Is it just me or has every gym in the land got the trashiest and most clichéd “pump-up” playlist imaginable? Often accompanied by a symphony of girlish yelps and grunts from overly-juiced up muscle men lifting weights the size of small houses: there is only so many more times I can listen to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” or whatever song Swedish House Mafia put out in 2010. Admittedly, I have always been one of those guys who spends half his time in the gym fiddling with his ipod; looking for a track to get myself in the mood for the mind-numbing monotony of repeatedly lifting heavy objects. Usually on the hunt for some West-Coast flava, I find myself settling for the most “thug-life” hiphop I can find.
But what else is out there? Thoughts immediately turn to electronic music: house and techno stand out as obvious candidates yet the overly-mechanic feel of these genres only added to the monotony of the gym for me and rock n roll just seemed too uninspired. Whilst this idea might come out as the ramblings of a self-indulgent hipster: considering I pretty much just called rock music boring, please bear with me. Jazz: a genre stereotypically confined to smokey basement clubs is in fact the greatest genre you aren’t listening to in the gym!
Tracks such as Ryo Fukui’s “Autumn Leaves” can get anyone going when it comes to burning off a few of those bank holiday indulgences – jazzhead or not. Based around a quite basic and notably western jazz standard, this Japanese pianist’s take on a traditionally simple piece of music is sublime. Importantly though, it’s epic for the gym. Thunderous drums and such liberal yet calculated work on the keys allows Fukui to lay out a musical saga for listener that is a cert to get the blood pumping.
Such a captivating level of grandeur can also be found throughout Kamasi Washington’s The Epic. With 170 minutes of music to choose from, notable cuts to get you in the mood for blowing steam out of your ears include: “Re Run Home”, “Change of the Guard” and “Final Thought.” Named in my opinion for the Epic(ly) sized canvas Washington allowed himself on this record, these tracks are as broad as they are often long: with an ever elaborate network of instruments often dancing with one another well into the ten minute mark. The collective soaring of the instrumentation throughout tracks such as “Re Run Home” is more than enough to get the body moving on a treadmill.
A source of power for the music of Kamasi Washington, Miles Davis’ work in the 1970s holds great strength as a soundtrack to the sweat and grind of a gym workout. The dark beauty of Bitches Brew ferociously encourages a trance-like state from its listener and the mutual frenzy of electric guitar and trumpet on later works such as Live-Evil creates an infectious energy that feels almost tailored towards the exertion of strength and power. Miles would often compare jazz music to boxing, stating that the ever present need to evolve jazz mirrored the techniques required in the ring. Aligning with this, George Foreman also believed that jazz was similar to boxing, professing that: “The better it is, the less people appreciate it.”
Crossing over the Atlantic: Fela Kuti’s politically and instrumentally charged discography lends itself powerfully to athletic exertion. Nothing quite lights the flame like his 1967 LP “Zombie.” The otherworldly freedom Fela grants himself on the saxophone is restrained only by the careful placement off his own unique afrobeat standards: Legendary gym music!
So there you have it: our picks for jazz records at the gym! Shout out to all the hungover and guilty post-bank holidayers hitting the weights and the treadmills this week: there really is an alternative to the crap your local gym rats still classify as “work-out music duuuude!”
