For every song on the album, I have to create the instrumental to sing with; I start from complete scratch. I've never really tackled jazz before, so my first attempt at making a jazz track was not jazz at all, but more like... soft-rock having an identity crisis. And not in a good way.
It forced me to really break down jazz to its core elements. To recreate jazz, or anything, for that matter, you have to first understand it at a fundamental level.
I have spent the whole morning, from 7:45am to about eleven, listening to jazz music of different time periods, taking notes, trying to understand what makes it tick, and struggling to understand it.
I concluded that improvisation, swing, syncopation, and unique style are the building blocks of jazz. Not to sound cliche, but jazz really comes from the heart; it's personal. Jazz is based on the understanding that everyone's jazz is different because improvisation is the key to making true jazz music that works. You can go even as far as saying that one performance of jazz is different from another; even if the performer is the same, the delivery and inspiration is that moment will be different from the last time he/she performed the song. Once I understood what makes jazz different and what makes it so infectious and so different, I was able to make some mind-blowing recordings. I really surprised myself.
This song has been my favorite to work on so far. Not only do I have my new favorite and best song on the album, but I have developed a new-found understanding -- and therefore appreciation -- for jazz. This experience has honestly shaped me as an artist and as a music listener. I encourage all of you to expose yourself to different genres of music and challenge yourself to understand, enjoy, and perhaps perform or compose some of your own.
Try this on for size?
If you are a jazz-lover, could you recommend some must-listen songs? I'm still a new-born in the jazz world! Leave your suggestions in the comments below, please!
If this post made you interested in perhaps becoming a jazz-lover, please let me know! I'd love to talk more about it!
