Sophistication

I like to pretend that I'm a cultured, sophisticated person. Then I listen to some John Coltrane and come to the realization that I'm not so cultured and sophisticated. Sometimes his music sounds like gibberish to me. Sounds like some child just blowing random notes on the saxophone while other children bang on the drums and piano as back up.

I enjoy jazz (not an enthusiast and could only name one living jazz performer. I get my exposure via Pandora) but sometimes find the improvisations rather tedious. Right now, I'm listening to "Sportin' Crowd" by Art Blakely and the Jazz Messengers. Each instrumentalist is taking their turn at improvisation. Even the drummer.

I don't understand why improvisation in jazz is considered part of its richness while in other genres it's merely tedious (listen to all 20 minutes of Iron Butterfly's "In a Gadda-Da-Vida" for an example).

I hear people speak glowingly about this stuff and I wonder what defect I have that keeps me from getting it.

[Random thought]
What would be funny: Garrison Keillor accidentally ends up at a Larry the Cable Guy gig and vice-versa. If I had the power I would arrange that just to see what happens. I give Mr. Keillor 5 minutes and Mr. the Cable Guy 15.
[end of random thought]

I can walk among the worlds of the high brow and low brow but cannot bring myself to immerse myself completely in either world.