JAZZSTACKS

What I'm Listening to Now:

The following quote by Jeff Fitzgerald (article) pretty much sums up my feelings about Jazz: "One of the primary faults of most jazz fans, myself especially, is the tendency to pick our favorite moment in jazz and stop right there. My own collection tails off right at the point where Coltrane’s conversations with God started to get a little fuzzy (perhaps He was on a cell phone) and Miles decided that the idea of a trumpet as lead instrument in a rock band was just crazy enough to work."

I am one of those individuals that becomes hooked on one artist - case in point: my obsession with Charles Mingus during the mid to late 90's. I couldn't get enough Mingus, but once I listened to his works over and over, and bought almost everything out there, I run up dry. I didn't really know where to go once I heard Mingus. No one could hold the flame so to speak. Since that time, I've broadened my tastes a bit, thanks to the internet, and Ken Burn's Jazz Documentary. I found that once I heard something about an artist I wanted to explore that artist. Some stuff I've located and bought is great - others not so much. So that gets me to what this page is all about. What I'm listening to now:

John Coltrane - mainly with his quartet from the early to mid-1960's. The group included Coltrane on Sax, pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones, and Jimmy Garrison on bass.