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Why Jazz Is Important To Me

Decent Essays

When I was eight years of age, my first drum instructor was Mr. Dowden. While I would utilize teachers who had far greater talent, he laid the foundation for competently reading and writing music. Where he did little to inspire my percussive style, he shined at inspiring my attitude towards the medium. “The band is a single living creature,” he said, “And you are the heart.” While this meant little to my disinterested young mind at the time, those twelve words’ value would reach a booming crescendo, and echo through my days.
Rhythm has become more important to me than almost the genre of the music I listen to. In effect, my most time consuming love affair with music is jazz. Jazz is not only kinetic, jazz is thermal. During the slower songs, I can almost feel the cold. The verses sing tunes of industry, innocence, love, luminosity, streetlights and serenity. The faster songs are warmer, even boiling. The music vibrates like heated particles. When I listen, I hear insomnia, intelligence, synecdochical synchronicity, and my own caffeinated franticness. It has been argued that all music has an intangible temperature to it, I cannot only hear it in Jazz, it’s almost like I can feel it in my lungs. …show more content…

Music is about the where, when, and why. Jazz rarely visits me unaccompanied. Jazz often gets me through long drives, work requiring intense focus, creative endeavors, and even writing this very essay. I have a divided interest in old and new jazz. Some of my favorite old artists are Isham Jones, Nat King Cole, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane. Newer artists I enjoy include Gregory Porter, Twin Danger, and the incredible Kamasi Washington. One thing you will find these musicians share, is an exceptional rhythmic style. With or without percussion, there is no music without rhythm. When somebody makes music out of tune intentionally, it is considered to be avant-garde. But music without tempo is not music at

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