I don't like jazz. Am I missing something?

Music is subjective, you don't have to like everything. Everyone has their own personal taste and there are some songs you just won't like, some you love and some you grow to love overtime.I myself are a fan of charles mingus and wes Montgomery. Just explore different jazz artists and jazz genres. if you like take five then maybe your a fan of west coast jazz/cool jazz. Here's a list below of musicians of that sub genre.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cool_jazz_and_West_Coast_jazz_musicians

The whole genre is such a wide spectrum of magnitude proportions it would be impossible to list it all. As with any music you may like some but not others. Many are missing most in all. You'll just have to seek.

How could this leave you cold. I find it absolutely exhilarating by its end wanting more.

Wait until the 3:00 mark on first for the battle to begin, if in that audience I would have been going nuts too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FHa_-7Y4C0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bcp4qFHt5U


Even the mellower..... leaves one in a escaped other realm. It just depends of what one likes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LXYUBUBphM

Yes but it's not a big deal.

I don't like opera. I know I am missing something, but I know what it is I am missing and I decided I don't need to care. Except Wagner's Ring cycle, but those only because of the stories. I think great-grandma told me the stories so I can read those operas. Listening to them in German, not so much.

To ease you into jazz from your classical side, try this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eXaR065AY8

From the country background, try:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4abr2QJj74

Sonny Rollins - Strode Rode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7G4DciALDs
Sidney Bechet - Si Tu Vois Ma Mere:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkdCr9HlRE0
Charlie Parker - Summertime:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xdck9P7Umc

nope

I hate jazz. It sounds messy.

John Coltrane, Jazz is a lot better without the piano though. (Sorry but as a Sax player it just fits better)

the jazz beat is often an "off beat" unlike most songs with 4 beats to the measure

Take 5 isn't a song. Song comes from sung. If there are no vocals and no words, it's not a song. Beethoven symphonies are not songs.

And yes, you are missing something. It is a shame if you can not enjoy something that many others do.

Perhaps trace some songs by rock bands that go back to the Blues. This is where rock comes from. The Rolling Stones and many other bands simply covered Delta Blues songs. Start there.

>>"I'm a Blues fan already, It's more like Miles Davis, or Coltrane - guys who I admit were absolutely brilliant players - but their music just does not speak to me."<<

Fine. Why are you even worrying about it? I certainly don't care - I mean I wouldn't dislike you as a person because you don't like Jazz. My wife doesn't like jazz, won't let me listen to it in the car when she is with me. Figitaboutit.