The bottom line of any art form for me is that it has to appeal to my inner consciousness, touch the subconscious level evoking a sublime feeling of pure artistic satisfaction. This satisfaction has many facets corresponding to the various emotional planes that a mind can shift between. These emotional planes and feelings symbolize: (1) Aesthetics or Romanticism(Not Maudlin) (2) Strength, Spirit or Energy (Graceful and Disciplined) (3) A feeling of Pathos, fear, awe and fascination for the unknown/mysterious/mystical etc, and finally (4) An inherent yearning to experience the abstract and platonic world beyond the mundane phenomenal world of senses, i.e the surrealistic aspect of jazz as an art form. So Jazz as an art form for me is a medium for evoking feelings and emotions that represent the above four classes. Now it is not only important that the jazz I like should evoke those emotional sensations but it should do so in an artful,aesthetic and melodic way (Being subjective here, read the quote by Stan Kenton later). For example earthy blues, reggae or R&B music is usually credited with evoking the feeling of pathos/sadness etc. But to me it is not aesthetically satisfying for the evocation. There are some complex jazz pieces written by classically trained jazz composers who have written haunting ballads and blues style music that I find very musically fulfilling in evoking pathos. Same is true for other elements of the emotions. There is always the senstitive, artistic way of representing each of the above emotions versus the raw unrefined way. It is possible to assign objectivity to these characterizations using scientific criterion, but that will take me outside the scope of this subjective musings. Now it is quite possible that a work/piece of music may be classified as jazz by the mainstream definition but yet fail to evoke any one of the above four emotions in an artful way. So that particular piece will have no appeal to me and I will not spend my time listening to it, regardless of how well known it is and how high it is in the popularity chart. On the other hand an obscure piece may very strongly impact me yet can nowhere be found or heard in the mainstream jazz scene. It is even possible that within a single work some part of it may appeal to me while other part may not, in which case I will edit the piece and record it with edited portions and enjoy in its entirety (Call me perverse. But I find it quite natural to do so:). It is also quite possible that a work/piece that is classified as "pop" or "classical" or some other nondescript class (sometimes with names such as third stream, avant guarde, modern music etc) which may be mistakenly included in one or the other standard category depending on the mindset of who is classifying it, but which may nevertheless succeed in evoking the above feelings and would be my favourite. It just so happens that most (Not all) of what I like in music are classified under Jazz. It also happens that I find most of the contemporary jazz as heard in concerts and in popularity charts unappealing to me. All these qualifications have to be taken into account when judging an interest in art form like "Jazz". With that background and clarification let me focus on my specific interests in Jazz. The two figures in Jazz that had been most reflective of my interest in Jazz are Stan Kenton and Pete Rugolo. They both capture the essence and the spirit of my jazz appreciation which I tried to explain above. To quote Stan Kenton,

"Jazz is a music that appeals primarily to those who appreciate and understand individuality in music"

"Jazz, a complicated music, has never appealed to the masses, whereas "popular" music must appeal to unsophisticated judgement and taste, through simplicity" (Creative World Magazine, Vol-VIII, Number 1 , 1978).

He said that in 1978, the year before he died. Since then the definition of jazz has been broadened to include an assortment of new stuff, and thus the assertion of lack of popular apeal may not be true. But it certainly is true for the kind of Jazz that he had in mind and the one that appeals to me. There are some other artists who have composed and performed music that also reflect pretty well the surrealistic element of jazz. Charles Mingus (Eclipse), Sun Ra(Medicine for a Nightmare), have composed a few such jazz pieces, to name a few. More follows in the list below.

Having said all that now let me list SOME of my favourites in "Jazz".

Favourites tunes in Jazz: (w. approx. date of recording)