Is Jazz Having a Moment?
...or is it just me?
As a teenager in the 90s, anything even close to “Jazz” was probably the lamest thing around. I was just young enough that not even Bill Clinton could make the saxophone cool to me. And that whole mid/late-90s Ska revival thing didn’t exactly help either. It wasn't until I started listening to Brazzaville in the early 2000s that the sound of horns stopped making me cringe.
Then, around 2007, I saw Jerseyband — a “jazz-metal” band — without knowing who they were, and they instantly became my favorite band... aaaaand I guess I like horns now? I covered Brazzaville a while ago, but I really need to give Jerseyband their own post here some time soon [took a couple months, but it’s finally done: Jerseyband]. Anyway…
I never thought of myself as a "Jazz person", even after accepting that my favorite band was — at its roots — a "Jazz band". I never sought out other jazz music because I kinda saw it as "Progressive Metal" more than "Jazz". Other than some good, but rather generic Jazz covers and remixes of Radiohead & Nine Inch Nails songs, I never really thought about Jazz at all.
I never thought of myself as a "Jazz person", even after accepting that my favorite band was — at its roots — a "Jazz band"
Around 2021 I discovered The Comet Is Coming, but my brain categorized them in the same way it did Jerseyband — as the non-Jazz half of its hyphenated genre. Then, in the spring of 2022, I heard Raffy Bushman's Look Up, and — oddly enough — that was what finally broke the seal for me. From there it was Y-Otis, DOMi & JD, delay_ok, and on and on... aaaaand I guess I like Jazz now? Or do I?
Y-OTIS; AEDEN, Berlin - April 1, 2022 [an amazing performance butchered by whoever edited the video]
Sure, I can make a 3-hour playlist of "Jazz"... but I can also listen to any random one of these Jazz playlists Spotify generates for me and feel indifference at best. There seems to be a very specific subset of what would be considered "Jazz music" that does anything for me — which makes me wonder if it's not really me, but maybe something happening in the world of Jazz that's making it more palatable to my ears.
Domi & JD Beck; Best New Artist nominees, Grammys 2023
I don't know enough about Jazz to say one way or another — maybe it's just this stuff has more electronic/pop elements woven in and/or more of a modern, electronic-music approach to its composition and production. Some of it is arguably closer to jazzy experimental electronic music, but… where is the line between Jazz-inspired and Jazz itself?
That said, I'm obsessed with “YUNG” from Y-OTIS. I honestly can't get enough of it, and from what I know, it seems like a pretty standard set-up [instrument-wise] and approach to Jazz... it's just... really good… I think.
Domi & JD Beck; Le Poisson Rouge, NYC — October 19, 2022
So, yeah… I don't really know what it is about the tracks on this playlist, but they make up the core of what I listen to on repeat these days. Maybe someone out there with insight on this topic can let me know. Is there something specifically different about the tracks here, or am I just an adult that listens to Jazz now?
Kampala, Modern Uganda – delay_ok
Ya Tatu, Modern Uganda – delay_ok
Cobra, Modern Uganda – delay_ok
Waldo [Live at Club Gretchen, Berlin | June 6, 2021]*, Y-OTIS 2 – Y-OTIS
*the Spotify playlist has the album version of this song, but I love this version too much to not post it here.
These songs are so intriguing! Definitely a world I wasn’t aware of (apart from Brazzaville 🙃)
what ends up happening with jazz and younger listeners, I think, is many of them won't go straight into Coltrane, but they will get into something else -- something more "modern" to them, and even then, not straight-up covers -- that incorporates jazz in some way that then sends them down the rabbit hole; and then it's up to them to work out their taste for old and new, classic and fusion, etc. so a lot of people go on a version of your journey, though jazz-metal is a pretty funny on-ramp.