[JazzItUp]

From a musician's standpoint, when you are performming with your band and the audience is into it dancing and having a fun time.

I like Jazz, but today we were just jamming after church servie, we started playing Rock. I was playing the keyboard, a friend of mine was playing bass, the other drums, and the other singing. It was so fun, I was so into it and I turned around and looked at my friend playing the drums he had a huge smile on his face. Is this what it's all about? The excitement of music excites me! That never happend to me before, people turned their heads and began listening. My solo was so cool, it was a fun experience.

Too bad it wasn't Jazz though, you can't get people to like Jazz that easy. R&B maybe, but Jazz...no.

 

[Perry Cobb]

Yeah...that is a good feeling when ppl are actually listening and dancing to your music. Unfortunatey, as you so pointed out, jazz just doesn't have that affect on most ppl.

 

[BlueNote]

It's an experience, yes. However, from my own experience with professionals, it really depends on the person. If you go to NYC, musicians treat music as "work" in the sense that money is the first priority. There are some who spread themselves thin (i.e. playing in several bands) just to barely support themselves. On the other hand, hearing a jazz musician straight out of NYC isn't the same as walking down to a street fair and listening to a New Orleans brass band, when it's all about having a good time and creating simple music that expresses the soul more than technique; something that anyone can feel automatially.

 

[stefank]

There are different sorts of "great feelings" that you get to a greater or lesser extent with different types of music. For example the fairly visceral spontaneous group excitement that you're describing is probably generated most easily with rock, R&B and similar music (provided you have an audience that likes it), while jazz and classical tend (not always) to have a more complex and sophisticated language, which not as many listeners are likely to fully understand, but for those that do can deliver greater intellectual satisfaction.

That's a gross over-simplification, but my point is that there are different sorts of pleasures you can get from music, which are sometimes related to the type of music involved.

 

[bruce bailey]

It can also be the setting you are in.......Church can have quite an effect.

 

[Jolle]

For me that's the feeling, Jazzitup. Even more, the greatest kick is playing with my mestizo band and seeing the whole crowd go wild. It's a Goose skin experience when you see a whole field of people jump on your music.

 

[clarinetcola]

jazz is still better than atonal work... agree?

 

[jazzbluescat]

If you blow really good jazz I guarantee you'll have people smiling. It takes a little preparation/work though.

 

[martysax]

I always like it when the people come up on the dancefloor when I start playing my first solo of the evening. Something about it usually makes the girls pull their men up onto the floor. On those nights, the best feeling is watching the sweaty women want more from you. Sometimes it gets physical. Sometimes it gets dangerous.

When I was doing the jazz quintet thing for a seated audience, the moment was different. I remember doing the Parker break during a Night in Tunisia once absolutely perfectly while my rhythm section came in perfectly and the crowd swelled to a roar going into the solo. Later that evening, a similar thing happened during my solo on Good Evening Mr and Mrs America and All the Ships at Sea.(I was really into Tom Scott back then.)

 

[Honeyboy]

I sometimes get compliments in the bars from people who appreciate saxophone (as opposed to the majority who were only raised on guitar). It feels good to hear nice things especially from the older folks who grew up during the Big Band era when saxophones were more widely heard and those from the 50's who heard alot of sax in that genre of music.The drinkers will dance to almost anything, especially Mustang Sally. The best compliment I ever got was in church when someone said,"When you play saxophone, it helps me worship God." That was very satisfying and humbling.