.2)! I've also lately been listening alot to The Postal Service, Colplay's first album, Hope Sandoval, and Jon Brion's soundtrack of Punch Drunk Love.