Jazz for aficionados

...'I downgrade performers more than most if I don't like their persona'...
...'I won't even listen to Wagner because I loathe him as a person'...

I am afraid that doing so, by not distingushing personalitys from their art, you are narrowing your choise, because, to say at least, there are so many artist who have been known as troubled individuals, if we are going to belleive to history books or to written observations from those who knew them. Among them quite a few jazzmen, painters, writers, film makers or actors. For exmp. Chet Baker, Salvador Dali, Caravaggio,Dostoyevski, Kusturica or John Wayne, just to name first ones that came to my mind.

As with most things of great value, music, the artists and their personalities can be very complicated; how and if that personality is reflected in the performance is equally complicated. With some artists their work is an open window into their personality while with some their work is paradoxically different. Coltrane was a deeply spiritual individual and this was clearly projected in his playing. Louis Armstrong was always jovial as an individual and I can think of no other player that could more easily put a smile on one's face by the way he played. Yet, you have a beautiful player like Stan Getz who was known to be a very difficult and abrasive individual and some would say a jerk; yet, his playing could be so gentle.

I think Sinatra was one of those performers whose personality was clearly reflected in their performance. Alexatpos, I also think that a distinction needs to be made between a difficult and unpleasant personality and a troubled one. You are correct, many great artists were/are troubled individuals. Some would say that is the reason they need to perform; as an outlet for their troubles. But a troubled personality is not necessarily an unpleasant one and just as we each react differently to a given performer's musical style, we each react differently to an individual's personality traits.

Schubert made what, at first, seemed like a pretty wild comparison: Mel Torme compared to a Mozart concerto; and, earlier, his dislike of Sinatra with a reference to Wagner. They are actually pretty apt comparisons and give me an insight into how he listens to music. Generalizations to be sure, and obvious issues of relative greatness aside, the music of Mozart can be characterized as uplifting, buoyant and lively and generally easy to listen to. I think that Mel Torme's singing style could easily be characterized the same way. Wagner was known to be an extremely controlling individual and perfectionist with a strong sense of self-importance; Sinatra has been often described the same way. I think that, wether we realize it or not, when we don't like an artist or his music we are sometimes reacting to that artist's individual persona.

Alexatpos, what you say is so 99% of the time .
My refusal to listen to Wagner stems from being a serious student of German history and is shared by not a few Germans.He is the only composer I will not listen too.

Only actor I can not bear to watch is John Wayne, he was a draft dodger himself who I know, fact certain, played a large role in the deaths of untold numbers by glorifying war. I'm not the only combat vet he thinks so.
There are things that are beyond the pale.

Frogman, just so.
What I meant was Mozart and Mel both make it sound easy and off the cuff , no sturm und drang, just music that is so beautifully crafted it never occurs to you could be any other way.
Every thing I say is a generalization and off the top of my head.
What is an open mind at 20 is an empty mind at 80.

Off the top of one's head is good; like first impressions.