How to Listen to Jazz

A renowned poet has a new album out Friday titled “The Gospel According To Nikki Giovanni.” In addition to publishing dozens of poetry works, Nikki Giovanni has recorded several spoken word albums over the course of 50 years. But this time, she’s doing something a little different. The new album, a collaboration with saxophonist Javon Jackson, is a collection of gospel hymns and spirituals set to jazz. Growing up in the Baptist church, Giovanni says gospel music was instrumental to understanding herself as a poet. “The spirituals had a message,” she says. “They weren't just some people woke up one morning or came from working in the evening and said, ‘Oh, let's sit down and sing.’ They were sharing information with each other.”

Brad Mehldau’s Finding Gabriel includes nine thematically related songs by Mehldau and features performances by him on piano, synthesizers, percussion, and Fender Rhodes, as well as vocals. Guest musicians include Ambrose Akinmusire, Sara Caswell, Kurt Elling, Joel Frahm, Mark Guiliana, Gabriel Kahane, and Becca Stevens, among others.

Five CD sets containing 100 classic tracks by legendary artists, one of the biggest selling and best remembered musical icons of all time.

Bohren & Der Club Of Gore - Midnight Radio (1995) {2CD Epistrophy}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 506 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 332 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 61 Mb | 5% recovery rar
© 1995 Epistrophy | EPI 018
Jazz / Experimental / Ambient Jazz / Dark Jazz

This two-CD album, released in 1995, is this uniquely bizarre band's second and most austere effort. As mentioned above, Midnight Radio is similar in style to Sunset Mission, minus the piano and saxophone. This results in a very hypnotic listening experience.

Jazz guitar is a wide open place where innovation, interpretation and experimentation run rampant. All of the rules are meant to be broken and the music is played in the moment. One player's ceiling is another player's floor and you can study the form for years and still be nowhere. All this is why we love it so. Jazz is also a highly subjective art form where beauty clearly is in the "ears" of the beholder. There's much debate amongst players about virtually every quality of Jazz but everyone seems to agree that the best way to learn jazz guitar is to listen and study with a master.