Is improvisational jazz to impressionism art as smooth jazz is to realism art?


So, I’ll acknowledge up front, I’m an engineer. Civilian and Warfighter lives can be in the balance depending on whether our company products perform as required or not. As a result, I try very hard to drive the entropic world we live in towards black and white as much as possible. I need to put order to chaos. When i look at art, impressionistic art requires a lot of mental work to make sense of. I just don't see it or get it, appreciate it or like it. I also find, as hard as i may try to enjoy improvisational jazz, that i don't get it, appreciate it, or like it. Instead, I love Realism art and instrumental smooth jazz!!
Reading from Audiogon forum pages for a couple of years now, i feel like i should feel inferior because 1. I don’t appreciate the free flow of expression that is improvisational jazz and 2. I love that there is a tune and thread in smooth jazz. I love the guitar artistry of Chuck Loeb, Chris Standring, and Acoustic Alchemy; the trumpet expressions of Rick Braun, Cindy Bradley, and Chris Botti; and the bass works of Brian Bromberg. 
I’m curious if there are many others out there that equate order (or lack there-of) in their music tastes to that of their taste in the visual arts?
Also, are there many other music lovers who would rather enjoy a good smooth jazz listening session than improvisational jazz?  If so, who do you listen to?
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Estreams,

Music is a very personal thing. 

We should never make the mistake of holding a specific genre to be sacrosanct and beyond criticism. 
Each genre has its incredible music, and its mundane, even unlistenable music…

whats that old saying? ….’One man’s trash is another man’s treasure..
@stuartk , In 1969 John Mclaughlin did an album on Polydor called Extrapolation. It is the most conservative recording I have heard from him. I believe it was done before he left Britain. He bent fusion with Devotion and my goals beyond becoming Mahavishnu somewhere in here. The rest you probably know. 
@mijostyn:

I first discovered Extrapolation in the late 70's and it has remained my favorite JM recording for many decades-- both for J. M's composing and playing and Surman's stellar contributions. 


"We should never make the mistake of holding a specific genre to be sacrosanct and beyond criticism".

Agreed ! 
The great thing about music is everyone can enjoy it in their own way and you are free to sample it all. The curious mind can go rampaging through centuries of material and place themselves in any time zone just like old photographs. It is not an issue to argue about, like art there are an infinite number of ways to interpret it.
mijostyn -- Yeah, you're right when it comes to folks being free to sample all of music, but it's something that's actually only become obtainable in the past few years. Let's hear it for Tidal, Qobuz and their associates in crime! 
@rja:

"Questionable analogies"

Indeed-- perhaps that's why the OP posed it as a question. 
@mijostyn:

"It is not an issue to argue about, like art there are an infinite number of ways to interpret it"

Well, I'd disagree just a bit. My BA is in studio art and in school, I became quite used to evaluating artwork in terms of how skillfully it accomplished what the artist set out to do-- both in terms of form and content. This is the "craft" aspect and I'd argue this is not strictly an "interpretive" process.  

Taking this approach pre-supposes a capacity for setting aside one's initial,  spontaneous response, which can be very challenging but it's like a muscle that gets stronger through practice. 

Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that if an artwork is successful in this "craft" aspect, you or I or any given individual will automatically like it!  

However, if we solely go by our personal taste, we may fail to appreciate much in the world of art. 


  • "However, if we solely go by our personal taste, we may fail to appreciate much in the world of art."

So very true with music. I still find no redeeming quality in Rap. 


@oregonpapa:

I agree with Garcia's assessment that Rap is a spoken-work form, not music-- simply because it fails to include melody and harmony in addition to rhythm. 

As such, it can be powerful but I don't much relate to its content/cultural context and generally experience rhythm absent melody and harmony to be monotonous. 

If I want to focus on spoken-word, I'd much rather read or listen to someone recite, poetry!  

@4afsanakhan:

My OP post was intended to be a commentary on my own reflection of how i appear to be “wired” and the similarities between the attributes of visual and audio art that i seek out and enjoy versus the similarities of the characteristics of visual and audio art that i dont seek out or enjoy.  I floated that thought to see if others had similar or different observations and experiences. 
I already provided my view on improvisational or more challenging jazz upthread. I will say that from my limited view of streaming services Qobuz, for example as a trial, it isn’t very deep in jazz. Look up Cecil McBee, who I keep mentioning, and see how little you find. Compare that to his discography, as listed by Discogs (which is crowd sourced and may include mistakes).
The groove-- what turns you on-- is where you find it. For me, a lot of that may depend on mood, which is a whole separate thing from quality of performance, recording, mastering or pressing. I will say that Eddie Hazel is criminally underrated. -Maggot Brain- you’ll need no convincing.