Getting Into Jazz: When you'd like to listen to jazz but not sure where to start

By Mark Barnett

Mark Barnett knows and loves jazz, and he has a special talent for explaining the music-and his passion for it-in words that everyone can understand. It's a talent that shines from every line in this book.

The contents of the book originally appe

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cathy Maria Oliveri
• Release date: Nov 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781953910011

Book preview

Getting Into Jazz

When you want to listen to jazz

but you don’t know where to start

Mark Barnett

Copyright © 2020 by Mark Barnett

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Printed in the United States of America

Print ISBN: 9781953910004

E-Book ISBN: 9781953910011

A close up of a tree Description automatically generated

4697 Main Street

Manchester Center, VT 05255

Canoe Tree Press is a division of DartFrog Books.

For my wife, Cathy Oliveri Barnett, whose wisdom and support made this book possible.

Acknowledgements

With thanks to Michael Ricci, founder of the All About Jazz website, for giving me an amazing platform for sharing my love of jazz.

Introduction

These columns were written by Mark Barnett for the All About Jazz website between 2016 and 2019 at the invitation of the site’s founder, Michael Ricci.

Mark’s love of jazz courses through every album introduction and track description. The sub-title says it all – Mark guides listeners track by track through some of the greatest jazz albums, providing stories about the musicians, pointing out interesting rhythms, and inviting readers to enjoy particularly apt lyrics.

This book is a collection of three different types of materials written for AAJ. Mark started with an entry for Building a Jazz Library, where he recommended ten of his favorite albums from one of his favorite artists, Stan Getz. Mark then founded Getting into Jazz, a column for those who want to listen to jazz but aren’t sure where to start. This book contains both those columns and Mark’s introduction, How to Listen. Mark has called his latest column Choice Cuts, a place where he can explore jazz themes across many different albums.

Mark’s columns are as timeless as the jazz he writes about. May they continue to guide those who aren’t sure where to start into a deeper appreciation of the jazz Mark loves so well.

—Cathy Oliveri Barnett

Gaithersburg, Maryland

October 2, 2020

Contents

How to Listen

Zoot Sims

Chet Baker

Barney Kessel

Louis Armstrong

Donna Byrne

Stan Getz

Wild Bill Davison

Zoot Sims

Vic Dickenson

Maxine Sullivan

Herb Ellis & Joe Pass

Chet Baker

Ella Fitzgerald

Sidney Bechet

Ella Fitzgerald

Eddie Condon

Marlene VerPlanck

Choice Cuts

Building a Jazz Library

About the Author

You’ll never know how nice it seems or just how much it really means.

—From Basin Street Blues, lyrics by Jack Teagarden & Glenn Miller

How to Listen

An Introduction to

Getting Into Jazz

What should I listen for?

As we go through the individual CDs, you’ll get specific pointers about what to listen for in the tracks I’ve highlighted.

But in general, you’ll notice that much of this music follows a standard format. After a brief introduction, one chorus of the song is played by the group’s leader—generally a horn player, pianist or guitarist—more or less as it was written. Then that player begins to improvise on the original melody, usually for two or more choruses, after which the other players take turns soloing, fashioning their own improvisations. Then, to close things out, the song is played straight once again.

How about repeat listening?

It’s essential. You really can’t derive the most pleasure from a jazz piece the first time you hear it. After the first playing, you may find what you’ve heard interesting but perhaps a little monotonous (It all sounds the same). The second time you may say, Oh, yeah, I remember this part, it’s really nice. The third time you may say, I never noticed that little thing before. The fourth time, you may have begun to make a new friend. And by the sixth time, if you’re lucky, you may have fallen ln love. Does this remind you of dating?

How do I make sense of the improvised parts?

It’s important to understand that a good jazz improviser is an ad hoc songwriter, creating brand new melodies that can be more beautiful than the original. And yet in the midst of all this newness, he or she manages to retain the thread of the original tune.

And that makes for one of the biggest kicks in listening to jazz—following the winding course of the improvisation while keeping the original tune in the back of your mind. Hear how the musician flits away from the original melody, then comes back to it for a moment, then takes off again. Think hummingbird.

Remember too that a good jazz improvisation, despite the spontaneity, has a solid structure. It tells a story from beginning to middle to end. To follow the story, you need to hear the whole thing. Otherwise it’s like trying to watch a movie thriller starting in the middle.

But what if I don’t know the songs they’re playing?

Although some of the tunes are composed by the players, most of the songs that jazz musicians improvise on are from The Great American Songbook —compositions by Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Richard Rogers, Harold Arlen, Duke Ellington and the like.

If you don’t know a song in one of the CDs, you can sometimes get familiar with it by listening to a non-jazz rendition on YouTube before you tackle the jazz version. That way, in addition to gradually creating a library of jazz CDs, you’ll be creating a mental library of beautiful songs.

How will I know if I’m getting this stuff?

Are you starting to love it? Okay, are you liking it at least? Do you find bits of the improvised parts coming back to you later? After a few listenings, can you anticipate what’s coming next? All good signs!

Here’s a little test you can give yourself. Choose a jazz solo you’ve become familiar with from one of the CDs in this blog and listen to it from beginning to end. Sounds like an old friend, right? Next day, go back and listen to the same solo, but start it somewhere in the middle. Are you disoriented? Are you thinking, Where are we, what came before this, where are we going? That’s a good sign, because it shows you’ve really absorbed and integrated the story the musician is telling. On the other hand, if the second listening sounds just about like the first —a bunch of notes —then the music hasn’t yet soaked in.

Could listening to improvised jazz be good for my brain?

I’m not a neuroscientist, but it seems to me that if you’re focusing your mind on distinguishing the musical lines played by several instruments at once, or trying to follow an improvisation while keeping the original melody in mind, you’re exercising and strengthening the analytical part of your brain. And if at the same time you’re absorbing the beauty and excitement of what you’re hearing, you’re exercising the feeling part. It’s a one-two punch of a workout. And unlike abdominal crunches, it’s actually enjoyable.

Which brings us back to the original idea: listening and loving it.

Publication date: March 28, 2016

Zoot Sims

If I’m Lucky

CD Capsule

Gorgeous improvisations on some beautiful yet rarely played songs by tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims and pianist Jimmy Rowles.

Background

Zoot Sims was one of several tenor saxophonists who played in the spare, cool style originated by the legendary Lester Young. This meant a smooth, breathy tone without much vibrato and with little sliding between the notes, and no florid displays of virtuoso speed