Sherpa Music Vol 13. Jazz

I started listening to jazz as a teenager.

Having grown up on folk music and rock and roll, jazz always seemed to inhabit some strange hinterland. A landscape that I didn’t quite know how to navigate, but intuitively knew, that something deep and exotic was lurking there. My older brother, Peter, made journeys to the Five Spot and Village Vanguard in the ’60s and returned home with tales of Roland Kirk, Miles, Mingus. They whet my appetite!

Gradually, I melded my rock listening with jazz and steadied my feet on this new terrain. Jazz became music ripe for exploration, and a metaphor for experiencing places that I’d never been, sounds that I hadn’t heard, and being liberated by them. In that liberation was a newly found appreciation for the power of collaborating, leaping to new heights while being grounded in skill.

I often talk with clients, mentees, designers, and students about the joy and value of working in diverse, motivated teams. Along with being inspired, and multi-versed, is their ability for honest collaboration, building on an idea, watching each other’s eyes to create something moving, remarkable, and inventive. It’s like playing jazz!

This jazz playlist is sherpa-like, taking you to some places in music that may be new to you, sound strident and unfamiliar, and bringing you safely home. Indeed, that’s the point and the challenge.

I invite you to open your ears, listen for the magic of collaboration, or whatever turns you on. Stay with the tracks that may sound unusual, you might just discover new beauty there.

Turn this music up in your studios, workplaces, and homes. May it inspire you to venture into new territories, and stretch you to create a bright, compelling future.

Be well, enjoy, Jim