Ya like jazz? Yes, I do. Graphic by Abby Hoehn.

SILAS OWENS | OPINION COLUMNIST | szowens@butler.edu 

Full of wrong notes. Background music. Music that’s the performer and not the audience. Elitist jazz snobs. Old and dying genre. Some of these narratives about jazz contain grains of truth and can make the music feel inaccessible. Unfortunately, they also keep people from discovering awesome music that has existed for decades, as well as young artists who are releasing and performing new music.

Much of the reason young people don’t listen to jazz is that they don’t really know about it. People now don’t grow up listening to it unless their parents play it; it’s not on the radio anymore, and many live jazz venues are bars or nice restaurants. In Indianapolis, they are typically for ages 21 and up.

Senior music major Emily Pyke, who regularly plays and listens to jazz, discussed some of the barriers to its popularity.

“Some of it is kind of hard to listen to, so there’s that aspect of accessibility with personally listening,” Pyke said. “It’s also not taught well, like how school systems approach band and orchestra programs … So then it doesn’t get shown to students at a younger age like classical is.”

Additionally, despite jazz being widely considered the first original American art form, music education systems in schools tend to focus on European-style classical music. Every ten-year-old knows Beethoven and Mozart, but not so much about Miles Davis or Oscar Peterson. Even fewer people could name living jazz artists, or better yet, ones younger than 40.

Junior political science major Dylan Noble, who listens to a variety of rock and jazz, explained another reason he thinks jazz can seem less accessible.

“It might be preconceived ideas that jazz is very complex or it’s super atonal,” Noble said. “I think there’s a lot of jazz that is not acquired taste and can be accessible to anyone, and you just have to get into it. There’s so many different genres of jazz, it’s just which one suits you.”

More out-there or intense jazz exists, like live recordings of John Coltrane on “Impressions” or Ornette Coleman’s “Free Jazz”, and it might be a bit of a turn-off for new listeners. However, there is a wealth of jazz that is more relaxed and has more manageable track lengths.

An interesting place to start with jazz is to think about how it developed alongside and influenced other popular music genres like rock, funk and rap. So many of these genres are historically connected, and it shows in lots of modern music.

“[Jazz] is at its core an African American art form, combined with blues,” Noble said. “Also, African Americans created rock and roll in the 50s, and everything else developed from there. If you’re talking about rock, hip-hop, jazz or blues, all of that is African American music. It’s at its core connected through its origins, and they share a lot of similarities.”

Some modern artists from popular genres directly inject jazz influence into some of their music, which is a great place to start for people who want to hear something that sounds familiar. For example, the melody of SZA’s “BMF” is taken from the jazz standard “Girl From Ipanema.” Check out the original, a chill bossa nova, which is a genre that blends jazz and Latin music. If you like it, find more bossa nova tunes by Jobim or more music by the saxophone player, Stan Getz.

Mac Miller’s “Diablo” samples “In a Sentimental Mood” by Duke Ellington and John Coltrane. The original is a gorgeous, catchy ballad. If you like the soundtrack to “La La Land”, find some real jazz pianists to listen to.

Elvin Deckard, a junior music industry studies major, recommends finding new artists and albums to listen to by doing a little bit of research that can easily be done through Wikipedia on music you already like.

“If you have an album that you like, you can go and look at the personnel of the album,” Deckard said. “What else did these people put out that year, and what other groups were they part of, who else did they play with and what genres did they cover?”

For other genres, this process may seem slightly excessive. For jazz, though, because the music is simultaneously so individual and group-focused, this really is the best way to find new music that connects to what you like. Spotify recommendations are alright, but can be hit-or-miss.

For example, if you like the Coltrane and Ellington recording of “In a Sentimental Mood,” you could look at Coltrane’s Wikipedia page and find out that he played on the best-selling jazz album of all time, “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis. Or if you like the Charlie Brown Christmas album, listen to other music by the Vince Guaraldi Trio.

Here’s another more modern example. If you like Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly”, a project featuring many of the best contemporary jazz musicians, listen to some of their work. Terrace Martin, who played saxophone and produced on the album, has a discography that is all over the place in the best way possible.

It’s also good to find music that is a bit similar to what you already like. If you listen to a lot of vocal pop or musical theater, maybe start with vocal jazz artists like Samara Joy, who won the Best New Artist Grammy in 2023, Ella Fitzgerald or Chet Baker.

If you want instrumental jazz that is chill and beautiful, there are tons of options. The song “Lawns,” by Carla Bley, is a great example of something that’s beautiful, simple, and easy to listen to, but also a more modern sounding. If you want beautiful piano playing, Bill Evans, who also plays on “Kind of Blue,” and Oscar Peterson are great entry points. 

If all of the artists and album names and subgenres and history are overwhelming, the best thing to do is just go to a live show. If you aren’t 21, options exist but are limited, but if you are, there are places in Indy with live jazz weekly or even every night. The Jazz Kitchen, which is very close to Butler, regularly hosts world-class musicians. The Chatterbox and Mousetrap are bars that often have local jazz musicians if you want something more casual. 

Improvisation and energy are huge aspects of the music, and hearing it live is just a different experience than a recording. When the musicians are playing 20 feet away from you, it is easy for anyone to enjoy the music, and it can also make a great night out with friends or a date. Jazz doesn’t have to be intimidating — it’s music for everyone.