
Ask HN: How can I learn to appreciate jazz? - ggregoire
I&#x27;m fascinated about jazz but I&#x27;m quite sure I miss 99% of the thing. I don&#x27;t have the musical knowledge and the keys to understand it properly.<p>Could you suggest me some books, sites, webradios, etc about jazz?
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DrScump
"Jazz" is such a broad arena. It spans genres from Dixieland to Louis
Armstrong to Django Reinhardt ( _not_ the web framework) to Pat Metheny to
fusion to...

You might sample an artist or two from each genre to narrow your interest. I
daresay most fans of a given genre are not fans of all. For that matter, the
boundary between jazz and blues or rock or even classical are porous (Bob
James' version of Bizet's Farandole "L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2[0] immediately
came to mind).

My interest was sparked by two initial inspirations: my late brother-in-law (a
musician himself) and a local FM radio station which played a broad spectrum
of music (ironically, their license was eventually used for KFOG's South Bay
version).

One delimiting criterion is pure instrumentals vs. vocals; another is which
instruments you favor (guitar vs. brass vs. keyboard emphasis).

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlskWL4SjGI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlskWL4SjGI)

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FabHK
Good question. I've listened to "How to Listen to and Understand Great Music"
from The Great Courses [1], and that did help me appreciate and enjoy
classical music. Doesn't cover jazz, though. An equivalent for jazz would be
great.

They do in fact have a course "Elements of Jazz: From Cakewalks to Fusion",
and it's only 8 x 37 minutes. I haven't listened to it, but from my experience
with their courses, I'd recommend it (though don't buy it at the full price on
their website, wait for a sale or check amazon/audible/...)

[1] [http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/how-to-listen-to-
and-...](http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/how-to-listen-to-and-
understand-great-music-3rd-edition.html)

[2] [http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/elements-of-jazz-
from...](http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/elements-of-jazz-from-
cakewalks-to-fusion.html)

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davidgerard
I liked this blog post on the subject.

[http://glassmaker.tumblr.com/post/137759512208/how-to-
listen...](http://glassmaker.tumblr.com/post/137759512208/how-to-listen-to-a-
jazz-song-with-miles-davis)

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FabHK
Cool intro to the basics of the mechanics, short and insightful, thanks.

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FabHK
Also, check out the TV series History of Jazz by Ken Burns:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(TV_series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_\(TV_series\))

(seems to be available on youtube)

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chmielewski
Listen to Daedalus and then check out the project he has with Jazz Quartet
'Kneebody' called 'kneedlus' or 'kneedless'

He plays a kind of live improvisational electronic music.

