There’s nothing I want more at night than some good jazz. I never set aside enough time consistently to get away. Hoping this helps.
I’ve wanted to make a jazz playlist for far too long. I almost kind of did, twice. I always focused too much on the electronic/hip-hop inspired beats. They have the qualities of jazz, but were ultimately more than that. I finally took the time to find nothing but jazz or at least most of it.
To start off this list, Bill Evans– who may be my favorite artist of this year, even though he’s long gone.
Not only do I listen to music actively more than passively, but it’s usually for a purpose. I constantly think about how the song playing fits in with the rest of the music I collect. And how I conceptualize it as a whole.
I’ve created about a half dozen playlists for relaxing. They’re all primarily beat-driven, but I think they’re even more jazz inspired. Quite a few people have taken issue with me classifying these playlists as jazz, but I hear the inspiration more than ever.
I’d go as far to say many jazz legends would appreciate it, if not be actively involved in creating this beat culture if they were here today. The variance and experimentation these beats makers play around with deserves respect.
Lately I haven’t given myself enough time to sit back and not think. There’s so much to do and it’s fun doing. But you gotta give the mind some time to catch up. Hopefully this will help get me in the mood. Let me know if it does for you. Sometimes I need a reminder, and so do you.
Other listening:
Beats by Day
Late Night Beats
Late Night Jazz
Electro Relaxations
Besides the musicians it books, the historic Fillmore in SF is known for its free apples and posters. You can have as many apples as you’d like, but not every show comes with a poster at the end of the night. I talked with one of the coordinators there and she told me that sold out shows and any of the bigger names will get a custom made poster for all attendees.
I’ve gotten three posters so far. My first was at Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, then a few months later at The Knocks, and finally for Noise Pop Festival’s 2017 show to see, BADBADNOTGOOD.
I still can’t believe how well a jazz band could rock. BADBADNOTGOOD is known for their low-key instrumental playfulness, and while that dominated the show, it got real rowdy at its peaks, especially towards the end.
Their music isn’t all jazz though. Their experimentation in electronic with jazz is among the best playing now. They had a collaboration with Ghostfast Killa a few years back. And they also recently teamed up with Kaytranada & Goldlink for the best dance song of 2016.
I went home to Minnesota for the holidays. It was good to get back and talk with family about politics. I tried not to play out the typical democratic/republican shit show. It was good to question their beliefs, but more importantly my own. You learn a lot from seeing other views. Something to take back and reflect on.
And there’s no better music for reflecting right now than with BADBADNOTGOOD. Best taken for Late nights, long travels and going over the year, or just the day.
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Beats Music, previously MOG, now Apple Music, played a huge role in getting us switched from posting singles to primarily playlists. Trent Reznor, head of creative at the time, created a video in 2014 introducing Beats Music and its promise to find the best song to come next.
I’m still not sure if Beats ever fulfilled that promise, or if Apple does now, but I’ve been trying to do it for myself ever since. And hopefully sometimes for you too.
If you’re into jazzy, hip hop beats more uplifting than our Late Night Beats & Late Night Jazz, this is for you. All the way through.
Late Night Jazz was going for new producers’ takes on jazz, but we got some criticism on if they were really jazz songs. I even questioned a few, but all had some form of jazz style in it.
I stretched the style a lot more this time around, so we decided on a word not as narrowly defined. Some beautiful guitar, sax and piano playing on these 20. This kind of music is not getting appreciated enough. Here’s mine.
Whatever people want to classify him as, Nujabes has a sentiment of jazz. Our first look at him on here was almost five years back, within the blog’s first few months running, but I’ve known about Nujabes for years before that.
He came out with a few albums in the early 2000’s that were perfectly in tune with my style of hip hop at the time. Hieroglyphics, The Pharcyde, Jurassic 5 type music.
Ever since the blog started in 2009 my taste has gone to a broader base of electronic. But Nujabes was the first electronic producer focusing on the jazzy side of things and taking hooking it up with some complimentary American MCing. And with that Japanese flavor, it made Nujabes stand out just above the best – for me.
Do not listen to this if it’s before 9pm! Sorry for shouting if it is. Or if you’re in a retrospective mood, that’s acceptable too.
The jazz here isn’t in its traditional sense. It’s inspired by hip hop, the kickdrum mostly, which is kinda funny because it’s really the other way around (jazz inspired hip hop). It’s got a few other genres mixed in there too.
I think I’m starting to get the hang of this whole brass classification thing, alright maybe not fully yet. I know this isn’t the sax at least, or at least I’m pretty sure. I should have been a musician so I could have properly learned this musician mumbo jumbo, now I’m just in it purely for the sound.
Grifta’s ‘The Lost’ has got all the emotion I see with any brass infused track with a downtempo Nujabes like find. It’s still puzzling to me how much emotion brass instruments have over all others to me, something only vocals supersede. Can’t wait for Grifta’s next gift.
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