[Dixielandjazz] Listening to different kinds of music

[Charles Suhor]

To me, the trick is to not judge music that you don't like. When I was a
kid it used bug me when classically-oriented musicians and fans would tell
me that Harry James was obviously "better" than Armstrong because he had a
better tone and execution, or that Shorty Rogers was superior to Miles
Davis, for similar reasons. If you don't know the genre, just leave it
alone rather than saying silly things about it.

I'm told there are really skilled rappers and really bad ones, but I don't
listen enough to rap to tell the difference. I'm guessing that those who
listen seriously to it have made some very refined distinctions that will
be useful if  they get to listening other music in the future. Someone once
said about exposure to the arts-- "Start anywhere. Never stop." I love
that.

>From another angle--when I was living in Urbana, Illinois, a DJ on WEFT (an
FM community station, not the PBS outlet) used to play the craziest
sequences-- maybe a Hank Williams side, followed by Muddy Waters, a
Balinese puberty ritual, Sidney Bechet, Hawaiian music, Charlie Parker and
whatever. It certainly kept your attention and it was a great stretch,
opening your ears to so many kinds of good music.

The only thing I don't remember hearing on that show was classical (plenty
of that on WILL, the fine local PBS) and pop-rock/rap/Top 40--also in
abundance on other stations.

My own collection is mostly jazz in all styles and classical music (except
opera) but I have some  blues, early County & Western, and world music,
especially African percussion. I tend to run away from opera--a flaw that
needs remediation in a future life--and popular & rap but I believe there's
value in all music that's well played.

Charlie Suhor