I've been listening to a Pandora station I created based mainly on 1940's - 1960's jazz artists. I've noticed that Pandora seems to prefer certain artists over others, even after I added several individual tracks of artists that weren't getting much play. I've also added several tracks of certain albums I would like to hear, but Pandora seems to prefer playing tracks from other albums of the same artists. Here are some examples: John Coltrane was one of the original artists I added to my station, but Pandora only played ballads by him until I started adding individual tracks of his more 'modal' up-tempo tunes; since then I'm hearing more of those, but I still get over 50% Coltrane ballads, I'd rather about 25% ballads and 75% his more exciting stuff, but there's no way to tell that to Pandora. Cannonball Adderley was one of the original artists I added to my station, but Pandora played hardly any of his material, and what little it played was down-tempo and ballads, not exactly what this artist is known for. After adding some individual hard bop tracks of his, Pandora seemed to get the hint, but I still get a lot of his down-tempo stuff. Pandora seems to love Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers! So do I, but I'd like to hear a bit less of him and more of other artists in my list, like... Jackie McLean, an artist selection of mine whom Pandora doesn't seem to like at all. I've tried adding several individual tracks of his, but I have yet to hear them, or much other Jackie. I dig Grant Green, but I had to remove him from my list of artists because for a while it seemed like every second or third track Pandora played was him. During that period, it also seemed like Pandora was playing 60% - 70% tracks of guitarists; besides Grant there was a lot of Kenny Burrell and Pat Metheny. Again, it's not that I don't like these guys, but too much is too much! I didn't want to use the "I'm tired of..." option because it's not that I don't want to hear these tracks at all, just less often. However, I did hit the tired button on "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" by Charles Mingus, because it was almost the only tune of his Pandora would play for several days. Lately, Pandora seems to have realized that there is much more of Mingus than just the 2 or three albums it was playing, over and over. Given my artist selection, I can't imagine why Pandora tried playing Barry White for me! Had to thumbs-down several times before that stopped. Every so often Pandora sneaks in an R&B track, like Temptations, 4 Tops, OJs. Mostly I don't mind, but occasionally I have to reject songs that are more toward crossover bubblegum, such as Cornelius Bros. & Sister Rose. What does that have to do with 40's - 60's jazz anyway? I would like to hear tracks from an album called "Several Shades of Jade" by Cal Tjader, with arrangements and compositions by Lalo Schifrin. Pandora has yet to play any of these, although Cal is on my artist list, and I've added several individual tracks from that album. Instead, all I get is his Latin jazz tunes from the same 3 or 4 albums. Apparently Pandora thinks that Cal Tjader = Latin jazz, period. To be fair, Pandora did play one or two cuts from his "Breeze from the East" album, which is an inferior sequel to "Several Shades" without the orchestra and the great arrangements, only the Asian motif. For quite a while, Pandora seems to have thought that Bob Brookmeyer, from my artist list, released only one album, "Bob Brookmeyer and Friends". Lately she's found a couple of others. Even worse, I like Ahmad Jamal, but the only album of his Pandora has played tracks from so far is "The Awakening", with 1 recent exception, one cut from another of his albums, just 1. So here's my complaint: too much of some artists, and some albums and some tracks, not enough of others, and no way to tell Pandora that. I've been thumbs-upping the tracks I really like, and the ones I want Pandora to play more often, or play ones like them. This has been moderately successful, lately. But still no Jackie McLean, not enough hard bop by Cannonball, a bit too much by Art Blakey, and please, find some other Ahmad Jamal albums, please! What I'm wondering is: could Pandora add a feature that allows station builders to prioritize artists and tracks? Like, I'd like to hear more of this and less of that, but don't take the less of that away permanently, like a thumbs down, or temporarily, like I'm tired of. Is that possible? Feasible? I hope so.
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