[epaludo]

If you're a jazz enthusiast or just enjoy it sometimes, i'd love to know how old are you. I've discussed a few times music and when jazz pops up, young people are always a bit shocked when i say i really enjoy jazz. The word young is a bit subjective, but i don't consider myself young for jazz. Yeah jazz is one of my favorites genres. I'm quite ecletic, but jazz is in the top favorites of my list.
Some people thinks i'm trying to made good impression, once it can be difficult to listen to and people are not really used to it. Oh well, i don't really care but am quite curious about how old people that love, like or just enjoy rarely jazz are. Feel free to post a comment about the subject with your age if you like ...

 

[NightWoundsTime]

Jazz is such a broad genre though, there's something for everyone. I knew a guy who thought of his dad's amazing jazz LP collection as outdated until the Antipop Consortium (really experimental hip-hop group) did an album with Matthew Shipp (really experimental jazz guy). Suddenly he's hooked on Matthew Shipp, realizes all the influences are sitting on a shelf in his house waiting to be discovered.

25 here, been listening to jazz since I was about 17.

I've also been around the local swing dance community a bit. Plenty of young people who like a whole different side of jazz than I usually listen to. I tried to get a little performance ensemble going with a friend who's a swing dancer and guitarist. I couldn't find any common ground though, our ideas of jazz were so different.

 

[Fixcinater]

I've been into jazz since my dad played "Time Out" for me on his stereo after some Led Zep and showed me how acoustic instruments in a small group or trio can be just as heavy (if not more so) than a distorted guitar/bass and kit.

I played tenor sax in the high school jazz band and still dabble a little bit, but it's hard to find people to play with in San Diego. Great jazz channel from my school's downtown campus though...I had a great Hist. of Jazz class there.

 

[Apocalypsee]

I been listening to jazz since as far as I can remember. My father influence me to listen to it, in car stereo, at home, anywhere. Because of this, I can't tolerate with today's heavy music, which I describe it as a bunch of noises with lyrics written by monkey

I'm 21 this year

 

[VeipaCray]

30 and a huge jazz fan. My parents did not listen to it, but through studying / playing music in school I was exposed to it. I've been listening to jazz for the better part of the last 20 years or so.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I'm 35 and really got turned on to jazz about two years ago. I never hated it, but was never much into it. Funny thing was that the radio tuner brought me in. I picked up and restored a Scott 350B all tube FM stereo tuner, and it just happened that 88.1 KKJZ came in very, very well on it. So I started listening more and more, just because reception was great. Not long after, I started buying discs and books, and just love it now. There's still a lot to learn and listen to, but it's been a great journey.

I picked up the other genres I like much earlier. Took up clarinet at 9 and have been into classical ever since. Rock? Always. And I was fortunate that my parents enjoyed playing their old Johnny Cash records as a kid. I've gotten deeper into these over the years, but jazz is a new obsession and still very exciting.

 

[Reputator]

Just in the last couple years, it has become one of my top two favorite genres (the second can be different things at different times). Funny enough, probably what turned me onto it the most was the animé Cowboy Bebop. Since then, unsurprisingly my favorite type of jazz has been bebop. I especially love pieces with a solo piano part. There were other influences too, like a local smooth jazz station on FM radio, and I used that as a my alarm because it was the only station that didn't annoy me early in the morning. I've since grown away from that type of jazz, which sounded too "pop" to me, with all the synths and groove elements. I like a more instrumental approach (luckily I found another jazz station that plays just that).

For me, jazz was also a gateway drug to things like swing. I've since become a fan of Frank Sinatra (who isn't?) when before I didn't pay much attention to him. I like big band stuff too once in a while. It's all caused me to be more discriminating towards music, and a lot of the hard rock I listened to before doesn't appeal as much to me anymore.

I'm 20.

 

[steviebee]

54 (gulp). I heard Pharoah Sanders' 'Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord' on Mike Ravens' blues radio show back in the late 60s/early 70s, then a triple LP from Impulse, 'Energy Essentials' really turned me onto great artists like Pharoah, Alice Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Ornette etc. I also love The Pharoahs (what a great band they were!) & Art Ensemble of Chicago.

 

[utilisateur]

20 here and i can only join you with your experience
Most people that are not hooked on jazz themselves cant understand when i say jazz is one of my favourite musical genres and give strange looks, Jazz seems to be perceived as old peoples or freak music.

Personaly i was in contact with jazz as far as i remember and according to what i was told even before.
I'm open to almost every music though, except german folk music, todays "gangster/pimp/rich"hip hop and maybe some other mainstream genres, i think the broad field of music related to as jazz had a large influence on EVERYTHING that came after it, hence i cant understand how anyone seriously interested in music could categorically avoid any jazz..

 

[wfranklin]

Your results will probably be somewhat skewed by the fact that the overall population here at Head-Fi tends toward the sub-30 group, except in the forums touting the pricier gear. I've been listening to jazz most of my life; my folks played mostly "easy listening" type jazz (Bill Evans, Nat King Cole, etc.), but I was involved in jazz (sax, clarinet, flute) from small combos to big bands throughout high school and somewhat into college. The guys I played with had access to a lot of the original swing charts from the '40s, plus did a lot of original arrangements (several of the guys ended up as pros in the music industry, so I was in great company!). I miss those days, but it's harder now to find the time for things like that (other than as a listener).

 

[xnothingpoetic]

18 now, first started to listen to it when I was around 16.

 

[tru blu]

Here's a dilemma: where to vote if your age ends in a "5", the "18-25" category or the "25-35"? Both?

 

[clarke68]

I'm old!

Why, back in my day, we had to walk through the snow, uphill both ways, to find out how old jazz listeners were. We didn't have this fancy internething-a-ma-jiggy like you kids these days. Ungrateful!

I'm gonna suck all your social security and spend it on records. Records, you hear me!?! Not downloadable m free peas!

Sheesh.

Where's my mylanta?

 

[Spyro]

46 here and been listening for about 10 years. Some older stuff but mainly current day contemporary jazz/fusion. Metheny, Christian McBride, Yellowjackets, Weckl, Spyro Gyra, Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman, Chris Potter, Vital Informaton, Rippingtons, Tribal Tech, Brian Bromberg, etc....

Jazz musicians are among the most skilled on the planet.

 

[robm321]

Wide variety of jazz, been listening for about 15 years, but I'm not hard core about it. Lately, I've just been getting into Bill Evans.