When it comes to music genres, I like jazz. My younger brother played the saxophone, which is what got me interested in jazz. One day, when I went to a live performance by my younger brother's saxophone teacher, I realized that jazz was extremely cool and attractive. I'm a guy, so I'm generally attracted to cool things. For me, cool is jazz.
I like the mature atmosphere that reminds me of a romantic night. They also exude intelligence. However, at first I had a negative impression that jazz was somehow difficult. Club music, K-pop, and J-pop can be enjoyed by basically anyone, regardless of whether they are familiar with music or not. But I thought that jazz was only for a few people, like the upper class.
Also, jazz doesn't have lyrics, and at first glance it looks like just background music. It's hard to imagine it being enjoyed for entertainment purposes like K-pop. However, along the way, I realized that jazz doesn't require difficult knowledge. It was written in a certain jazz book that all you have to do is feel your five senses and enjoy it.
Once I let go of the strong prejudice that jazz = difficult, I started to enjoy it. First, listen to jazz without all the complications and clear your mind, and then if you want to know more about jazz, just look it up. As I said earlier, I was influenced by jazz at live performances.
This applies to anything other than jazz, but it is important to get a strong stimulation through the experience in the beginning. The stronger the initial impact you have, the easier it is to get hooked. Jazz live performances are very powerful and can easily influence you, so it's a good idea to go to them at least once.
When it comes to Japanese jazz saxophone players, I recommend Saori Yano. She is one of the famous jazz players in Japan. I also really like Elena Terakubo, who is active both in Japan and overseas. For men, Tetsuro Kawashima is also the best. His playing is divine.
It depends on your taste, but I think you'll appreciate the coolness of jazz even more if you listen to an intense performance. It is also said that the person's personality comes out in the sound of jazz. Jazz is basically improvised and there are no set rules like classical music, so you can see each performer's worldview.
It's interesting to understand that aspect intuitively. It may be that the more sensitive people are, the more they fall in love with jazz. Jazz also has a unique rhythm called swing. The 4-beat rhythm of jazz is very comfortable, and it might even feel better than marijuana lol.
I think it's okay to listen to jazz simply because you want to feel good. Also, if you want to fall in love with jazz, we recommend actually practicing an instrument. I practiced the saxophone for about three years.
Listening to jazz from the perspective of a saxophonist makes it even more interesting because you notice things like how the instrument is played, dynamics, and phrases. I said that you don't need any knowledge to play jazz, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it even more if you have some knowledge and experience.
If you read a difficult book all of a sudden, you will be disappointed, so it is a good idea to try reading a book for beginners first. Also, when it comes to recommended jazz saxophone players, old greats like Charlie Parker tend to come up.
However, the performances by people from the past can be difficult for beginners to enjoy, so I think it would be a good idea to listen to modern performers such as Saori Yano, which I introduced. Saori is influenced by jazz legend Charlie Parker, and expresses his greatness more clearly.