I seem to be on a slightly different trajectory as I grow older, than others regarding jazz.
My father was a jazz musician and music teacher. I grew up hearing jazz and enjoying music more challenging than pop music - e.g. jazz/fusion, prog rock etc. (Though not to exclusion of popular music, dance music). Most of my friends played in jazz/fusion/prog bands (and I played a bit too).
I found that over time my tolerance for "wanking" waned. Which is strange because usually it's people unfamiliar with jazz and soloing who just hear "wanking" by the artist.
But I've come to appreciate higher levels of structure. A sort of basic example is how much I grew to dislike
Melisma and
Oversinging in general. I like the craft and talent that goes in to sculpting away excess, forcing one to find just the right note for a melody, rather than spring-boarding all over the place never landing on a note or stong line, which comes off to me like wanking. An extreme example in contrast would be something like Mariah Carey's singing, never finding a single note to love, vs the notoriously exacting melodies in ABBA, where the singers were just as talented, but whose vocal acrobatics were always strictly in service of hitting just the right note, serving the melody. (Not that anyone has to like either of those artists of course...just looking for an example).
So it's somewhat similar for jazz. I still actually love playing Jazz and have a number of jazz records. But it tends to be background for me, a vibe. I get antsy attempting to sit and listen to it. Whereas complex, but more structured and deliberate music, like prog, fusion etc tend to glue me to my seat. In fact I've recently discovered the new crop of "metal" music, which is more the modern day version of prog - which has imbibed math rock with prog rock and popular music flourishes.
The level of musicianship, at least on a technical level, can be insane. These guys are practice freaks and it's typical in performances that you see very little of the leaping around theatrics...just guys being pretty chill focusing just on their playing.
Polyphia is probably the most well known band in the genre, and has been accused of "going too commercial" but I find it a very approachable version of the style:
(Their music is an unbelievable work out for any audio system! Same with lots of this music).
Another example,
Animals As Leaders:
Plini goes for a bit more traditional soaring, melodic sound, but with some of the same technical flourishes:
) beautiful song Rosemary from their third album, aoxomoxoa, was recorded through a Leslie.
