how has your musical taste held up?

[Larry Kart]

First jazz-like 78 probably was Sammy Davis Jr.s' "Something Gotta Give." I liked its rhythmic drive. A bit later I recall what may have been my first jazz 45, Basie and Joe Williams' "Smack Dab in the Middle." Rhythmic drive again, plus the amusing lyrics. Some pop stuff of the time, too -- George Gibbs' "Dance With Me, Henry," Guy Mitchell's "Learning the Blues," "Sh-Boom," "Moments To Remember," something by Something Smith and the Redheads, etc., Perry Como's "Kokomo," Lord knows what all, Interesting that there were no instrumentals early on, which bears out a general principle that many have noticed. I liked what might be thought of as "catchiness" or hooks -- "Learning the Blues" had a beaut. When I heard the Basie band live at a concert at the Chicago Opera House, my initial fondness for vocals dissipated almost overnight.

[alocispepraluger102]

"But probably 75% of my listening is to jazz/classical/world music, and I have virtually no one to discuss this with in my real life (as opposed to the Big O)"

no one in my area speaks my musical language, shares my tastes, or performs my music. big O reassures me that i'm not a total outlier.

[BeBop]

would some of us agree that many of our particular musical tastes are indulged and developed for social reasons?

Social reasons absolutely played a big role in my musical tastes. ANTI-social. I suppose it was somthing of a revolt against my peers - or, more kindly, a desire to establish myself as an individual, not a "sheep" - that I gravitated away from the "pop" music of my times and classmates. I suppose one might add this to a long list of things I did to define myself as "unique" (my leisure travel destinations, my early career choices, the high school I chose to attend instead of the one I was expected to attend, my political leanings...)

On the end, it circled back, and I was at least superficially accepted as a token everything-we're-not in various groups. The guy that listens to that strange music.

[Shawn]

The old view that "rock music" is something you "grow out of", I thought it was bullshit when people told me that at 13...at 41 I KNOW it's bullshit. Every genre of music has merit and none is "superior" to any other style.

I love jazz, but I HATE jazz snobs. (you can substitute any genre of music for jazz in that last sentence).

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I hated the pop music of the early fifties. Still do.

In 1956, I heard Fats Domino. That was it! In 1959, the BBC stopped playing Rock & Roll, so in the summer, I decided that, if I ordered singles that had been recorded by Atlantic, no matter what they were, I could be pretty sure I'd get good stuff. The first one I ordered blind was 'There goes my baby' by the Drifters. The next was Ray Charles' 'What'd I say'. I didn't know what had hit me - BOTH times. And ever since then, I've regarded myself as an R&B fan (though it wasn't until 1961 that I ran across the term Rhythm and Blues). I still reckon what I like is R&B, but that I've found R&B in loads of different places.

Now as for social influences, well, kind of no and yes. I moved to London at Christmas '58 and started in my new school, near Buckingham Palace, in January. We lived near Marble Arch then, but in April, moved to Golders Green, and in June '59, to Ealing, continuing at the same school, but commuting a long way. So I had several (successive) groups of friends and they weren't as deep as friends probably were for other people. So I went my own way musically. Anyway, no one I knew liked R&B until I met my mate Rose, who was a friend of a neighbour. She and I definitely influenced each other. Then we started influencing other people, when we took our R&B records to the Ealing Common Lawn Tennis Club on Tuesday nights.

MG

[Noj]

Many of the different sections of my collection are each relevant to separate social circles I am a part of. Metal and classic rock, my brother and his friends. Hip hop, my high school buddies. Jazz, a few close friends but moreover the BNBB and organissimo communities. Electronic music, my friend Greg and his wife Becky. Of course, it's not as clean cut as that, but it's true to a degree.

[BillF]

I hated the pop music of the early fifties. Still do.

Agreed. Alma Cogan!

[Peter Friedman]

My serious interest in jazz began about 1952 /53. Most of what initially appealed to me I still like very much. Over the many years a few favorites have come and gone in my taste, but the main core has remained consistent.

I did stick my toes in the water briefly with both Rock and also Free Jazz. It wasn't long though when I realized that neither did much for me.

They no longer have any appeal for me.

One thing that did change is that while my first musical interests were focused heavily on Bebop, Hard Bop,and West Coast Jazz, I eventually began to appreciate and enjoy earlier styles including Traditional New Orleans, the Chicago style, Swing, and Mainstream.

[BillF]

My serious interest in jazz began about 1952 /53. Most of what initially appealed to me I still like very much. Over the many years a few favorites have come and gone in my taste, but the main core has remained consistent.

I did stick my toes in the water briefly with both Rock and also Free Jazz. It wasn't long though when I realized that neither did much for me.

They no longer have any appeal for me.

One thing that did change is that while my first musical interests were focused heavily on Bebop, Hard Bop,and West Coast Jazz, I eventually began to appreciate and enjoy earlier styles including Traditional New Orleans, the Chicago style, Swing, and Mainstream.

Similar to my experience, Peter, except that my starting dates are about four years later than yours. I think that the fact our generation started with jazz, rather than with another musical genre, helps explain our present day tastes.

[ejp626]

"But probably 75% of my listening is to jazz/classical/world music, and I have virtually no one to discuss this with in my real life (as opposed to the Big O)"

no one in my area speaks my musical language, shares my tastes, or performs my music. big O reassures me that i'm not a total outlier.

I think we are still outliers, but we are not "Unique," i.e. the only one who listens to jazz, and that can be a bit of a comfort.

[A Lark Ascending]

Similar to my experience, Peter, except that my starting dates are about four years later than yours. I think that the fact our generation started with jazz, rather than with another musical genre, helps explain our present day tastes.

I think that's very true. When I first listened to Charlie Parker (c. 1978) it was no different to listening to Beethoven. Music that was not by a living (or even recently dead) musician, being forged in the moment. I had to get past a film of 'oldness' before I could start to experience it as living music. Whereas, I suspect to you and Peter, this was thrilling, 'in the now' music from the off.

Those who like to carve out musical absolutes constantly neglect the importance of individual context on how we interpret and process music into our brains.

Edited April 11, 2012 by A Lark Ascending

[BillF]

Similar to my experience, Peter, except that my starting dates are about four years later than yours. I think that the fact our generation started with jazz, rather than with another musical genre, helps explain our present day tastes.

I think that's very true. When I first listened to Charlie Parker (c. 1978) it was no different to listening to Beethoven. Music that was not by a living (or even recently dead) musician, being forged in the moment. I had to get past a film of 'oldness' before I could start to experience it as living music. Whereas, I suspect to you and Peter, this was thrilling, 'in the now' music from the off.

Yes, it was "in the now" music. Parker had only been dead for three years when I started listening to him and I was in time to hear as new musicians on the scene Cannonball, Timmons, Roland Kirk, Oliver Nelson, Bill Evans, Coltrane, Ornette, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, etc as well as being around for the release of much of the Blue Note and Riverside catalogues as new albums.

My comment on Ted Gioia's blog about listening to Parker today is also relevant here:

http://www.jazz.com/jazz-blog/2008/7/24/bird-dead-two

Edited April 11, 2012 by BillF

[Peter Friedman]

Similar to my experience, Peter, except that my starting dates are about four years later than yours. I think that the fact our generation started with jazz, rather than with another musical genre, helps explain our present day tastes.

I think that's very true. When I first listened to Charlie Parker (c. 1978) it was no different to listening to Beethoven. Music that was not by a living (or even recently dead) musician, being forged in the moment. I had to get past a film of 'oldness' before I could start to experience it as living music. Whereas, I suspect to you and Peter, this was thrilling, 'in the now' music from the off.

Yes, it was "in the now" music. Parker had only been dead for three years when I started listening to him and I was in time to hear as new musicians on the scene Cannonball, Timmons, Roland Kirk, Oliver Nelson, Bill Evans, Coltrane, Ornette, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, etc as well as being around for the release of much of the Blue Note and Riverside catalogues as new albums.

My comment on Ted Gioia's blog about listening to Parker today is also relevant here:

http://www.jazz.com/jazz-blog/2008/7/24/bird-dead-two

Charlie Parker was still around when I was in my early jazz listener period. I had one opportunity to hear/see him live but didn't get there. He died soon after that.

I feel fortunate though to have seen a number of jazz greats that left us long ago. Among those I saw in person who died long ago are Lester Young, Bud Powell, Clifford Brown, Kenny Dorham, Duke Ellington, Ben Webster, Lennie Tristano, Wes Montgomery, Paul Desmond, Oscar Pettiford, Philly Joe Jones, Doug Watkins, Johnny Hodges,Louis Armstrong,Thelonious Monk,

Roy Eldridge, Charlie Shavers, Illinois Jacquet, and many others.

[paul secor]

I've never been interested in looking back at my musical taste to when I was 15, 20, 25, or whenever. What I listened to in the past helped shaped my listening tastes today, whether I still listen to any of it or not. My listening taste six months ago isn't what it is right now, and if my listening taste a year from now is the same as it is now, I'll know that I'm dead.

Edited April 12, 2012 by paul secor

[John Tapscott]

would some of us agree that many of our particular musical tastes are indulged and developed for social reasons?

Social reasons absolutely played a big role in my musical tastes. ANTI-social. I suppose it was somthing of a revolt against my peers - or, more kindly, a desire to establish myself as an individual, not a "sheep" - that I gravitated away from the "pop" music of my times and classmates. I suppose one might add this to a long list of things I did to define myself as "unique" (my leisure travel destinations, my early career choices, the high school I chose to attend instead of the one I was expected to attend, my political leanings...)

On the end, it circled back, and I was at least superficially accepted as a token everything-we're-not in various groups. The guy that listens to that strange music.

Oh yes, most of that I can relate to. 40+ years as a teenager I started listening to jazz partly because all my peers were listening to rock (which I didn't really like anyway), and I wanted to be a "snob" in a way, an "expert" in something that no one else my age knew much about. Actually I did like jazz, esp. big band jazz at the time (which I still enjoy), and I found it takes a certain dedication to keep listening to jazz when hardly any one else you know really gets it. What I didn't know at the time was how danged addictive the music would eventually become to me.

A couple of things helped broaden my jazz horizons. One was the existence of some good jazz programs on Toronto FM radio stations including Board member Ted O'Reilly's "The Jazz Scene". The other was meeting one or two friends at college who were really into jazz. (I met them while browsing in the jazz section at record stores, naturally!) But there weren't too many of us. Oh, people would go to concerts and clubs, but not that many really listened to jazz seriously and collected good jazz records (not even the music students, as I recall).

One day the guy in the college residence room next to me came into my room while I was playing Cannonball Adderley's "Somethin' Else." I will never forget it - he said, "You listen to some weird sh**!", as Miles took a solo. Actually made me feel pretty good!

Edited April 12, 2012 by John Tapscott

[kinuta]

At school we had a lunch time music club. There was a crappy old record player and a mixture of pop music and classical tracks selected by the music teacher. I took my brand new copies of Ray Charles Hit The Road Jack and Sam Cooke Chain Gang.

The kids called me Professor because of my short back & sides haircut and Hank Marvin glasses. My hip credentials went up a notch thanks to Brother Ray. I was never aware of anyone influencing my tastes, apart from my next door neighbour's brother who was the world's biggest Elvis fan.

Edited April 12, 2012 by kinuta

[BillF]

Similar to my experience, Peter, except that my starting dates are about four years later than yours. I think that the fact our generation started with jazz, rather than with another musical genre, helps explain our present day tastes.

I think that's very true. When I first listened to Charlie Parker (c. 1978) it was no different to listening to Beethoven. Music that was not by a living (or even recently dead) musician, being forged in the moment. I had to get past a film of 'oldness' before I could start to experience it as living music. Whereas, I suspect to you and Peter, this was thrilling, 'in the now' music from the off.

Yes, it was "in the now" music. Parker had only been dead for three years when I started listening to him and I was in time to hear as new musicians on the scene Cannonball, Timmons, Roland Kirk, Oliver Nelson, Bill Evans, Coltrane, Ornette, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, etc as well as being around for the release of much of the Blue Note and Riverside catalogues as new albums.

My comment on Ted Gioia's blog about listening to Parker today is also relevant here:

http://www.jazz.com/jazz-blog/2008/7/24/bird-dead-two

Charlie Parker was still around when I was in my early jazz listener period. I had one opportunity to hear/see him live but didn't get there. He died soon after that.

I feel fortunate though to have seen a number of jazz greats that left us long ago. Among those I saw in person who died long ago are Lester Young, Bud Powell, Clifford Brown, Kenny Dorham, Duke Ellington, Ben Webster, Lennie Tristano, Wes Montgomery, Paul Desmond, Oscar Pettiford, Philly Joe Jones, Doug Watkins, Johnny Hodges,Louis Armstrong,Thelonious Monk,

Roy Eldridge, Charlie Shavers, Illinois Jacquet, and many others.

Can't resist rising to that challenge, Peter! Of the long departed that I saw, these come to mind: Duke, Count, Ben, Buck Clayton, Cozy Cole, Hines, Teagarden, Dicky Wells, Earl Warren, Rushing, Hodges, Hampton, Herman, Joe Turner, Lucky Thompson, Cannonball, Dizzy, Tristano, Stitt, Desmond, Lee Morgan, Mobley, Roland Kirk, Thad, Mel, Maynard, Woody Shaw, Philly Joe, Klook, Blakey, Bill Evans and Timmons. And all in the UK, mainly here in Manchester! As with you and Bird, I most regret missing Coltrane and Miles gigs.

Edited April 14, 2012 by BillF

[crisp]

I started listening to jazz partly because I wanted vocal versions of the Great American Songbook that weren't by British dance bands or stage artists and partly because I'd heard it growing up (in England in the 1970s) and liked it. I pretty much simultaneously began buying Ella Fitzgerald and Ben Webster records, purely on the basis that, say, a Rodgers and Hart song was on them, and went from there.

I probably had one of the oddest entries into jazz, but I've come to realise that the same principle forms all of my music taste. I like melody, but prefer to hear artists put their own stamp on it or develop something new from it. I also like polished performances, or at least a sense that the musicians are accomplished, even if they are experimenting (and I prefer it if they are).

I've never much liked R&B, latin, world and even soul music because I find the melodies are usually too simple or repetitive, sometimes to the point where I find it annoying. But I focus on pop, classical and jazz for the opposite reason: the melodies are usually very rich. Growing up in the time and place I did, I felt expected to like rock music and its offshoots, such as indie. It wasn't until I realised what the root of my tastes was that I realised why I didn't like rock.

I'm not rigid or closed-minded, by the way -- there are exceptions to my reactions. I'd stress that this explains my prejudices rather than driving them. It's why I can get equal pleasure from, say, Josef Haydn, Lester Young, Ron Goodwin or Billy Joel when they might not seem to have a common thread, and why I dislike a lot of music that others who like some of those artists would enjoy.

Took me until my forties to understand that, but it's why I would say my taste has held up.

[johnlitweiler]

An interesting discussion. Social reasons, yes and no for me. As a South Bend, IN boy I stumbled into jazz by hearing it on a 50,000-watt Chicago radio station (about 11 or 12 years old). Only one jazz-loving friend in high school, but at least fellow workers from the South joined me in liking blues and hillbilly music. In college, in a Chicago suburb, there were at last schoolmates who were also exploring jazz and blues and that's when my curiosities/interests really kicked into gear.

Among Youtube's uses, it's great for rediscovering old pop music (Ah, yeah, that's why I liked that) and also test-driving music I'd avoided, for 1 reason or another, over the decades.

[Chuck Nessa]

I can find a reason/excuse for any listening pleasures from the past but am feeling pretty smug about it as I look back.

[GA Russell]

My first year of high school (8th grade) was the year of the British Invasion. I listened to a lot of that on the radio, but I spent my money on instrumentals - Al Hirt in 8th grade, The Ventures in 9th grade, the Tijuana Brass in 10th grade, and then on to jazz - first Ramsey Lewis, and then moving quickly to Groove Holmes.

I didn't have any high school friends who liked jazz, but I had a few in college, and a jazz class was where I met my college girl friend!

But to answer the question posed by the OP, I still like the jazz I listened to in high school and college.

Edited April 12, 2012 by GA Russell

[Neal Pomea]

OT. I remember thinking Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum was a belly-rubbing "swamp pop" song a la Rod Bernard, Johnnie Allen, T.K. Hulin, Warren Storm, Tommy McClain, Charles Mann, and G.G. Shinn! Guess I was not paying attention to those creepy lyrics.

Haven't kept up with the "prog rock" my friends introduced to me, but I still hear the countrypolitan music I used to hear on the radio in my pre-teen and teen years. The dancehall Cajun music of the 60s-70s has really not been equalled, surpassed, or improved upon by the bands of Renaissance era of the 70s and beyond, imo.

Edited April 13, 2012 by Neal Pomea