# Jazz is usually happy music but what about sad ,darkside jazz, what the bleakest



## deprofundis (Apr 25, 2014)

Do you consider Bohren & der club of gore jazzy, is there old jazz , black hole of sadness infintr pain laden and not happy at all in instrumental jazz, slow pace jazz...

:tiphat:


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

Charles Mingus was a sad man (said by him self) and he composed some sad and troubled music. Example: The Black saint and the sinner lady.

Some ballads by Billie Holliday are full of sorrow for sure...


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Not infinitely painful but melancholy enough:






To illustrate Heliogabo's point:


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Louie Armstrong's What Did I Do to be so Black and Blue is definitely a downer.






As they say, that's why they call it the blues.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Heliogabo said:


> Charles Mingus was a sad man (said by him self) and he composed some sad and troubled music. Example: The Black saint and the sinner lady.
> 
> Some ballads by Billie Holliday are full of sorrow for sure...


You can't get much more sorrowful than "Strange Fruit." Maybe Ethel Waters singing "Suppertime." Also there are plenty of albums of ballads, either conceived that way or as compilations. While not all ballads are sad, quite a few are. Dexter Gordon was a master. Also Ben Webster.

And I recently listened to Duke Ellington's "And His Mother Called Him Bill," which celebrated the music and mourned the loss of Billy Strayhorn.

Many more.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Sketches of Spain ranks up there for me.


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)




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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

deprofundis said:


> Do you consider Bohren & der club of gore jazzy, is there old jazz , black hole of sadness infintr pain laden and not happy at all in instrumental jazz, slow pace jazz...
> 
> :tiphat:


I like Bohren & Der Club Of Gore very much but I sometimes feel that the music is too dark and depressing.

I have been interested in this. There is a resembling atmosphere.
Doom Jazz by Bobby Previte (drums) and Jamie Saft (piano) as Swami Lateplate


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

I don't think that the idea that jazz is usually happy music is correct. Sure there's happy jazz, but there's also sadness, melanchony, introspection, depression... and obviously a lot of other emotions, sometimes much more difficult to pigeonhole.
Anyway:


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

this is probably the first great classic of dark jazz:

Artie Shaw - Nightmare





other stuff:

Booker Little - Man of words





Mal Waldron - Left alone





Mal Waldron & Jeanne Lee - Seagulls of Kristiansund





Abbey Lincoln - Straight ahead





Ran Blake and Christine Correa - Angel eyes





Jack Teagarden - Don't smoke in bed





Lee Morgan - Waltz for Fran





Django Reinhardt - Anouman





Dexter Gordon - Don't explain





John Coltrane - Alabama





Duke Ellington - Blood count





Jackie McLean - Poor Eric





Jimmy Rowles - The Peacocks





Sir Roland Hanna - Perugia





Booker Ervin - Uranus





Something a bit more free

Albert Ayler - Witches and devils





Tim Buckley - Anonymous proposition


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)




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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

A lot of European jazz can be darker than the standard jazz you may be used to.

Here is French band, One Shot.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

American, Darcy James Argue and his big band, Secret Society can also be dark.

He even uses some 12 tone methods from time to time.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Norwegian guitarist, Terje Rypdal, is also known for a lot of melancholy jazz.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

If jazz were (mainly) happy music I would never have gotten interested in it.


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