Jazz Listening
One of the things I've been working on since I went back to school is listening to contemporary jazz performers and composers. When I was in the Jazz Choir we had assigned listening every week. We got to pick the music but we had to log it and discuss it. This practice encourages active listening where you focus and concentrate on what you are hearing as opposed to having music on in the background while you go about your day.
Both active and background listening are legitimate but the more active listening you do the harder it is to listen and not focus. The background music has a tendency to invade your mind space and then you move right into active listening and you're not getting anything else done.
Like right now I had to tab over to my mplayer window because the music grabbed me. It's Charlie Hunter playing “There Used To Be A Nightclub There” at The Loving Cup and it has some great guitar in it. So then the next thing you know I've cued up some Charlie Hunter and you see what I mean.
Over break I have compiled quite a list for jazz listening. I've listened to enough of each of these picks to know I want to spend more time with them and I've still got a few weeks left to do just that. So far I've spent the most time with Kenny Werner but there's so much great music here by a wide variety of artists that I'm sure you can find some you like.
Some of this music comes from the library's Fregal service, free and legal downloads with your library card. Some from the Live Music Archive and some from bandcamp. Or you can try to find it on Spotify. When you're listening to this years releases it can be challenging locating them.
So here's the list
jazz listening ========= Created Sunday 30 December 2018
The first three items link to collections of music.
bandcamp daily – The Best Jazz Albums of 2018 https://daily.bandcamp.com/2018/12/18/the-best-bandcamp-jazz-albums-of-2018/
Internet archive uploads by stevphen – lots of European jazz and free jazz https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22stevphen%22
KBFR's Van – Interviews and live recordings https://archive.org/search.php?query=venue%3A%22KBFR%27s+Van%22
Of Abstract Dreams by Sun Ra & His Arkestra https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/of-abstract-dreams
Redtime Live at House of Blues on 1996-11-07 https://archive.org/details/rt1996-11-07
Keyon Harrold – Introducing Keyon Harrold
Keyon Harrold – The Mugician
Gilad Hekselman – Ask For Chaos
Makaya McCraven – Universal Beings https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/universal-beings
Thumbscrew – Convallaria https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/convallaria
Brian Blade – Body And Shadow
Kenny Werner – Naked In The Cosmos
Kenny Werner – A Delicate Balance
Ben Wendel – What We Bring
Live in Healdsburg by Anat Cohen & Fred Hersch https://anzic.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-healdsburg
Rhapsody by Bobby Previte https://bobbyprevite.bandcamp.com/album/rhapsody
NauMay by Juan Ibarra Quinteto https://juanibarra.bandcamp.com/releases
The Other Side of Time by Quin Kirchner https://quinkirchner.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-side-of-time
Have fun!