Why do I hate jazz ??

[MikeHorns]

Johnny named a band after it.

 

[Cellcbern]

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!)

No accounting for taste nor any need to explain one's music preferences. I suspect that for some people musical preferences are part nature as well as nurture. Puzzling that you would seek to have others explain your tastes to you. I'm not a classical music fan generally (I listen to a little) and am particularly uninterested in the full orchestra and opera. I love jazz (although not the free form kind), blues, R+B, Reggae, Latin. My lack of interest in classical music has never concerned me, and my audio system is naturally optimized for the music I like.

 

[cjfrbw]

There are people who don't particularly like any kind of music, even though music is ubiquitous. I suppose that one can be grateful to deeply appreciate at least a genre or two if not all of them.
It does seem that there are audiophiles who only like classical music. If one regards that as a signatory of ennoblement, that might be a different issue.

 

[the sound of Tao]

You don’t judge a person on what type of music they like… just on what kind of amplifier they choose … uhmm am joking.

I really don’t understand the concept of hate in terms of something as personal as music preference… or even over gear preference, that just all seems silly or maybe a tad melodramatic. I also think expecting people who know nothing about you (in reality) to look deeply into your personal preferences is also a bit of a stretch.

I love what I see as good music in a range of types, I’ve never seen it as a badge of honour either… that’s almost as weird as hating it be it jazz or classical or rock or EDM… or as my teenage niece with her preference for 80’s music might say, whatevs lol

 

[bonzo75]

Unless you have played classical music or jazz in an orchestra/band in school, these tastes have to be developed You are not going to get exposed to them on MTV, in restaurants, or clubs, which is where our tastes first develop. They won’t sound good on earphones and small non audiophile speakers. Pop, rock, rap, all play through these channels all the time.

Classical tastes have to be developed by attending live, or listening to it on a very good system for classical, which is rare. I got my first classical exposure in my 20s when I moved to London and attended swan lake with 3 friends who thought it would be a good touristy idea.

after years of being played take 5 every time I visited someone, I first got exposed to good jazz by the General with his original blue notes, and loved the Bop.

 

[Klonk]

Frank Zappa said on one of his recordings:"Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny". Perhaps you just don't like the smell of Jazz???

 

[analogsa]

What is it about jazz that makes me appreciate classical music so much

What exactly is included within you classical preferences? Bach to Brahms? Do you listen to mid/late 20-th century classical, or do you draw a line at Stravinsky and Bartok?

What do you call jazz? Early jazz? Big band era? 70-s rock jazz?, ECM? Avantgarde?

Not sure how one can make general statements about hugely diverse musical genres, unless just skimming across the surface. Some jazz flavours are hard to tell apart from contemporary classical.

I suspect that musical preferences are not so much about genres and styles but more about the level of abstractness one can enjoy.

 

[analogsa]

Classical tastes have to be developed by attending live, or listening to it on a very good system for classical,

Why?

My earliest musical memories at 4 or 5 relate to parents playing incessantly Carl Orff and Boito on an ancient tube R2R through it's built in speakers. Seems to have worked.

 

[Cellcbern]

Unless you have played classical music or jazz in an orchestra/band in school, these tastes have to be developed You are not going to get exposed to them on MTV, in restaurants, or clubs, which is where our tastes first develop. They won’t sound good on earphones and small non audiophile speakers. Pop, rock, rap, all play through these channels all the time.

Classical tastes have to be developed by attending live, or listening to it on a very good system for classical, which is rare. I got my first classical exposure in my 20s when I moved to London and attended swan lake with 3 friends who thought it would be a good touristy idea.

after years of being played take 5 every time I visited someone, I first got exposed to good jazz by the General with his original blue notes, and loved the Bop.

I grew up listening to jazz - my parents and uncles played jazz records and listened to jazz on the radio. I developed a love for it years before I ever heard a live jazz performance.

 

[bryans]

Unless you have played classical music or jazz in an orchestra/band in school, these tastes have to be developed You are not going to get exposed to them on MTV, in restaurants, or clubs, which is where our tastes first develop. They won’t sound good on earphones and small non audiophile speakers. Pop, rock, rap, all play through these channels all the time.

Classical tastes have to be developed by attending live, or listening to it on a very good system for classical, which is rare. I got my first classical exposure in my 20s when I moved to London and attended swan lake with 3 friends who thought it would be a good touristy idea.

after years of being played take 5 every time I visited someone, I first got exposed to good jazz by the General with his original blue notes, and loved the Bop.

Sorry don't agree that one has to listen to music in a certain way to develop a taste for it. I played in Classical band and didn't like it then and still don't. I have listened to Classical on many "audiophile setups", and have attend a few concerts in my day. It's still isn't for me. This isn't a knock on Classical music, it just isn't my preference.

I think people are putting too much into this. If one doesn't like a certain music type, it's OK. I'm sure one can find plenty of music they like.

 

[bonzo75]

Sorry don't agree that one has to listen to music in a certain way to develop a taste for it. I played in Classical band and didn't like it then and still don't. I have listened to Classical on many "audiophile setups", and have attend a few concerts in my day. It's still isn't for me. This isn't a knock on Classical music, it just isn't my preference.

I think people are putting too much into this. If one doesn't like a certain music type, it's OK. I'm sure one can find plenty of music they like.

That’s fine I’m your case you tried and didn’t like many don’t And don’t like it. Difference is easy to see

 

[cjfrbw]

I do think that if you listen to classical exclusively, you owe your self a nice horn system. Gotta get those dynamics as intact as possible.

 

[the sound of Tao]

I do think a musically great system makes a more easily connected sense out of jazz and classical… it increases a flowing ready accessibility when exploring the more challenging kinds of music. I do feel that cohesion and dynamic immediacy and a right tonal balance help a lot here.

Equally some systems just leave you feeling completely indifferent about all sorts of challenging music.

 

[bonzo75]

I do think that if you listen to classical exclusively, you owe your self a nice horn system. Gotta get those dynamics as intact as possible.

also for jazz, and for rock, a dual woofer FLH

 

[morricab]

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!)

You don't like music that isn't tightly structured?

You don't like music with complex rhythms?

 

[Maril555]

Some of our preferences develop with experience and exposure.
I can certainly conclude that about myself. My music preferences evolved with time, jazz being the most recent chronologically -speaking.
At the same time our old music preferences could self-extinguish.

 

[cjfrbw]

When I tried to play some great fusion jazz to my nephew a few years ago, he rejected it by saying with a sneer that "I'll listen to that when I'm old and decayed", preferring all the classic rock records that I had.

Maybe the OP isn't fossilized enough yet to appreciate jazz.

 

[analogsa]

Maybe the OP isn't fossilized enough yet to appreciate jazz.

There probably is something to this. I didn't particularly enjoy jazz until I turned 18 and rock jazz helped a lot with the transition. As did Zappa

 

[morricab]

When I tried to play some great fusion jazz to my nephew a few years ago, he rejected it by saying with a sneer that "I'll listen to that when I'm old and decayed", preferring all the classic rock records that I had.

Maybe the OP isn't fossilized enough yet to appreciate jazz.

Wasn't the rock music as old or older than the fusion Jazz?? Classic rock and prog rock could be considered "old man" music these days

 

[the sound of Tao]

When I tried to play some great fusion jazz to my nephew a few years ago, he rejected it by saying with a sneer that "I'll listen to that when I'm old and decayed", preferring all the classic rock records that I had.

Maybe the OP isn't fossilized enough yet to appreciate jazz.

My nephew is 21 and has a great jazz collection with plenty of 50’s and 60’s jazz including Miles Davis, Grant Green, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson and the list goes on… and now his step Dad has more recently expanded him a lot in classical… he loves contemporary jazz as well like Ambrose Akinmusire and I’ve been sharing some contemporary jazz rnb fusion like Makaya McCraven and Shabaka Hutchings. He also works as a barista and does exceptional espresso… he is so much in advance of his uncle it’s embarrassing lol.