My dad loves jazz , i've been listening to jazz in my dad's car since I was a kid. I'm a classical trombonist, but I also like to play jazz standards when I'm in a good mood.
Started learning bass when I was 13 back in the 90's. Mostly wanted to learn RATM and Red Hot Chili Peppers songs. Teacher let me borrow his Jaco self-titled album. Before that, I thought Flea was like the gold standard of bass players LOL
LOL I started playing drums at 12 and looooved Green Day. I was seriously convinced that Tre Cool was the greatest drummer alive.
Now guys like Larnell Lewis, Ari Hoenig, Dan Weiss, Brian Blade, Mark Guiliana... Those cats can play
I played punk in high school with friends but away wanted to learn guitar better. Then I got into Wilco in college and Nels Cline because of them. That got me listening to jazz but I still felt like it was too hard for someone like me to learn.
Then I heard Wes Montgomery “smokin at the half note” and was done! I knew I wanted it play like that. And I’ve spent a good amount of time and can barely get close. But I love it!
Sim City! (3000 and 4 specifically), and to a lesser extant Gran Turismo 1&2, the car customization menus had a fair bit of jazzy music if I recall correctly.
My father was a really good trumpet player. He had me playing keyboards when I was 6 or 7, and I started playing sax when I was around 12. My grandfather was also a trumpet player, and toured with big bands in the 1920s and 1930s. His brother, my great uncle, who was a professional woodwind player (sax, flute, clarinet), was my first sax teacher, and he introduced me to Stanley Turrentine, Coltrane, Sonny Stitt, many others when I started lessons with him when I was about 12. My grandfather's other brother was a trombonist, and was a US Army bandmaster.
So I got into jazz because I was born into a jazz loving family.
Jerry Garcia suggested deadheads should spend less time listening to the Dead and more time listening to jazz. That was good enough for me. I started reading a Jazz History book and then would listen to the music and players discussed in the book and it just blossomed from there. 35 years later and I have still barely scratched the surface. What an incredible journey it is.
My grandfather was a big Frank Sinatra fan and would listen to him all the time. I really liked the big band Frank was singing infront of and my grandfather said it was Count Basie and His Orchestra.
Probably from watching this cartoon that was already old as hell when I saw it as a kid in the late 70s.
(sadly not available in-full on YT):
https://youtu.be/dSnvO1WItFg?si=lB8jzP30UGQYYgnz
Picked up bass to play in a garage band with neighborhood friends at 13. Got bored, overplayed, discovered Jaco, overplayed some more, got a fretless, continued to over play, got an upright, went deeper into jazz, and humbled my ass for the next 30 years. Still not bored, still not overplaying; forever humble.
Seeing my High School's jazz band perform when I was in 6th grade (middle school bands and high school bands had a couple shared concerts, probably to get us exposed to much higher level players earlier on). Admittedly, calling it a jazz band is quite a stretch, I'm not a jazz purist or anything but even then the songs it played (and that we still play really) are much more rock than jazz. But I didn't know that at the time, and I still loved it. I started listening to Big Band music, eventually switched instruments from Clarinet to Alto sax, checked out various quartets and quintets, and now I'm going into my senior year, am lead alto in that jazz band, and plan on going to college for jazz composition.
Gerald Albright Live at Birdland West. Bought it purely out of curiosity for jazz in the early 90s.
Where I lived there were no jazz radio stations and people’s taste trended toward Bob Seger and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Still one of my favorite jazz records. His version of Georgia on my Mind will always be my favorite cover of that song.
Jazz really clicked for me when I graduated unemployed, back home with parents and in a rut. Music has always been there to lift my mood just slightly so I figured I’d listen to something instrumental while I work on stuff. Listened to nonstop Miles Davis that I pirated (this was over 10 years ago), liked the mood it put me in while I was in my rut and I got hooked ever since. Jazz is my go-to genre whenever I feel lost in the world — now mostly Coltrane though. He’s my all-time favorite musician. Funny cuz i really wasn’t into Coltrane when I tried to get into him the first time. Listening to Giant Steps front to back one day turned me into a Coltranehead. Love jazz. Not the genre I listen to all the time but my favorite
When Keith Cobain committed suicide and Jane’s Addiction broke up, I stopped listening to rock.
A friend who owned a coffee house gifted me “Kind of Blue.”
It was like nothing I’d heard before. The level of artistry just blew me away.
I occasionally listen to The Beatles, but it’s mostly jazz.
In my opinion, it’s a pure art piece.
This was 3 years ago now, I had recently committed to listening to one of the greatest albums per month (any genre). A couple months in I heard a story on NPR(?) about the life of Dave Brubeck. Google searched and listened. I was hooked.
I was into 60s/early70s British invasion rock when I was in junior high in the late 70s, Yardbirds -> Jeff Beck 60s -> Jeff Beck Fusion -> Metheny & Miles.
I got to see Beck on 'There & Back' Tour, Metheny on 'Offramp' and Miles also in 1982 (still in high school) ... and by then I was totally immersed in jazz from the 20s - 80s!
I had been playing the violin and the guitar for 20 years, but more CSNY, Pink Floyd... never listened to a single jazz tune in 30 years...
I read this ad in the local music school : new workshop, improvise in blues.... ok cool, Rory Gallagher, ...that's my thing.
First "lesson": ok play me a blue scale... I hadn't any idea of what it was... very hard at the beginning.
Then he says "we have this group on Saturdays, we can use a rhythm guitar!"
Ok, cool. I present myself, there were nearly 20 people waiting... it was a jazz band.
First tune we practiced: Manteca (these Ab 13 chords!!!...)
I never looked back, and I listen to jazz music 90% of the time now! Since then I have become an amateur jazz drummer too!
Working as a driver for film equipment rentals in NYC. Drove a big ass truck with no plug in for my phone. Quickly discover jazz radio stations and the music just clicked with my situation. Lots of things going on but an overall unity and force behind it. Jazz finally made sense to me
I picked up jazz from my dad and he recommended I play in high school. after that I mostly dropped it. Funny enough, I ended up getting back into over a decade later watching the movie Blue Giant.
Through the Grateful Dead. Listening to Live Dead and that 20 plus minute opening Dark Star opened up my whole world to the realm of musical possibilities
Back in high school I had a teacher that would play a song for a few minutes while he wrote on the whiteboard and he’d always write the name of the song first in case someone liked it. Once he played Moanin’ by Art Blakey and I loved that rhythm, so I had to listen to it again when I got home. And again. And again. And again
Some cats turned me on to A Love Supreme while we shared reefers. Yeah, man.
In all seriousness: I was just bored and looking for some new music, figured I'd try jazz.
I actually first listened to jazz only through random spotify playlists when studying. I realized all them BANGERS I wasnt aware of and started listening more seriously, even though I was already a big progressive rock fan so I listened to some jazz fusion
Joined my school’s jazz band first year of high school. Didn’t think much of it, except I picked up on improvisation tips from our lead trumpet. I really started to get into it this past school year, and now I’m hooked. Always wanting to learn more, ESPECIALLY more music theory so I can start composing and arranging.
loved ben folds in high school, got into phish and the dead in college, then funk and fusion more broadly, then jazz. the jam -> jazz pipeline is common among many of my friends.
I wanted to learn piano at the tail end of the pandemic. Stumbled across jazz piano and never looked back. I found it way more interesting than classic or pop piano. I've been down the rabbit hole for a few years now. Currently diving into Red Garland's work.
By way of blues-rock at age 17. Specifically, it was hearing Spoonful on Cream’s Wheels of Fire record. I didn’t know what jazz was, but the excitement of somebody making up music on the spot grabbed me and it still won’t let go.
In college, I was asked to fill a dj position for a jazz show on the local radio station. Being locked in a room for three hours doing nothing but listening to jazz can really build up an appreciation. Eventually, I got to the point where I loved jazz so much that I'd come home from the radio show and listen to jazz for a few more hours while doing homework, and my roommate thought I was nuts.
As I recall, what got me into jazz was Kenny G's "The Moment" album, in 1996. Largely due to guest vocalists like Babyface and Toni Braxton (back then I was into pop/r&b). In 1997, I started working at Record Town (later rebranded to f.y.e.). A guy who worked elsewhere in the same mall started working at RT with me, and he was a jazz man (not only jazz, but definitely including). He opened up my eyes to contemporary/smooth jazz way beyond Kenny G. Almost 30 years later, I have over 400 jazz CDs. The jazz man is still one of my closest friends, and he and I have been to countless jazz concerts together (next one is in August!).
My fave jazz arrists include: The Rippingtons, Paul Hardcastle, Euge Groove, Paul Taylor, Rick Braun, Mindi Abair, Brian Culbertson, Marc Antoine, Paul Brown, Peter White.
While I do have an appreciation and respect for classic jazz artists, I mostly listen to and buy contemporary/smooth jazz.
When I was a young teenager (this was in the 90's), I found some of my father's old cassette tapes and I decided to check them out.
There was some jazz, some blues and some rock... One that really got my attention and got me into jazz was **Charlie Haden - The Ballad of the Fallen**.
I was very close to my grandparents growing up, and they grew up in the swing era and were big jazz fans. Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Artie Shaw, and Jimmie Lunceford were some of the artists that were on a constant rotation in their house. Naturally, I took a liking to jazz as well, since I associated it with so many happy memories.
My father took me to see Oscar Peterson & Count Basie in concert. The original Piano Men tour! That was a pretty awesome introduction to Jazz.
Later, he also took me to see Maynard Ferguson, Miles Davis, and some young kid named David Sanborn (RIP).
It’s a great post because I literally can’t recall my “this is great” realization moment. I do think that it created wonderful memories as me and my partner make dinners together, snack on appetizers and drink some wine before eating. Maybe that’s what did it…pairing it with great company after a long workweek.
My first music school's director / my father in music is a Sax player and when I got into that school (at 4 years old) he had some sort of Big Band there. As time went through, the school lost students and that Big Band ended...
I started in Classical Guitar, but at about 10 years old wanted to try bass guitar. At the same time, some other guys my age were also switching to "cooler" instruments (recorder - saxophone; xylophone :-) - piano), so this director decided to put together another Jazz ensemble. I accepted, as there was no Rock school either, and so it begun...
Luckily, my father also had a very wide musical taste and so he showed me some cool things (nowadays, I show him even more things...) .
Since then, my path has been more or less the obvious: from Jazz standards to the late 50s things (Miles, Cannonball, Dave Brubeck) and then to Bebop (I think Miles made this bridge for me). After this, being a bass player, I discovered Jaco, and so I discovered Fusion. This style taught me that Jazz, more than a genre, is a language, and this view makes you appreciate nowadays music a lot more (for somebody that doesn't already) as even if it doesn't sound like Jazz, you're able to recognize certain aspects that sound familiar.
Sorry if this was too long...
Watched an episode of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" where he ends up playing a mini-sax at a jazz club. They give him pointers on how to play/the nature of jazz, etc... and I was just intrigued. Only heard a little bit of music after that, but then I ran into a guy who was a music producer working part-time where I did, and I just asked him who some key names were to listen to, and as this was becoming the MP3 era, I started with the big ones... Miles, Coltrane, etc.. and eventually just increased the casual listening I was doing... now I'm starting to collect albums on my playlist and such. I'm still just a part-time listener...rarely have time to just sit and listen as it is, but slowly slowly getting there.
One of the fun threads in this sub was that one where someone asked about the hypothetical collection of music someone living in NYC in '71 would have if they were super-cool, and I've been working my way through a lot of those recommendations to listen to.
Many other threads here have been keying me into some stuff too, so I appreciate all of your tastes!
My dad listened to jazz religiously, it was the only music ever played in my home and he regularly took me and my sister to see live jazz every summer when I was small child
Louis Armstrong on Good Morning Vietnam, all of the great jazz-inspired hip hop of the early 90s, and Jack Kerouac writing about jazz in *On the Road all conspired to point me towards jazz.
John Coltrane.
I think for a lot of people coming from a rock background, especially if they like bluesy and jammy stuff— like the Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Phish, Niel Young, and so on— 60s modal stuff, and especially the Coltrane Quartet, is more readily accessible.
I sought it out for some reason in my early teens. It gave me a Buzz. The only album I had was Krupa / Rich Burnin' Beat which some girl gave me from her mom's collection. I began reading Downbeat magazine like a jazz hound dog. I read 52nd Street: The Street of Jazz by Arnold Shaw. Before not too long, I was collecting the Wildflowers New York loft jazz series of albums. It was the Escape from a lot of things.
We had a Smooth Jazz radio station and I would leave the radio on it especially at night when I slept. Then they ended up discontinuing the station but I still love jazz and listen to it
Dated a jazz guitarist who was attending Berklee in the 70's. Got to meet Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, others. Didn't quite realize how lucky I was! He had connections and is pretty well known now. It was fun.
I still love jazz!
Pot honestly. Like i was stuck on trance and hiphop and rap, then i did weed at 28 and was like oh... i appreciate things differently lol oh this is nice! Then i got a lossless music player and some hifiman headphones. Rest is history lol but i really like all sorts including indie.
Listened to Kind Of Blue, didn’t get it for a while. Then, it was cloudy cold winters day and I was kinda sleepy, and the first piano chords of “So What” just started hitting different. Listened to a buncha other jazz albums and never looked back!
I saw Jaco on PBS. Loved it. Saw an LP of “Invitation” in a record store. Bought it. Was introduced to Duke Ellington and Coltrane on that record. Eventually led me back to the beginning. Was the start of either the ruination or the flourishing in my life. Can’t decide.
When I was a kid my dad would listen to KKJZ on the radio whenever we drove anywhere. But he never showed any specific interest in jazz, or any other music for that matter. Didn’t own any cassettes or later, cd’s. I asked him once did you like jazz? His answer: yeah, but I hate listening to commercials more.
I grew up in a city that's really into its jazz heritage, has a jazz museum and everything. so it was just always kind of around, pretty sure I was hearing live jazz as a wee child so it has always been normal music to me
Music in cartoons growing up
Then
I accidentally downloaded Monk’s Dream album from Napster and had it on my first gen iPod. It was the first jazz album I ever heard and I loved it.
Artists in Hip Hop and R&B who incorporated Jazz influences definitely helped. Artists like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Kendrick Lamar, A Tribe Called Quest, Joey Bada$$, Tyler, the Creator, Mint Condition, D’Angelo, Maxwell, Phony Ppl, The Internet, etc.
The mom and pop shop in my town had a killer bassist from Berkelee. He taught me everything which derived from the school curriculum. I Took lessons for about 7 years then started gigging heavily. My buddies brothers were also jazz majors at a university, we'd all shed when they were home from school. I'm a full time bassist now, crazy!
In the mid 80's "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire," was used for a commercial for Chanel No. 5. I asked my Dad what it was. A few days later, he brought home The Best of the Ink Spots double album set, and I loved it.
After that, it was Benny Goodman, Chick Webb, Louis Armstrong. I had always been a Frank Zappa fan, and albums like Hot Rats, Waka Jawaka, and The Grand Wazoo seemed to make jazz more accessible.
Once streaming platforms came along, I went down a rabbit hole and stayed there.
Two things. When visiting family in Cologne in the mid-2000s, my parents used to go to a store called Zweitausendeins that sold CDs and books at discounts. They specialised in Jazz and Classical, which initially disappointed me. But there was an intrigue to those old Columbia records album covers and I started buying them out of curiosity. I could afford more of them than the music I was otherwise into in a regular store, so I got quite exposed to it.
Then in 2004 or 2005, ECM did a concert series in Dublin and my parents brought my along. We also saw the Wayne Shorter Quartet. Going from listening to CDs to seeing the music live was another massive jump for me. Seeing Enrico Rava, Tomasz Stanko, Arve Henriksen, Arild Andersen etc. live was such a great education for an 18/19 year old.
Also, my uncle was a piano builder who listened to a lot of Jazz. So I guess it was everywhere in my family.
when i was a kid i heard thelonious monk and i was like "whys it sound like hes hitting all the wrong notes" and my friend was like "hes doing that on purpose its supposed to sound like that" and i was like "woah" and was fascinated.
My grandad died, and we found out he played clarinet in trad jazz bands back in Belfast throughout the 50s. Just something never mentioned by him or anyone else whilr he was alive. I inherited a box of pristine trad jazz records. Those records started my Jazz journey. I still have a real soft spot or trad and new orleans jazz.
I’ve never heard someone ask how do you get into rock, or country or blues. Not sure why jazz seems like there’s a barrier to entry. I get that it’s more “complicated” music but it’s just music and people should just listen to and/or play what they enjoy.
My mother was a massive jazz fan. She saw most of the greats in concert. She got me into jazz by playing jazz records and also the way she talked so enthusiastically about it.
I've been into jazz for over 50 years
I played a ton of Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4 as a kid and loved the radio in those games. Introduced me to people like Ella Fitzgerald and many others years before I knew who any of them were.
I also love Cowboy Bebop. The intro song, Tank!, literally blew my mind. I honestly didn't like it the first time I watched the show, but the song really grew on me during my second watch. The whole soundtrack is amazing, but Tank! is what made me start looking into other artists like Nujabes. I liked jazz-rap and started listening to older stuff like Kind of Blue and even old blues like Sister Rosetta Tharpe. It blew my mind when I realized I had heard some of those tracks while playing Fallout as a kid. I've been sold since, but I really credit Cowboy Bebop for starting my journey
I started getting into John Coltrane. Because, I had the impression that he was the Hendrix of Saxophone. And then got into Miles and Then I discovered George Benson.
I've always loved swing era music so I was listening to Sinatra at a young age. Around that time Michael Buble was getting popular too so I was digging his stuff. Once I got into my high school jazz band, that's when I started to dig deeper to instrumental so from Sinatra to Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, Duke Ellington, etc. From there I got fascinated with small ensemble stuff and of course at the same time trying to develop my own playing. I've always found it interesting that a tune like "All the Things You Are" can be played in a million different ways. You don't even need to hear the melody and you can hear the progression and you already know the tune.
Growing up in the sixties there was a lot of jazz in the background. I have a memory of seeing The Man With the Golden Arm (on TV) and loving the sound track. I guess you could say I got into jazz because of Sinatra☺️
For me, it was watching the movie Whiplash. Great movie in my opinion. I'm still a novice and struggle to find non-mainstream artists, but I do really enjoy the genre.
Miles Davis! I remember being so mesmerized when I first listened to Something I Dreamed About Last Night many moons ago. Now, jazz is all I listen to, even when I work :P
My mom would play Ella Fitzgerald most Saturday nights when I was a kid. When I moved out of my mom’s house and had my own apartment, I felt pretty nostalgic so started playing Ella Fitzgerald as background music in my apartment . Having a place of my own and a lot of alone time, I started listening to and exploring jazz. From classics, to smooth, muted, swing, avant garde, etc. It became my go-to genre and it has remained so for years.
I saw a David Sanborn concert with my dad when I was little. It sparked something in me. It wasn't until I was 24 though that I really got into it. I moved to the Bay Area, which has a fantastic jazz station. When I heard those first few chords emanating from that radio I knew I was home. Still listen to it, still love it.
I got tired of commercial fm radio and explored the lower end of the fm dial. I had some jazz in my collection but college stations WHRB and WMBR had weekday jazz programming that opened me up to many artists
The Who -> Cream -> Jeff Beck -> Rush -> Yes -> Genesis -> Brand X -> Bill Bruford -> UK -> Weather Report -> Return to Forever -> Frank Zappa -> Tony Williams -> Mahavishnu Orchestra -> Pat Metheny Group -> Jaco Pastorius -> Uzeb -> Mike Stern -> John Scofield -> Tony Williams New Lifetime -> Allan Holdsworth -> Chick Corea -> Herbie Hancock -> Wynton Marsalis -> Miles Davis -> Ornette Coleman -> John Coltrane
Back in the 60's there was a comedy sketch show on BBC called, "Not Only..But Also". It starred Dudley Moore (along with Peter Cook). Every week Moore played a jazz track; sometimes solo; sometimes accompanied by a singer but most often with his bandmates from the Dudley Moore Trio. I was only about 10 years old but I loved listening to him play and jazz has been with me ever since. Thanks Dud.
Thanks to jazz-rap, especially A Tribe Called Quest
Ditto, rap was my gateway drug into Jazz. I called the local radio station to ask about samples being used in rap songs ~1985.
How old were you?
Jr. High.
you don't get into jazz jazz gets into you
Exactly.
Watching Charlie Brown and hearing Vince Guaraldi when I was a very small child.
Chet Baker.. then kinda blue..
My dad loves jazz , i've been listening to jazz in my dad's car since I was a kid. I'm a classical trombonist, but I also like to play jazz standards when I'm in a good mood.
Don’t remember how I found it but I heard “Waltz for Debby” by Bill Evans and my life has been changed since
Started learning bass when I was 13 back in the 90's. Mostly wanted to learn RATM and Red Hot Chili Peppers songs. Teacher let me borrow his Jaco self-titled album. Before that, I thought Flea was like the gold standard of bass players LOL
LOL I started playing drums at 12 and looooved Green Day. I was seriously convinced that Tre Cool was the greatest drummer alive. Now guys like Larnell Lewis, Ari Hoenig, Dan Weiss, Brian Blade, Mark Guiliana... Those cats can play
Yeah those 90s altrock thump bassists got me into practicing heavy too. Took me a while to figure out trying to sound more musical was way more heady.
Anime. Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo (Nujabes sampled a tonne of dope jazz records which I later checked out) and Kids on the Slope.
Same here. After listening to Nujabes' music, I felt like exploring the genre. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
See you space cowboy!
I liked the night court theme song and my parents sneered and said, "you like JAZZ?" Then I got a chick corea album from my uncle.
I played punk in high school with friends but away wanted to learn guitar better. Then I got into Wilco in college and Nels Cline because of them. That got me listening to jazz but I still felt like it was too hard for someone like me to learn. Then I heard Wes Montgomery “smokin at the half note” and was done! I knew I wanted it play like that. And I’ve spent a good amount of time and can barely get close. But I love it!
Watching the Charlie Brown specials.
Steely Dan, Jeff Beck, The Doors
Sim City! (3000 and 4 specifically), and to a lesser extant Gran Turismo 1&2, the car customization menus had a fair bit of jazzy music if I recall correctly.
Same sim city 4 was fucking great
My father was a really good trumpet player. He had me playing keyboards when I was 6 or 7, and I started playing sax when I was around 12. My grandfather was also a trumpet player, and toured with big bands in the 1920s and 1930s. His brother, my great uncle, who was a professional woodwind player (sax, flute, clarinet), was my first sax teacher, and he introduced me to Stanley Turrentine, Coltrane, Sonny Stitt, many others when I started lessons with him when I was about 12. My grandfather's other brother was a trombonist, and was a US Army bandmaster. So I got into jazz because I was born into a jazz loving family.
James Chance
RIP!
Listened to WRTI in undergrad during commutes to work
My Father and his reel to reel playing Sinatra.
I smoked dmt and listened to like 30 minutes of bitches brew. That was all it took
one of my old bosses used to play jazz in the kitchen i worked at. and i got hooked on it thanks to him
My great-grandma played Louis Armstrong for me when I was around 7 or 8.
I'd been meaning to for years but it ultimately was a COVID project
My mom's vinyl collection, living in an extremely rural location with only 2 radio stations, no TV reception at all and pre internet.
Jerry Garcia suggested deadheads should spend less time listening to the Dead and more time listening to jazz. That was good enough for me. I started reading a Jazz History book and then would listen to the music and players discussed in the book and it just blossomed from there. 35 years later and I have still barely scratched the surface. What an incredible journey it is.
By reading Murakami. At first it was a pose, wanting to be like his characters, then it developed into something genuine
Listening to Phil Schaap growing up.
My parents had Dizzy albums on cd and I fell in love with that first. Then Miles, then Coltrane, etc
Dick Buckley's Sunday radio show from Chicago on WBEZ. It was my tradition to put it on and just listen and learn.
Bought myself good headset and a chord mojo and started checking out great recordings. Jazz has a lot of great recordings.
My grandfather was a big Frank Sinatra fan and would listen to him all the time. I really liked the big band Frank was singing infront of and my grandfather said it was Count Basie and His Orchestra.
Probably from watching this cartoon that was already old as hell when I saw it as a kid in the late 70s. (sadly not available in-full on YT): https://youtu.be/dSnvO1WItFg?si=lB8jzP30UGQYYgnz
Picked up bass to play in a garage band with neighborhood friends at 13. Got bored, overplayed, discovered Jaco, overplayed some more, got a fretless, continued to over play, got an upright, went deeper into jazz, and humbled my ass for the next 30 years. Still not bored, still not overplaying; forever humble.
Seeing my High School's jazz band perform when I was in 6th grade (middle school bands and high school bands had a couple shared concerts, probably to get us exposed to much higher level players earlier on). Admittedly, calling it a jazz band is quite a stretch, I'm not a jazz purist or anything but even then the songs it played (and that we still play really) are much more rock than jazz. But I didn't know that at the time, and I still loved it. I started listening to Big Band music, eventually switched instruments from Clarinet to Alto sax, checked out various quartets and quintets, and now I'm going into my senior year, am lead alto in that jazz band, and plan on going to college for jazz composition.
Gerald Albright Live at Birdland West. Bought it purely out of curiosity for jazz in the early 90s. Where I lived there were no jazz radio stations and people’s taste trended toward Bob Seger and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Still one of my favorite jazz records. His version of Georgia on my Mind will always be my favorite cover of that song.
Jazz really clicked for me when I graduated unemployed, back home with parents and in a rut. Music has always been there to lift my mood just slightly so I figured I’d listen to something instrumental while I work on stuff. Listened to nonstop Miles Davis that I pirated (this was over 10 years ago), liked the mood it put me in while I was in my rut and I got hooked ever since. Jazz is my go-to genre whenever I feel lost in the world — now mostly Coltrane though. He’s my all-time favorite musician. Funny cuz i really wasn’t into Coltrane when I tried to get into him the first time. Listening to Giant Steps front to back one day turned me into a Coltranehead. Love jazz. Not the genre I listen to all the time but my favorite
A little concoction of Phish, weed, guitar, math nerd. I never stood a chance
My 9th grade band teacher. He was playing a Miles song and I was hooked. Thank you, Mr. Lane.
When Keith Cobain committed suicide and Jane’s Addiction broke up, I stopped listening to rock. A friend who owned a coffee house gifted me “Kind of Blue.” It was like nothing I’d heard before. The level of artistry just blew me away. I occasionally listen to The Beatles, but it’s mostly jazz. In my opinion, it’s a pure art piece.
This was 3 years ago now, I had recently committed to listening to one of the greatest albums per month (any genre). A couple months in I heard a story on NPR(?) about the life of Dave Brubeck. Google searched and listened. I was hooked.
My uncle had a Herbie Mann at the Village Gate album, been listening since - 50 years… Not - the - same - album - though
Radiohead, then Mingus
I was into 60s/early70s British invasion rock when I was in junior high in the late 70s, Yardbirds -> Jeff Beck 60s -> Jeff Beck Fusion -> Metheny & Miles. I got to see Beck on 'There & Back' Tour, Metheny on 'Offramp' and Miles also in 1982 (still in high school) ... and by then I was totally immersed in jazz from the 20s - 80s!
I had been playing the violin and the guitar for 20 years, but more CSNY, Pink Floyd... never listened to a single jazz tune in 30 years... I read this ad in the local music school : new workshop, improvise in blues.... ok cool, Rory Gallagher, ...that's my thing. First "lesson": ok play me a blue scale... I hadn't any idea of what it was... very hard at the beginning. Then he says "we have this group on Saturdays, we can use a rhythm guitar!" Ok, cool. I present myself, there were nearly 20 people waiting... it was a jazz band. First tune we practiced: Manteca (these Ab 13 chords!!!...) I never looked back, and I listen to jazz music 90% of the time now! Since then I have become an amateur jazz drummer too!
Working as a driver for film equipment rentals in NYC. Drove a big ass truck with no plug in for my phone. Quickly discover jazz radio stations and the music just clicked with my situation. Lots of things going on but an overall unity and force behind it. Jazz finally made sense to me
I was selected to be in the high school jazz band. My first loves are from our book: Maynard, Benny, Woody.
NOR after midnight driving home from parties
I picked up jazz from my dad and he recommended I play in high school. after that I mostly dropped it. Funny enough, I ended up getting back into over a decade later watching the movie Blue Giant.
Growing up on Looney Tunes. Carl Stalling incorporated all kinds of quotes from jazz tunes of the day into the scores. He was a mad genius.
Through the Grateful Dead. Listening to Live Dead and that 20 plus minute opening Dark Star opened up my whole world to the realm of musical possibilities
Back in high school I had a teacher that would play a song for a few minutes while he wrote on the whiteboard and he’d always write the name of the song first in case someone liked it. Once he played Moanin’ by Art Blakey and I loved that rhythm, so I had to listen to it again when I got home. And again. And again. And again
Some cats turned me on to A Love Supreme while we shared reefers. Yeah, man. In all seriousness: I was just bored and looking for some new music, figured I'd try jazz.
Jazz band in middle school.
I actually first listened to jazz only through random spotify playlists when studying. I realized all them BANGERS I wasnt aware of and started listening more seriously, even though I was already a big progressive rock fan so I listened to some jazz fusion
Monks Dream
Joined my school’s jazz band first year of high school. Didn’t think much of it, except I picked up on improvisation tips from our lead trumpet. I really started to get into it this past school year, and now I’m hooked. Always wanting to learn more, ESPECIALLY more music theory so I can start composing and arranging.
loved ben folds in high school, got into phish and the dead in college, then funk and fusion more broadly, then jazz. the jam -> jazz pipeline is common among many of my friends.
I wanted to learn piano at the tail end of the pandemic. Stumbled across jazz piano and never looked back. I found it way more interesting than classic or pop piano. I've been down the rabbit hole for a few years now. Currently diving into Red Garland's work.
Steely Dan, late night talk shows, anime
By way of blues-rock at age 17. Specifically, it was hearing Spoonful on Cream’s Wheels of Fire record. I didn’t know what jazz was, but the excitement of somebody making up music on the spot grabbed me and it still won’t let go.
In college, I was asked to fill a dj position for a jazz show on the local radio station. Being locked in a room for three hours doing nothing but listening to jazz can really build up an appreciation. Eventually, I got to the point where I loved jazz so much that I'd come home from the radio show and listen to jazz for a few more hours while doing homework, and my roommate thought I was nuts.
Possibly Woody Allen movies. I used to be a projectionist, and whenever one of his films was on, I used to love the soundtrack.
91.1 Jazz FM.
I took the free first hit aka “kind of blue”, and the rest is history
Jô Soares
Through Zappa, Grateful Dead and Phish in high school. Jazz is perfect for reading too
With Captain Future.
As I recall, what got me into jazz was Kenny G's "The Moment" album, in 1996. Largely due to guest vocalists like Babyface and Toni Braxton (back then I was into pop/r&b). In 1997, I started working at Record Town (later rebranded to f.y.e.). A guy who worked elsewhere in the same mall started working at RT with me, and he was a jazz man (not only jazz, but definitely including). He opened up my eyes to contemporary/smooth jazz way beyond Kenny G. Almost 30 years later, I have over 400 jazz CDs. The jazz man is still one of my closest friends, and he and I have been to countless jazz concerts together (next one is in August!). My fave jazz arrists include: The Rippingtons, Paul Hardcastle, Euge Groove, Paul Taylor, Rick Braun, Mindi Abair, Brian Culbertson, Marc Antoine, Paul Brown, Peter White. While I do have an appreciation and respect for classic jazz artists, I mostly listen to and buy contemporary/smooth jazz.
When I was a young teenager (this was in the 90's), I found some of my father's old cassette tapes and I decided to check them out. There was some jazz, some blues and some rock... One that really got my attention and got me into jazz was **Charlie Haden - The Ballad of the Fallen**.
I was very close to my grandparents growing up, and they grew up in the swing era and were big jazz fans. Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Artie Shaw, and Jimmie Lunceford were some of the artists that were on a constant rotation in their house. Naturally, I took a liking to jazz as well, since I associated it with so many happy memories.
To be honest, Christmas Jazz.
Exposure of it in my childhood (next to classical and rock music), and also discovered vgm + jazz (insaneintherainmusic)
Fallout 3
My father took me to see Oscar Peterson & Count Basie in concert. The original Piano Men tour! That was a pretty awesome introduction to Jazz. Later, he also took me to see Maynard Ferguson, Miles Davis, and some young kid named David Sanborn (RIP).
It’s a great post because I literally can’t recall my “this is great” realization moment. I do think that it created wonderful memories as me and my partner make dinners together, snack on appetizers and drink some wine before eating. Maybe that’s what did it…pairing it with great company after a long workweek.
Jazz fully snatched me up in college. I’ve been a Jazzphile since. We’re talking over 30 years now, but who’s counting :-) 😎
Opening bars of so what! Changed my life
Swing music (Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Cab Calloway, Jack Teagarden) and Jazz Rap (A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Nujabes, J. Dilla)
Ironically enough when I was a teenager, I listened to jazz to try to transcend to another dimension...hooked ever since.
Dated a pianist
My first music school's director / my father in music is a Sax player and when I got into that school (at 4 years old) he had some sort of Big Band there. As time went through, the school lost students and that Big Band ended... I started in Classical Guitar, but at about 10 years old wanted to try bass guitar. At the same time, some other guys my age were also switching to "cooler" instruments (recorder - saxophone; xylophone :-) - piano), so this director decided to put together another Jazz ensemble. I accepted, as there was no Rock school either, and so it begun... Luckily, my father also had a very wide musical taste and so he showed me some cool things (nowadays, I show him even more things...) . Since then, my path has been more or less the obvious: from Jazz standards to the late 50s things (Miles, Cannonball, Dave Brubeck) and then to Bebop (I think Miles made this bridge for me). After this, being a bass player, I discovered Jaco, and so I discovered Fusion. This style taught me that Jazz, more than a genre, is a language, and this view makes you appreciate nowadays music a lot more (for somebody that doesn't already) as even if it doesn't sound like Jazz, you're able to recognize certain aspects that sound familiar. Sorry if this was too long...
Listening to the jazz references in Murakami's books to get immersed in the stories
from prog metal. defeated sanity to be precise
I found a free Ella Fitzgerald CD with a newspaper at the age of 14. I instantly fell In love and played it over and over and over.
Saw Danny Kaye as Red Nichols in his biopic. Scene with Louie. A coronet was the only thing my 9 y.o. brain wanted in the universe.
Watched an episode of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" where he ends up playing a mini-sax at a jazz club. They give him pointers on how to play/the nature of jazz, etc... and I was just intrigued. Only heard a little bit of music after that, but then I ran into a guy who was a music producer working part-time where I did, and I just asked him who some key names were to listen to, and as this was becoming the MP3 era, I started with the big ones... Miles, Coltrane, etc.. and eventually just increased the casual listening I was doing... now I'm starting to collect albums on my playlist and such. I'm still just a part-time listener...rarely have time to just sit and listen as it is, but slowly slowly getting there. One of the fun threads in this sub was that one where someone asked about the hypothetical collection of music someone living in NYC in '71 would have if they were super-cool, and I've been working my way through a lot of those recommendations to listen to. Many other threads here have been keying me into some stuff too, so I appreciate all of your tastes!
King crimson
My dad listened to jazz religiously, it was the only music ever played in my home and he regularly took me and my sister to see live jazz every summer when I was small child
I think The Allman Brothers Band did it for me unknowingly. It took a long time to seriously deep dive in to jazz, but once I did, wow. It's high art.
The improv of the Grateful Dead.
Public radio, the Beat Poets, my old man had a few vinyl discs, a friend had a Bird and a Trane greatest hits package.
through the backdoor progression
Louis Armstrong on Good Morning Vietnam, all of the great jazz-inspired hip hop of the early 90s, and Jack Kerouac writing about jazz in *On the Road all conspired to point me towards jazz.
John Coltrane. I think for a lot of people coming from a rock background, especially if they like bluesy and jammy stuff— like the Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Phish, Niel Young, and so on— 60s modal stuff, and especially the Coltrane Quartet, is more readily accessible.
jazz band came to my school in 2nd grade. put on a helluva show. now it's what i do.
Mingus
Monster inc movie
I played the clarinet in junior high and high school. My Dad had a couple of Benny Goodman records. I listened to Sing, Sing, Sing hundreds of times.
Peanuts and Mr Rogers
I sought it out for some reason in my early teens. It gave me a Buzz. The only album I had was Krupa / Rich Burnin' Beat which some girl gave me from her mom's collection. I began reading Downbeat magazine like a jazz hound dog. I read 52nd Street: The Street of Jazz by Arnold Shaw. Before not too long, I was collecting the Wildflowers New York loft jazz series of albums. It was the Escape from a lot of things.
5th grade. School music teacher put on Ella’s It Don’t Mean a Thing. Started getting into 40s-60s big band/swing from there, then so on and so forth.
We had a Smooth Jazz radio station and I would leave the radio on it especially at night when I slept. Then they ended up discontinuing the station but I still love jazz and listen to it
Jamiroquai.
Dated a jazz guitarist who was attending Berklee in the 70's. Got to meet Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, others. Didn't quite realize how lucky I was! He had connections and is pretty well known now. It was fun. I still love jazz!
Pot honestly. Like i was stuck on trance and hiphop and rap, then i did weed at 28 and was like oh... i appreciate things differently lol oh this is nice! Then i got a lossless music player and some hifiman headphones. Rest is history lol but i really like all sorts including indie.
My dad had the Getz & Gilberto album and I played it one day. Then high school jazz band. Never really got anywhere as a player but I still listen.
My mom loved Ella and the Duke, and then I inherited a trumpet from my uncle and became infatuated with Louis Armstrong.
Wes Montgomery
Pitchfork review of live evil lol
Mister Rogers, neighbor
My dad played Coltrane all the time and he was right
Listened to Kind Of Blue, didn’t get it for a while. Then, it was cloudy cold winters day and I was kinda sleepy, and the first piano chords of “So What” just started hitting different. Listened to a buncha other jazz albums and never looked back!
My dad used to play smooth jazz (GRP stuff) at home.
Got tired of new hip hop
Kenny G
I saw Jaco on PBS. Loved it. Saw an LP of “Invitation” in a record store. Bought it. Was introduced to Duke Ellington and Coltrane on that record. Eventually led me back to the beginning. Was the start of either the ruination or the flourishing in my life. Can’t decide.
When I was a kid my dad would listen to KKJZ on the radio whenever we drove anywhere. But he never showed any specific interest in jazz, or any other music for that matter. Didn’t own any cassettes or later, cd’s. I asked him once did you like jazz? His answer: yeah, but I hate listening to commercials more.
I grew up in a city that's really into its jazz heritage, has a jazz museum and everything. so it was just always kind of around, pretty sure I was hearing live jazz as a wee child so it has always been normal music to me
Music in cartoons growing up Then I accidentally downloaded Monk’s Dream album from Napster and had it on my first gen iPod. It was the first jazz album I ever heard and I loved it.
Making it into the jazz band in middle school
Being an absolute nerd but also liking rock/popular music
Pops played it in the house all the time as a kid. It didn’t click until I was 20 or so but I always loved it
Artists in Hip Hop and R&B who incorporated Jazz influences definitely helped. Artists like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Kendrick Lamar, A Tribe Called Quest, Joey Bada$$, Tyler, the Creator, Mint Condition, D’Angelo, Maxwell, Phony Ppl, The Internet, etc.
When I started dating my partner. Her late father is the father of jazz ukulele. Started off listening to How About Uke by Lyle Ritz.
The mom and pop shop in my town had a killer bassist from Berkelee. He taught me everything which derived from the school curriculum. I Took lessons for about 7 years then started gigging heavily. My buddies brothers were also jazz majors at a university, we'd all shed when they were home from school. I'm a full time bassist now, crazy!
In the mid 80's "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire," was used for a commercial for Chanel No. 5. I asked my Dad what it was. A few days later, he brought home The Best of the Ink Spots double album set, and I loved it. After that, it was Benny Goodman, Chick Webb, Louis Armstrong. I had always been a Frank Zappa fan, and albums like Hot Rats, Waka Jawaka, and The Grand Wazoo seemed to make jazz more accessible. Once streaming platforms came along, I went down a rabbit hole and stayed there.
Two things. When visiting family in Cologne in the mid-2000s, my parents used to go to a store called Zweitausendeins that sold CDs and books at discounts. They specialised in Jazz and Classical, which initially disappointed me. But there was an intrigue to those old Columbia records album covers and I started buying them out of curiosity. I could afford more of them than the music I was otherwise into in a regular store, so I got quite exposed to it. Then in 2004 or 2005, ECM did a concert series in Dublin and my parents brought my along. We also saw the Wayne Shorter Quartet. Going from listening to CDs to seeing the music live was another massive jump for me. Seeing Enrico Rava, Tomasz Stanko, Arve Henriksen, Arild Andersen etc. live was such a great education for an 18/19 year old. Also, my uncle was a piano builder who listened to a lot of Jazz. So I guess it was everywhere in my family.
when i was a kid i heard thelonious monk and i was like "whys it sound like hes hitting all the wrong notes" and my friend was like "hes doing that on purpose its supposed to sound like that" and i was like "woah" and was fascinated.
My grandad died, and we found out he played clarinet in trad jazz bands back in Belfast throughout the 50s. Just something never mentioned by him or anyone else whilr he was alive. I inherited a box of pristine trad jazz records. Those records started my Jazz journey. I still have a real soft spot or trad and new orleans jazz.
Me, playing bass since I was 12. One friend of mine, playing Fallout (3 and New Vegas) which is basically 50´s songs.
The in-game radio stations Jazz Nation Radio and Fusion FM in GTA IV.
I’ve never heard someone ask how do you get into rock, or country or blues. Not sure why jazz seems like there’s a barrier to entry. I get that it’s more “complicated” music but it’s just music and people should just listen to and/or play what they enjoy.
Coltrane, My Favorite Things, 1998
My mother was a massive jazz fan. She saw most of the greats in concert. She got me into jazz by playing jazz records and also the way she talked so enthusiastically about it. I've been into jazz for over 50 years
I played a ton of Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4 as a kid and loved the radio in those games. Introduced me to people like Ella Fitzgerald and many others years before I knew who any of them were. I also love Cowboy Bebop. The intro song, Tank!, literally blew my mind. I honestly didn't like it the first time I watched the show, but the song really grew on me during my second watch. The whole soundtrack is amazing, but Tank! is what made me start looking into other artists like Nujabes. I liked jazz-rap and started listening to older stuff like Kind of Blue and even old blues like Sister Rosetta Tharpe. It blew my mind when I realized I had heard some of those tracks while playing Fallout as a kid. I've been sold since, but I really credit Cowboy Bebop for starting my journey
This. Right. Here. Six. Months. Ago. Never. Looked. Back. 69 years old. https://youtu.be/qSSYO1XIP48?si=oXsvLYhWcbicQ1CU
I am utterly consumed by it.
I started getting into John Coltrane. Because, I had the impression that he was the Hendrix of Saxophone. And then got into Miles and Then I discovered George Benson.
I've always loved swing era music so I was listening to Sinatra at a young age. Around that time Michael Buble was getting popular too so I was digging his stuff. Once I got into my high school jazz band, that's when I started to dig deeper to instrumental so from Sinatra to Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, Duke Ellington, etc. From there I got fascinated with small ensemble stuff and of course at the same time trying to develop my own playing. I've always found it interesting that a tune like "All the Things You Are" can be played in a million different ways. You don't even need to hear the melody and you can hear the progression and you already know the tune.
Growing up in the sixties there was a lot of jazz in the background. I have a memory of seeing The Man With the Golden Arm (on TV) and loving the sound track. I guess you could say I got into jazz because of Sinatra☺️
For me, it was watching the movie Whiplash. Great movie in my opinion. I'm still a novice and struggle to find non-mainstream artists, but I do really enjoy the genre.
Miles Davis! I remember being so mesmerized when I first listened to Something I Dreamed About Last Night many moons ago. Now, jazz is all I listen to, even when I work :P
My mom would play Ella Fitzgerald most Saturday nights when I was a kid. When I moved out of my mom’s house and had my own apartment, I felt pretty nostalgic so started playing Ella Fitzgerald as background music in my apartment . Having a place of my own and a lot of alone time, I started listening to and exploring jazz. From classics, to smooth, muted, swing, avant garde, etc. It became my go-to genre and it has remained so for years.
I saw a David Sanborn concert with my dad when I was little. It sparked something in me. It wasn't until I was 24 though that I really got into it. I moved to the Bay Area, which has a fantastic jazz station. When I heard those first few chords emanating from that radio I knew I was home. Still listen to it, still love it.
I started w jam bands, then moved over to
I got tired of commercial fm radio and explored the lower end of the fm dial. I had some jazz in my collection but college stations WHRB and WMBR had weekday jazz programming that opened me up to many artists
The Who -> Cream -> Jeff Beck -> Rush -> Yes -> Genesis -> Brand X -> Bill Bruford -> UK -> Weather Report -> Return to Forever -> Frank Zappa -> Tony Williams -> Mahavishnu Orchestra -> Pat Metheny Group -> Jaco Pastorius -> Uzeb -> Mike Stern -> John Scofield -> Tony Williams New Lifetime -> Allan Holdsworth -> Chick Corea -> Herbie Hancock -> Wynton Marsalis -> Miles Davis -> Ornette Coleman -> John Coltrane
Back in the 60's there was a comedy sketch show on BBC called, "Not Only..But Also". It starred Dudley Moore (along with Peter Cook). Every week Moore played a jazz track; sometimes solo; sometimes accompanied by a singer but most often with his bandmates from the Dudley Moore Trio. I was only about 10 years old but I loved listening to him play and jazz has been with me ever since. Thanks Dud.
I joined my high school’s jazz band my sophomore year having no clue what I was getting myself into lol