I always knew I liked jazz, I always knew I like the blues sound and the improvisation, I always knew I like that whole combination of pounding speed, flying solos and chest punching blue notes.
But there's so much recorded material out there. So many names and styles and little boxes that the music's put into. I didn't know trad from my swing, be-bop from hard-bop, avant-garde from free. So I didn't have a clue where to start.
Then I heard a tune on the radio - it wasn't fast and furious, it was simply the most beautiful peice of music I'd ever heard. And it was improvised. And it blew me away.
So I bought a recording of it. At first it was a bit much, I couldn't really pick out the individual tracks - I didn't have my ear in. But I still loved it - and the more I listened, the more absolute sense it made, and the more I began to think that there was no better way to play music.
And it's improvised! - I still can't get my head around how it's done - it's like some amazing, jaw dropping magic trick. Except even with the most boggling magic trick you still know that it was a trick, an illusion, that what you think happened didn't really.
Jazz is real.
From that first CD, I began following a trail of musicians and branched out into listening to more and more, finding new jaw dropping music everywhere I looked.
That first tune I heard was Bird of Paradise by Charlie Parker, and it's still a favourite.
The CD was 'The Complete Dial Masters' released by Spotlite.
Charlie Parker led me to Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, many many more.
The aim of this Blog is to trace that branching tree and tell you what I like listening to so that other people can feel confident about getting into jazz.