I was that guy who could reliably ignore the checkboxes for country, metal, spiritual/new age and jazz when asked what kinds of music I liked. My friends, that time is over. After going to LACMA this past weekend and seeing the exhibit for Archibald Motley Jr and hearing the atmospheric jazz music playing, I had to pick up something on iTunes when I got home. I poked around in the iTunes store for a little bit until I found the album, Black Legends of Jazz:
It was a fantastic place to start, for me at least. I put it on and I got just a nice sense of happiness and enjoyment from it. Even better, it is something you can just listen to and zone out. There’s a Real Jazz station on Sirius XM (Channel 67) and I tuned in today at work as well as for the drive home. Guess what? It kept me calm throughout the day and on the commute home, which has been known to infuriate me.
Anyway, it’s just funny to me that it took nearly 38 years for me to actively seek out and listen to jazz music. Maybe it seems you have to finally find that point in your life where you need music like this to bounce your own emotions and stresses off of. I’ll still be listening to my Utopia dance music and 80s and 70s music, for sure, but I’m excited that a new segment of music is ready to be appreciated.