I was busy patting myself on the back the other day about some clever turn of phrase I came up with, when it occurred to me that my original goal in creating this blog - other than the obvious ones ("Ego Trip", "I'm Smarter Than You", "Avoid Actually Conversing with Humans", etc.) - was to bridge the gap between other people my age and all the great music available to them that they probably didn't know about.
A recent audit revealed that I suck at this.
The critical idea was to disprove the notion that "there's no good music anymore", by directing the reader to said good music. I felt qualified to do this because, except for a short period in the early nineties, I've kept up with musical developments while my dear readers may not have. This is due to them having a life while I don't
So, while I've been free and easy about telling you that I like something, it might have been more helpful to also have given you the context you might need to determine if you might like it, too.
After all, it's one thing to say "this is a good jazz record" but do you really know what I mean by that? Do you know I love late-fifties small-combo jazz and loathe fusion? And if neither of those two labels means anything to you, have I told you if said record might be a good entry point into jazz? Maybe not.
Thus my grades were based on personal enjoyment and not that of the reader who may be hearing free-acid-bop-dixieland jazz for the first time. As our beloved ex-President would say, who knew?
So who would blame you for just shaking your head/plugging your ears? Besides me, I mean?
I'll continue to grade according to my very specific tastes, but I will try to provide more context/ caveats/caution when needed. That way, when I recommend a jazz record, you will already know what I like, and thus, be able to judge if it's a good bet to check out yourself.
I may even - if so inspired - place the music somewhere on a spectrum of that genre.
Just don't ask for bar graphs, okay?
Oh, and don't buy this record:
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