Everything Jazz

Mindi Abair first broke onto the smooth jazz music scene with the song It Just Happens That Way, and until now she is still considered an A-lister for summer and winter tours, festivals and cruises. And just recently she went international with her first concerts in Istanbul and Romania.

She’s has done pop tours with Adam Sandler, Duran Duran, Josh Groban and even The Backstreet Boys on their famed Millennium tour back in 1999-2000. But even before she has immersed herself in contemporary jazz and became one of its true icons, she shopped demos of pop songs and tried aiming for a deal as a singer-songwriter. However, in her new album, she no longer needs to reach for the stars. She already has the best of both worlds. So if you’re looking for one great jazz artist, might as well listen to Mindi Abair as she keeps holding on to her star.

I am not really familiar with jazz and jazz artists that is why I’m trying my best to know a little bit more about them. I don’t even know who the famous artists are. So what I did was search some on the internet and here are the famous names that I’ve found. Maybe you know some of them: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, George Benson, David Sanborn, Boney James, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Albert Ayler, Pharoah Saunders, Roland Kirk, Theolonius Monk, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, Alice Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, Don Cherry, Dave Brubeck, Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Ian Carr, Mike Westbrook, Tubby Hayes, Joe Herriot, James Blood Ulmer, Sun Ra (plus Arkhestra), Cecil Taylor, Herbie Hancock, Archie Shepp, Buddy Guy, Dave Pike and Benny Goodman.

Someday I like to be like them and eventually, I want to be one of them. I’m sure it feels great when you have a “jazzy” life. I will certainly have a lighter and better feeling! Why not be one?!

Have you ever heard of acid jazz? I’m sure I haven’t or if ever I have I’m sure I did not know it was acid jazz. I have very poor knowledge when it comes to jazz music and its genres. However, reading articles help a lot in gaining knowledge.

Acid jazz is a musical genre that is also known as club jazz. It combines elements of funk, soul music, disco, particularly looping beats and modal harmony. Acid jazz developed over the 1980’s and 1990’s and is mostly heard containing various types of electronic compositions and it is usually played by musicians who often perform jazz interpretations as part of their program.

Since I consider myself as a music lover, I can’t help but be in a dilemma because of not knowing how to classify a singer as a jazz singer. Now the question I have in mind is, how do I really know if someone is a jazz singer? Is it enough that his or her music is accompanied by instruments such as a saxophone? Or is it because of the slowness of the song that he or she sings? Or is it both? How do I really know? For sure reading can help a lot but what if I don’t have time to read about new jazz artists? What makes them different from pop singers? What makes them shine especially when they already sing the same songs as pop singers? This is really a dilemma and I have to get answers fast.

Here I am again, being shocked by the truth. What is it? That Michael Buble is a jazz singer. Is he really? Well, I read that he won awards from the fourth annual Canadian Smooth Jazz awards taking home two trophies for Male Vocalist of the Year and Best Original Composition. So I guess that confirms it, he is a jazz artist. I just did not realize it sooner and now it came as a surprise to me. No big deal really, it’s just that I can’t believe I didn’t realize he was classified as one. I guess I have to know more about jazz music to know how singers fall into this category.

Some people might think that studying classics could be quite boring but it was the other way around for Scott Hamilton. With his new release, Across the Tracks, Scott explored some tunes written by great names like Duke Ellington and it looks and sounds like this saxophonist together with his friends have enjoyed the trip that they have had.

Scott often goes together with Rosemary Clooney through the American Songbook that is why he knows the Jazz classics so much. Also, his tenor style purifies the relaxed but strong approach to swing from music ancestors like Ben Webster and Zoot Sims.

For every musician, in whatever genre, it is always important to play with feelings. As for singers, it is the same too, to sing with feelings. As a music person myself, I can identify with what jazz musicians and other musicians suggest, play with feelings. It is very important to perform with feelings because it is through it that the audience can connect with the performer, it is through it that the audience can feel whatever the performer is performing on stage. Performing with feelings is what sets apart a real performer from just a stage performer. For all I know, a simple performer can just perform on stage and not touch his audience’s heart but a true performer can do both, perform and touch.

I read one interesting article that says that jazz musicians unconsciously switch off regions of their brain that is involved in self-censorship while firing up the area linked to self-expression. This was according to the studies done by Johns Hopkins University and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders wherein they used fMRI to scan the brains of jazz musicians as they play a specially-designed piano keyboard. Scientists have found out that the region of the brain called dorsolateral prefrontal cortex slows down its activity during improvisation. This part of the brain is linked to planned actions or self-censoring and shutting down this part, according to Limb, could lead to lowered inhibitions.