Jazz Still a Tough Sell for DJ B

DJ B keeps picking up jazz CDs from the public library, but never seems super excited about them once she gives them a listen. This week's choice, SFJazz Collective 2, turned out to be no exception. As is typically the case, Miss B was very interested in reading the CD booklet (ours actually had a bright orange and yellow, seizure-inducing cover), but after only a few seconds of music (the John Coltrane track "Moment's Notice") she yelled, "It's loud!" and asked for another CD. Before we were able to take the CD out she told me, "I want to go to the library" and did a brief bounce to the music.

A few days later we again tried to listen and Miss B asked, "Is this jazz?" While she scanned the booklet she was particularly interested in a close-up picture of mallets on a vibraphone, asking, "What are those?" She was very mellow, as she read the booklet and played with the CD case. When I asked her what she thought of the music she said, "princess." When we got to the second track (Coltrane's "Naima") she started to tap the CD case with her fingers, the first indication that she was actually listening to the music. I took the CD out of the player and Miss B said to put it back in, "it's princesses."

Although she never seemed to be super engaged with the music, I suppose I should never discount Miss B's quiet enjoyment of jazz.