That Jazz - Monkey Max Music and File Download

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Part V: The Part of Tens
Hancock, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and authentic
African Pygmy music on a Smithsonian Jazz Collection my mom gave me.
I can look through my collection and recall with surprising detail the places
or emotions associated with certain albums:
� Miles Davis was the first jazz musician who hooked me. I was 15, and I
listened to Bitches Brew over and over, mesmerized by Davis’s trumpet,
fascinated with the dense layers of instruments and sounds around it.
New details constantly revealed themselves. Most of my friends had
little interest in jazz, or even in Davis’s electric jazz rock, and those
of us who loved it felt like we were part of a special underground.
� Miles in the Sky was another college revelation. I heard it for the first
time in a friend’s comfortable wood-paneled living room with hanging
spider plants. We were in a mellow mood — listening, not talking — and
the music had me floating.
� Saxophonist Sam Rivers released Involution when I was in college, too.
Involution was a reissue of music recorded in the late ’60s, and it took
me deep into improvised acoustic jazz.
� Pianist McCoy Tyner’s double album Atlantis was partially recorded
during a performance I heard at Keystone Korner in San Francisco, and
I didn’t realize until much later that Tyner was carrying the spirit of his
mentor John Coltrane.
If you’re just starting a collection, such memories will come to you one day.
I find that the music that retains significant meaning to me came into my life
in organic, natural ways — I never set out to build a collection. Something I
heard on the radio struck a chord, and I went out and bought it. A friend recommended
an album, and I took a risk. I started to like an artist, so I worked
my way deeper into his history with additional albums. Follow your instincts
and find music that speaks to you.
Listen to Jazz in Any Medium
Although most jazz is available on CD, some has never been released in digital
format — one good reason to keep an open mind to vinyl LPs and 78s, and
even cassettes. I still play cassettes in my car (it handles both cassettes and
CDs), although the quality isn’t great. As you build your collection, be open
to any medium.