The Jazz Appreciation Group has been formed to widen members’ experience with Jazz so that they learn more about it than they would by simply listening to tracks and reading CD covers, enjoyable as that is.
We are a mixed group (women and men, some musicians but most not) and the way it works is like this:
We agree the themes for each session at least three months in advance. These may cover specific artists, instruments, ensembles, jazz styles, specific countries or regions, a period in the history of jazz or interpretations of a composition. Members are asked for nominations about a week beforehand and they e-mail the tracks they’ve nominated (2-3 for each session) providing as much detail as needed for us to locate the tracks on Spotify or YouTube by the weekend before we meet. No need to bring CDs unless you are notified that we have been unable to locate the track you’ve nominated. You then turn up.
We locate the playlist that has been compiled by the Convenor on YouTube and listen and/or watch and discuss live performances of the tunes members have nominated. There is a tea-break about half-way through. We chat about the tracks either before or after they are played, which means the more research each of us does beforehand, the more interest in jazz is generated so that we each leave around 4 pm knowing a little more about jazz than when we came in at 2 pm. If we don’t play all the tracks in the time, we often roll them onto the next month’s playlist. You don’t need to know anything about jazz, but of course if you do it will make the session livelier.
Members receive a monthly newsletter by e-mail that includes PDF versions of that month’s playlist, and hyperlinks to the YouTube version which enables them to play again tracks they liked. Follow the links for a sample playlist on YouTube and a sample playlist handout (see right).
Please contact the Convenor for further information, or if you would like to join the Jazz Appreciation Group.
