Album Notes

A Unique Course on Jazz Listening
Harrisville, NH, USA: January 1, 2008 – Jazz Insight announces the January 9, 2008 release of I Love Jazz – A Quick Guide to Jazz Listening. The course features Jazz Insight directors vocalist Laura Pierce and saxophonist Michael Kolodny, along with world renowned jazz masters Jimmy Cobb (drums), Harvie S (bass) and James Williams (piano). This one-of-a-kind course offers tools and techniques for a richer listening experience. According to jazz writer, Nat Hentoff, “This truly illuminates the sound of surprise.”

The course includes a 36-page full-color guide and interactive CD set that take the listener deep into the jazz approach to music while offering opportunities to explore and expand one’s own approach to listening. The CD includes 35 tracks of jazz tunes and interactive lessons that guide the listener through the elements in jazz, including song form, improvisation and the way jazz musicians relate. These interactive explorations, titled Walking Bass, Roles of the Instruments, Embellishing a Tune, etc., cover the whats, hows, and whys of jazz performance, and offer many chances for discovery through targeted listening.

Emphasis is placed on enjoyment, and the tone of both the booklet and the CD is entertaining and accessible to the non-musician. Experienced jazz fans will also benefit from the course; it’s a quick, thorough overview of jazz. The goal of the course is to lift the listener to a new level of jazz listening awareness and understanding. This yields greater enjoyment – whether listening to jazz at home or at live performances.

The Jazz Insight Approach
Jazz Insight, established in 1999 by saxophonist Michael Kolodny and his wife, vocalist Laura Pierce, is the first company dedicated to building and supporting the jazz audience through jazz listener education. Jazz Insight helps people enjoy jazz by providing the elements in jazz, a variety of listening skills to enjoy those elements, and insight into the jazz approach to music.

The idea is simple: greater listening awareness means greater listening enjoyment. For example, how much fun would it be to watch a ballgame without knowing the rules? The same is true for listening to jazz. Jazz insight provides the “rules” (conventions and approach) of the jazz game, and helps people play it themselves through interactive, multidimensional home-courses and live workshops. These groundbreaking tools help anyone and everyone discover the magic of jazz firsthand by experiencing America’s original fine art from the inside.