Boy...this forum is wayyyy too quiet!! No posts in a few days?? Sheesh. Anyway, I was just wondering what other tastes you CJ fans have. I enjoy most Rock, New Age and some Classical. I would say that my CD collection is 45% Jazz, 40% Rock, 10% New Age, 5% Classical and traces of other genres (except Rap and Country).

I also like the music of Acoustic Alchemy. A little different than 'smooth jazz' but moving and spiritual! You have to hear the new [double]cd from Victor Wooten. He is a bassist. But the cd is full of excellant songwriting and not all 'bass'!

Lurchtex-Do you regularly listen to both rock and jazz? Perhaps I have fallen out of touch with rock but once I got hooked onto jazz (about 5 years ago, I'm in my late 30's) I cannot find a lot in rock that appeals to me. As a matter of fact, before I got into jazz I was extreemly dissapointed to the way "rock" music has evolved? Going to high school and college in the late 70's, early 80's I followed a pretty diverse collection of rock. Yes, ELP, The Who, King Crimson, Rush, Van Halen, Police, Genesis (early) Floyd, B.O.C., Jeff Beck, Satriani, Todd Rundgren, Aerosmith (early), Kansas early), Supertramp, Alan Parsons, Springsteen, Nugent(early) and the list goes on. There are many obvious commercial ones I haven't mentioned but here is my main point. Back then you could easily name off 12 or 15 "epic" bands. I think in the nineties it has gone downhill. In the last 10 years, who would you consider the epic bands in rock? U2-definitely, REM-probably, Pearl Jam-I don't think so. Who else comes to mind? So has rock gotten worse or have I fallen out of touch? Look at The Who's Quadrophenia, Pink Floyd's The Wall, or Genesis' Seconds Out and tell me todays rock music has the integrity of those compositions. Have you got an opinion on this one?

I hear ya, SteveH, and know how you feel. I listen to a pretty good classic Rock station here in Houston when I'm not listening to Jazz tapes in car or Jazz shows on weekends. Alternative Rock just isn't as 'solid' as the 'classic' stuff. Like you mentioned, U2 is excellent. I enjoy Huey Lewis, Bruce Hornsby, Sting, Tom Petty, Traveling Wilburys, (boy, that's all I can think of that actively play good ol' R-n-R). Are the Stones still getting around? Just imagine the Rock I grew up with is called 'retro' on the alternative Rock stations. I probably listen to Rock 30% of the time; the rest of the time devoted to Jazz.

david, i'm with you on the A Alchemy. I've seen them a couple of times and the shows are just stunning. What talent. My jaw drops watching those guys.

My other interests include raggae (older stuff) not the rappy sound of today's raggae.
Alternative sound (at least what once was) Depeche Mode, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Cure, Ministry, Public Image Limited amoung others in the mid-late 80's is an era in music I'll listen to until my grave. As SteveH mentioned, today's music can't come close to what came out back in those days.
Also Roxy Music/Brian Ferry is stuff I really like as well. My roots are Black Sabbath, Hendrix, Deep Purple, early Aerosmith etc in my early teens. Had a big Yes and Supertramp thing going on in my late teens. Ohh the good ole days...

I listen to a lot of contemporary jazz and fusion, very little smooth jazz though (when the sound gets syrupy and the string synths wash over a sloooow cheezy song I hit that skip button really fast). I like a lot of what some of you call "new age" but I just call contemporary jazz that isn't RnB based..love techno,electronica, and house music and DJ mixes, (this may be why I love Pleasure Island Jazz Co..when the band takes a break I can go across the street and dance!) I love pop/alternative hits especially the guitar based stuff (GooGoo Dolls, Matchbox 20 etc)I've always loved guitar bands (from the Byrds, thru the Gin Blossoms & Toad The Wet Sprocket and into the above mentioned bands), Singer Songwriters especially a lot of the Lillith Fair artists, I adore Tori Amos and Loreena McKennitt! I don't listen to much older stuff, I tend to listen to the times that I am currently living in but I do have a soft spot for 80s "alternative" (Depeche Mode, New Order, REM and a lot of really obscure bands I got to hear because I did a "new wave" show). One band I really adore that didn't get much hype is October Project..their singer sounds like Judy Collins with a deeper voice and their lyrics are beautiful, spiritual and somewhat gothic.
they did 2 CDs and broke up, both beautiful.

Want to hear something
different? Try.......Bela
Fleck and the Flectones!

I've always been drawn to "jam bands"...whether it is in the contemporary jazz realm, where Spyro Gyra excels(many of the bands 4 minute tunes "jam out" to 8 to 19 minutes in the live setting), or in the rock arena.

Dylan
Zeppelin
Ronnie Montrose
Yes
Blues Traveller
Phish

These artist look at the studio tracks more or less as blueprints. In the live setting, the songs are "built, embellished, and finished" differently every night. Granted, not every re-interpretation is a home run, but man, when they ARE a home run, they are GRAND SLAMS!

I also love Rush, Neil Young, Johnny Winter, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Genesis(before they went pop), Jethro Tull, Camel, Joe Satriani, Steve Morse/The Dixie Dregs, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Pearl Jam, and SOME Dave Matthews Band.

Peace!
Paul

Asside from jazz/fusion I like:

60's rock...especially the Beatles
Classical-- guitar, piano, Bach
Latin jazz
New Age
Classical made into rock- Vinessa May

So long as it's pleasing to my ears...I'll like it.