Why do I hate jazz ??

[Jean de la croix]

I am well aware that this title here is a bit provocative and maybe even a bit inappropriate. I'm not trying to alienate the community, but I really want to understand what nobody has been able to explain to me yet...

When I say that, people always try to make me listen to jazz pieces to show me that it's not that I don't like them, it's that I don't know the right ones. But nothing helps. What is it about jazz that makes me appreciate classical music so much and jazz music or any "jazzy" piece so little? I should mention that the feeling I get from this music is the same for gospel, negro spiritual etc. Any ideas?

To illustrate a little, I was playing a video game and in a tavern there was this music (see below) that immediately horrified me. I don't know if it's really jazz, but there's this haunting and plaintive side that I find absolutely unbearable.

Thank you for your possible answers and please try to understand and explain rather than trying to convince me that I do like jazz (if you can!)

 

[spiritofmusic]

Jean, if my GF was on this forum, she would re-phrase your thread "How could anyone not hate jazz?" lol.

 

[tima]

Makes me think of Gato Barbieri on ludes playing Last Tango in Paris.

 

[bryans]

When I say that, people always try to make me listen to jazz pieces to show me that it's not that I don't like them, it's that I don't know the right ones.

There is nothing wrong with not liking Jazz. I for one don't like Classical music. It's just a personal preference. It has nothing to do with knowing "the right ones".

If you don't like it don't listen to it.

 

[dcc]

And don't brag about it...

 

[LL21]

Would be interested to hear what you think of Jacques Loussier who was best known for playing Bach...as a jazz ensemble. Goldberg variations, Brandenberg Concertos.

 

[Jean de la croix]

There is nothing wrong with not liking Jazz. I for one don't like Classical music. It's just a personal preference. It has nothing to do with knowing "the right ones".

If you don't like it don't listen to it.

I don't want to like it, I want to understand what I don't like and why. Emotions may be personal, but they have a reason to be and are based on something.

 

[Jean de la croix]

Would be interested to hear what you think of Jacques Loussier who was best known for playing Bach...as a jazz ensemble. Goldberg variations, Brandenberg Concertos.

Interesting. There are passages that I find very cool, but it's often the ones that simply add rhythm to Bach's music. I have a little trouble with the "vvv" sounds of cymbals and double bass in pizzicato but it's ok. On the other hand, there are passages that I find awful (it's only my taste, I know). A good example is at 12:30, I'm very convinced, the passage at 12:42 is very pretty and at 12:47 it goes into a harmonic delirium that I find hideous (the words are strong I know but it's really the "waste" effect it gives me).

 

[Jean de la croix]

And don't brag about it...

I don't "brag" about anything, I just want to know why I have this feeling and I think people who really know jazz can find out.

 

[dcc]

So you joined today and your first post is rather contentious and using some strong language like "hate" and "hideous"... Maybe you might want to think about a more constructive way to introduce yourself on this great forum.

 

[LL21]

Interesting. There are passages that I find very cool, but it's often the ones that simply add rhythm to Bach's music. I have a little trouble with the "vvv" sounds of cymbals and double bass in pizzicato but it's ok. On the other hand, there are passages that I find awful (it's only my taste, I know). A good example is at 12:30, I'm very convinced, the passage at 12:42 is very pretty and at 12:47 it goes into a harmonic delirium that I find hideous (the words are strong I know but it's really the "waste" effect it gives me).

Hmmm...well, on the classical side, do you like classical music that is dissonant (Charles Ives) or that is really 'free form' (need to find an example as I dont listen to it myself)...generally more recent classical music vs highly 'organized' Bach, Beethoven even Mozart?

Seems if you find some of the Loussier passages that add rhythm to Bach's music, then it might be that you genuinely like the very ordered form of music whereas some jazz is by definition about exploring boundaries, playing with them.

Do you like Duke Ellington, Take the A Train?

Or George Gershwin? Rhapsody in Blue?

 

[Gregadd]

Is your life being invaded by jazz? Just would seem very easy to avoid jazz if you don't like it. How about starting a thread Why I love blank music.

 

[wil]

I think the great Duke Ellington quote applies here.

“ There are two types of music: good music, and the other kind.”

Saying you “hate jazz” — a music genre that has a vast history and breadth of artistic expression it’s sort of like saying you hate music. Maybe best to start with I don’t “understand” jazz. And if you don’t want to explore it beyond little cartoon snippets — just listen to the music you already like!

Jazz can be challenging just like most of the great things in life. You have to enter it with an open mind and open ears. It can take time to understand the language of the music, just like with any other genre.

 

[facten]

There are sub-genres within jazz, some I enjoy some I don't ; and, I simply don't listen to those I don't enjoy. If you don't want to explore the different sub-genres to determine if any suit your listening tastes than having others try to explain why you don't like something that you are apparently totally adverse to doesn't seem to make much sense. As others have stated, simply don't listen to it.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Emotions may be personal, but they have a reason to be and are based on something.

Welcome to WBF!

What makes you think preferences are based on something, and are not random and idiosyncratic?

Tinka loves mushrooms; mushrooms make me gag. This is very far from any of my fields, but I think some preferences are literally random components of each of us.

I share some of the expressed puzzlement at the intensity of your adjectives to describe your distaste for jazz, but, on the other hand, I think I would go so far as to say that I “hate” rap music.

 

[LL21]

Welcome to WBF!...

...I share some of the expressed puzzlement at the intensity of your adjectives to describe your distaste for jazz, but, on the other hand, I think I would go so far as to say that I “hate” rap music.

And then there's this!

 

[wil]

I’ve heard Rap that is great. Most is gar-bage. All music genres have their exceptions. I recall hearing some Polka I liked once. That doesn’t mean I liked what Lawrence Welk did to it.

I think that saying one hates an entire genre of music is narrow minded.

The ruin of music, whatever form it takes, is it’s commercialization. Most music that is manufactured only to make the music industry a profit tends to be crap.

 

[rando]

When I say that, people always try to make me listen to jazz pieces to show me that it's not that I don't like them, it's that I don't know the right ones. But nothing helps. What is it about jazz that makes me appreciate classical music so much and jazz music or any "jazzy" piece so little? I should mention that the feeling I get from this music is the same for gospel, negro spiritual etc. Any ideas?

To illustrate a little, I was playing a video game and in a tavern there was this music (see below) that immediately horrified me. I don't know if it's really jazz, but there's this haunting and plaintive side that I find absolutely unbearable.

There is an undeniable level of sensitivity being expressed here. So much so I'm given to misquote dead center between tongues where no directly verifiable quote exists. Despite being coined by numerous active in the music scene.

"You only get so angry before you turn to Jazz", could also be applied towards stating relationships between the destruction of war to heavy rock.

There is no escaping Jazz when it is the closest formally recognized genre to a if you can't tie knots, tie lots, mélange of ideas present visually and audibly in your video. I'd consider all suggestions towards finding resolution presented thus far leading towards tending to 99 pieces of fertile musical soil for every single rocky set of ideas you unearthed here.

 

[DasguteOhr]

i listen to all kinds of jazz, everything that has a melody, i'm out of free jazz

One of best recordings outthere

 

[microstrip]

I don't want to like it, I want to understand what I don't like and why. Emotions may be personal, but they have a reason to be and are based on something.

There are thousands of psychology studies about why we hate things - IMHO you will only find the real reason why you hate jazz after knowing the essentials of the hate process. Looking for musical reasons in a forum of jazz fans will be of little help. What do you expect to learn from people telling you how great is jazz and how much they love it?