Where has that gorgeous jazz gone?

I will never forget it. The night of 31 August 1997, the night Princess Di died. It didn't inspire me to do what I did - in fact I felt curiously unmoved by the whole incident - but I listened to Jazz FM late at night, something not done before or since for any length of time. The songs they played were divine, I felt moved to my core, yet I did not have the presence of mind to write down the names of the songs that were played. A letter and phone call to Jazz FM asking them for the playlist were both fruitless and so now I have lost that night forever.

Periodically, like this afternoon, I listen to Spotify in an effort to find jazz similar to that which so melted me. I type in "cool jazz", "piano jazz", "smooth jazz", I have heard much but much tat and no jewels save for a pearl called Blue Harlem by Ike Quebec. No diamonds. The songs I heard that night were diamonds. It is a certain type of jazz which means anything to me, the rest to me is worthless. A solo instrument evoking soul and, importantly, a melody - not the randomness of so much jazz which ordinarily precludes me wasting my time listening to Jazz FM. I am extremely discerning with my music. At the Hard Rock Calling event on 27th June, Neil Young (my favourite artist bar Beethoven) I loved; the first two acts, some of the Pretenders and Seasick Steve I thought were very good, but the others I couldn't stand. Yet there were people smiling and bopping away to all the songs by all the acts. What is their mentality? Do they do it because all the music sounds equally good to them or do they feel they should be seen to be continually singing and dancing? Maybe it is a symptom of the prevailing attitude that what is currently cool should be enjoyed, a social thing. Individual tastes when experiencing art are secondary. Maybe. But if so I myself could never compromise on aesthetics. I experience near-ecstasy when I listen to some of Chopin's nocturnes but cannot abide Beethoven's 9th - and this despite my earlier comment about the guy.

And with jazz: the "classic" album by Miles Davis, I forget its name, I have listened to twice out of courtesy to the artist and his reputation but never again. Instead I will continue to mine for diamonds.