Why does modern jazz feel like background music even when it's complex?

[SophiaM]

I've been trying to get into more modern jazz, but I keep hitting a wall where everything just sounds like pleasant background music to me. I had a friend play me a track that was supposedly a great example of harmonic sophistication, and while I could tell it was complex, it just didn't connect emotionally at all.

[AriaS]

I get that. After a few tries, I realized I was listening for wow moments instead of a thread you can ride. I paused the track and hunted for a recurring motif or a turn of phrase, and when I found one, the rest started to feel like a conversation, not background music.

[Justin.T]

I did a small experiment: put on good headphones, isolated the track, and tracked where my attention wandered. I noticed two big moments where the harmony shifted, but I still felt nothing emotionally, like the complexity was chewing on air.

[Mark78]

Sometimes I wonder if it's the context more than the chords. The same tune can click in a live setting or as part of a larger story, but alone it just sits there.

[Edward_R]

What if you want me to pull a few tracks that foreground melody and phrasing?