LJC Community Conversation: What’s The Best Latin Jazz Album That Noone’s Ever Heard?
LJC Community Conversations are designed to explore major ideas in the Latin Jazz world together as a community and inspire conversation through comments. My main motivator here is my belief that LJC readers hold a great deal of knowledge and passion around Latin Jazz, and I think that we can learn something from everyone. Whether you’re a seasoned Latin Jazz performer or a newcomer to the music, leave a comment and let your voice be heard!
A good deal of high quality Latin Jazz has been forgotten by history leaving listeners unaware of many important works. Latin Jazz musicians perform around the world, but unless they are promoted heavily, they escape our attention. These musicians often create top-notch work, but it remains a valued secret inside their local communities. Artists at the beginning of their careers have limited resources to promote their work. Without the support of a label or management team, young artists can accomplish a finite amount of work as they stretch their time and finances thin. Established artists have a large back catalog of albums that sometimes reach across decades. As time passes, their most-loved albums demand the majority of the public’s focus, while their lesser-known but equally high quality albums go through time overlooked. Many of these underserved artists and albums are victims of circumstance, just waiting for someone to discover them.
From a listener’s perspective, it can be difficult to keep track of unknown artists or albums. We have limited time, and we can only hear so much music. We have our favorite artists that get the lion’s share of our attention; we have classics that we enjoy revisiting; and we find the latest artists that capture the world’s imagination. Discovering new music also takes time; unknown albums stay hidden for a reason – they’re hard to find! Even with internet searches, it can be a struggle to actually obtain obscure music. We also have financial constraints, which complicate the matter further. We may want to hear every Latin Jazz album, but risking our limited dollars on unfamiliar artists often deters us. The cards are stacked against unknown artists and albums, so we need to help work together and find them!
We’ve all got hidden gems in our music collection, and now it’s time to put those valuable music secrets out into the open. We can all save each other time and money by recommending rare or overlooked albums. The LJC community holds years of Latin Jazz knowledge; I know that my fingers hit the “buy” button much more quickly if I’ve gotten a thumbs-up from you guys. A large part of LJC’s mission is the exposure of new, little known, or overlooked Latin Jazz artists and albums, so let’s put our resources together and create some unique listening suggestions – I’m looking forward to this one!
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So what’s the best Latin Jazz album that you think no one has ever heard? Well . . . maybe not an album that “no one” has ever heard – here’s some ideas for selections:
* A rare Latin Jazz album that has escaped the popular consciousness
* A Latin Jazz album from a new or unknown artist
* A Latin Jazz artist from your community that hasn’t recorded yet, but deserves recognition
* A Latin Jazz album that we’ve spotlighted here on LJC, but you’d like to emphasize its worth
LEAVE A COMMENT Let the recommendations roll in! I can’t wait to find some new music! Once you’ve left your thoughts here, don’t forget to visit our past community conversations.
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Do you have an idea for a future Community Conversation? As much as I enjoy exploring my own interests with this regular post, I’d prefer to have this forum address the overall interests of the entire community. Do you have an issue that effects Latin Jazz? Do you have an idea for a fun topic? Let me know so that we can throw it out to the whole community – Leave a Comment or e-mail me.
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