One of my first experiences with jazz music was when I was a kid. My dad and I went to a concert and heard Ornette Coleman play with his bands. I remember before the concert my dad telling me that Coleman was famous for playing more than one instrument and that his music could be painfully loud.
It seemed my dad's descriptions were correct. As the concert 1)wore on I saw the 50-something year old man play saxophone, trumpet, flute and even violin. I didn't think he played any of those instruments very well since he always seemed out of tune. Not to mention the 2)blaring bands that were backing him up sounded more like rock bands than jazz bands. For every musician it seemed there were two huge speakers 3)blasting away at the crowd.
By the middle of the concert I looked over at my dad who was covering both his ears with his hands and I could tell that the music was 4)grating on his nerves like knives 5)scraping against a blackboard. I have to admit the music did resemble a kind of 6)cacophony of cats being tortured to death.
Before 7)intermission came my dad and I fled the theatre both 8)chuckling at the dissonant chaos we just heard. I remember my dad, who also first heard Ornette Coleman when he was my age, he turned to me and said, “Not much has changed. His music was terrible then and it's terrible now.”
Despite that ear-rending experience I learned to really like jazz music not by going to concerts or listening to the radio but through watching movies.
Like most people in Generation X, I've learned much of what I know about jazz from the silver screen. When I first saw As Good As It Gets with Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt, I really fell for the song I Love You For Sentimental Reasons. You could say it was love at first sound. I later learned that Laura Fygi recorded this song in her 1992 album Bewitched. Fygi, who was born in the Netherlands to her Egyptian mother and Dutch father, sings with soul and her music is always soothing as you can hear in this song.
I Love You For Sentimental Reasons
Performed by Laura Fygi
I love you for sentimental Reasons
I hope you do believe me
I’ll give you my heart
I love you and you alone were meant for me
Please give your loving heart to me
An d say we’ll never part...
As Good As It Gets is a heart-warming story about a 9)curmudgeon named Melvin Udall, played by Nicholson, who is hopelessly in love with a New York City waitress Carol Connelly, played by Hunt. Like most women who are admired from afar, she brings out the best in him.
Melvin: OK, now I got a real great compliment for you and it's true.
Carol: I'm so afraid you're about to say something awful.
Melvin: Don't be pessimistic. It's not your style. OK. Here I go. Clearly a mistake. I've got this what...10)ailment. My doctor, a shrink that I used to go to all the time, he says that in fifty or sixty percent of the cases a pill really helps. I hate pills. Very dangerous thing pills. Hate. I'm using the word hate here about pills. Hate. My compliment is that night when you came over and told me that you would never... Alright well you were there. You know what you said. Well my compliment to you is that the next morning is I started taking the pills.
Carol: I don't quite get know that's a compliment for me.
Melvin: You make me want to be a better man.
Carol: That's maybe the best compliment of my life.
Melvin: Well, maybe I 11)overshot a little because I was just aiming to keep you from walking out.
When I first heard the term “blues” I pictured jazz musicians playing in blue jeans under 12)azure lighting. I soon discovered that the blues had more to do with feelings than color although the best blues players happened to be black. Once again thanks to movies like Leaving Las Vegas, I learned that the blues came in a variety of tunes such as Come Rain or Come Shine. I also discovered that some of the best blues performers were artists like Joe Williams and Count Basie who were jazz icons during the 1950s and 60s. Williams was legendary for his 13)velvety-smooth singing voice while Basie was master of jazz piano during that era.
