Foreword

But there are more satisfying varieties of music. Jazz is one of them. If you are relatively new to it, you may think that jazz sounds complicated, and you may have trouble connecting emotionally. Don't give up. Many current fans felt the same way. I didn't know quite what to make of Miles Davis when I first heard his music - at a time when most of my peers were into Woodstock and acid rock. But I am still into acid rock!

,Foreword

Jazz has been misunderstood since the beginning. In the early years, jazz's spontaneity and lack of elaborate written music made it seem "lees - than" to scholars and classical music fanatics. Big band swing raised questions of black and white at a time when segregation was still very much the norm in America. In its early years, this music wasn't universally accepted: A turning point came when Benny Goodman's Orchestra became the first jazz ensemble to headline at Carnegie Hall in 1938. Next came the Barney Kessel generation in the 1940s. When Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie picked up the pace with the music critics called Bebop once again a new form of jazz was misperceived - even by jazz players themselves. Swing band leader Eddie Condon went so far as to call it 'slop' in the pages of Downbeat, and the trumpeter Louis Armstrong said, "First people get curious about it just because it's new, but soon they get tired of it because it's no good." OF course, we know now that that Bird and Diz were among jazz's creative giants.

This being the modern age and all, analytical thinking is considered a plus. And it can be great, if it cures cancer, prevents polio… or shows someone how to have a successful marriage. But in the case of music, too much analysis can scare people away who may actually love the music.

Jazz has been victimized by too much heaviosity (that is, the state of being heavy). Jazz's great players are indeed musical geniuses. Their music is some of the world's greatest music: intellectually, emotionally, and aesthetically. Jazz, though, is a music that most of all, is felt. It comes from a musician's heart and goes to a music lover's heart. Good jazz connects with your heart, or soul, or wherever your feelings live. Improvisation is, for many jazz musicians, the most effective

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