I've been thinkin this over, but I'm likely still wrong.
Why we like jazz is kinda like why we like humor.
Both set us up with a framework that we start to grasp, and then, as we think we know where things are going, we get a surprise twist that makes sense from the original framework, but isn't the exact thing we expected. So, we get a little dopamine reward when we 'get it.'
Laughter for comedy, and engagement from jazz.
I think both can also lead us down the path of enjoyment further with how the subsequent lines play out with further rewards.
There is a great word for an aspect of humor that I think relates to jazz, as well: Paraprosdokian.
A paraprosdokian statement is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence, phrase, or larger discourse is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part.
Some stolen linguistic examples....
- "If I could just say a few words … I'd be a better public speaker." —Homer Simpson
- "If I am reading this graph correctly—I'd be very surprised." —Stephen Colbert
- "If all the girls attending the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn't be a bit surprised." —Dorothy Parker
- "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it." —Groucho Marx
- "I like going to the park and watching the children run around because they don't know I'm using blanks." —Emo Philips
- "I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long." —Mitch Hedberg
- "I don't belong to an organized political party. I'm a Democrat." —Will Rogers
- "On the other hand, you have different fingers." —Steven Wright
To me, those are jazz like humorous statements.