Having an ear for Jazz

The more I listen to jazz the more I love and appreciated it. I`ve gone through R/B,blues,rock,reggae and some classical and like them all. There`s just something very special regarding jazz muscians and vocalists.They can take a simple standard and make it unique and personal. Big band,smaller combos,duets or solo, it`s all special. The better your system becomes, the emotion/communication of jazz increases. For example Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Clifford Brown or Lee Morgan, all jazz trumpeters, yet each is easily recognizable by their individual sound and approach. This is true for all the various instruments and singers.

The fact that most jazz is played with acoustic instruments and very often recorded well(compared to most of pop and rock) is an added bonus.

Always liked it. Watching Ken Burn's Jazz series when it ran on PBS took my appreciation to a higher level.

Ken Burns' Jazz was what turned me on to Jazz.
I was around a LONG time before that was made, but i never liked Jazz. It was 'too busy' in ways i just did not get. So I totally avoided it.
Until i happened to see some of the Ken Burns program, then watched the entire series. Suddenly i understood what the players were doing, and was hooked.
Now, about 40% of my listening is to Jazz, 35% Rock etc, and 25% Classical.
And NO, Jazz has not diminished my interest in Rock.
I never was a 'metal' type anyway, nor The Carpenters.. LOL.
Jazz did incease my appreciation of more complex music. (aside from Classical, where I was at a pretty deep level of appreciation anyway.)

Yes, I have learned to appreciate good jazz. I have also learned to appreciate classical, opera, and even some country, However, my new found appreciation for an even broader range of music has not made me move away from rock. Just the opposite, in fact. I have more understanding about what many classically trained rock musicians were/are trying to accomplish. I guess I can say I have learned to appreciate all kinds of music as I have gotten older.

Very interesting to see Ken Burns 'Jazz' mentioned as a catalyst for Jazz. Among hard-core Jazzistas the documentary over-simplified and incomplete. There was NO mention of Fusion, or Latin Jazz (or the latin connection to the earliest roots of Jazz via New Orleans). I understand (I only saw snippets) there was barely any mention of music created past the 80's. But I think it's fantastic that it brought new fans to the genre. I'm serious!!