You're listening to a conversation in a foreign language. Jazz has a fundamentally different theoretical and idiomatic basis to classical music. If you didn't g

You're listening to a conversation in a foreign language. Jazz has a fundamentally different theoretical and idiomatic basis to classical music. If you didn't grow up with blues, gospel and show tunes, you're missing most of the vocabulary and context needed to make sense of jazz. I'd strongly recommend listening to that stuff because it's fantastic, but there is a bit of a shortcut - learn to hear jazz one tune at a time. Here's the tune Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise, as Sigmund Romberg wrote it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy_L8VVu7-c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy_L8VVu7-c And now, as a variety of jazz musicians heard it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSeFc3CP5Mk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSeFc3CP5Mk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlViBYcZpJ0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlViBYcZpJ0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NG_wZFBM24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NG_wZFBM24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dofsqZrE5sU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dofsqZrE5sU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaV51BuHfIw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaV51BuHfIw Do you hear how the melodic theme is stated, before the players improvise over the same chord progression? Do you hear how fragments of the main melody are woven into the solos? Do you hear the interplay between the musicians as they rotate between accompaniment and soloing? Do you hear how each ensemble creates a distinct mood from the same basic starting point? If you do, then you're starting to hear the language of jazz.