Trust

At a jazz history seminar in college, my professor worked his way through the canon of standards and artists. From ragtime and stride piano, all the way through bebop and the “cool” period and beyond. But it was Miles Davis’s 1970 release Bitches Brew that drew the most controversy of all.

A bearded man in his 50’s felt, confidently, that this album is full of noise, not music. He dismissed it as indulgent and pretentious. Some other students agreed to some degree, while others defended the work as a stroke of genius and a pioneering leap in the history of jazz, influencing countless other musicians.

Regardless of opinion, Bitches Brew was one of Miles Davis’s best-selling albums. From Wikipedia:

“Upon release, it received a mixed response, due to the album’s unconventional style and revolutionary sound. Later, Bitches Brew gained recognition as one of jazz’s greatest albums and a progenitor of the jazz rock genre, as well as a major influence on rock and funk musicians.”

My contribution to the jazz seminar discussion was this: an album like Bitches Brew requires a certain level of trust from the listener. When a popular musician releases a different, challenging album, it usually shakes things up. The album may merely be a self-indulgent experiment and a mess of sounds with meandering concepts. But the thing that will bring you past the first-listen opinion of “I don’t get it” to the fifth or sixth listen of “now it makes sense,” is trust.

You need to trust that the musician you loved before did not lose his mind and go off the deep end. You need to trust that his good taste and insight you loved before is present in the new release as well. You need to trust that the album does, in fact, make sense and that it will reward repeated listenings. If you don’t trust the artist, and have good reason to believe there is no sense beneath the experimentation, then the first listen will likely be enough and you can dismiss at will.

The point is this: if you trust the artist, then make an effort before drawing a conclusion.

Creating Creativity

Credit: Cauê Rangle

SEED Magazine has a great article regarding creativity—it’s an investigation into the way artists are able to utilize their creative talents on command. They probe this mystery through the use of an fMRI machine to identify which parts of the brain are utilized, and when, during an improvised jazz solo. The goal was to untangle the disparate elements of inspiration:

William James described the creative process as a “seething cauldron of ideas, where everything is fizzling and bobbing about in a state of bewildering activity.”

The findings are interesting: before the solo even begins, a pianist was found to have “deactivated” their dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which is the portion of the brain associated with planning and self-control: “In other words, they were inhibiting their inhibitions, which allowed the musicians to create without worrying about what they were creating.”

The article drives on from there, delving into other aspects of the improvisatory experience. Spikes in medial prefrontal cortex activity, for example, which is an area associated with self-expression (“it lights up, for instance, whenever people tell a story in which they’re the main character”), and premotor cortex activity which is linked to the physical execution of notes. But it’s the first point I find the most interesting: It is a musician’s lack of activity in a particular area—conscious thought—that drives a successful solo before a single note is played.

Creativity, then, may not be a result of the presence of talent, but rather the lack of inhibition. One’s supreme willingness to simply try may be the best kept secret to artistic success.

Art as Bond

Art Kane, "Jazz Portrait: Harlem, 1958"

The work of art is a copula: a bond, a band, a link by which the several are knit into one. Men and women who dedicate their lives to the realization of their gifts tend the office of that communion by which we are joined to one another, to our times, to our generation, and to the race.”

– Lewis Hyde, The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World

How Jazz Can Change Your Life

“When someone reaches up to kiss you or says, “I love you,” those acts are reductions of that bigger feeling. But if someone figures out how to communicate that big feeling–how to master a moment of soul–he or she just looks at you with directness and honesty and love. Eyes alone can warm your entire body.”

– Wynton Marsalis, on the power of jazz

That quote is from Wynton’s new book, Moving To Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life. There’s also an interview on the Amazon.com page. (just follow the link)

Great interview. Great book. Check them both out.

On Kenny Burrell

“Kenny Burrell that’s the sound I’m looking for.” – Jimi Hendrix

“There is no finer guitarist than Kenny Burrell” – George Benson

“Kenny Burrell is a great musician and his music has helped to make me what I am today.” – Stevie Wonder

“Kenny Burrell is the grand master of jazz guitar.” – Dizzy Gillespie

“Kenny Burrell is overall the greatest guitarist in the world and he’s my favorite.” – B.B. King

I strongly urge you to check out this jazz guitar legend. Here is an Anywhere.fm playlist of some great Kenny Burrell tracks.

What Is Jazz?

“Words are the children of reason and, therefore, can’t explain it. They really can’t translate feeling because they’re not part of it. That’s why it bugs me when people try to analyze jazz as an intellectual theorem. It’s not. It’s feeling“

Bill Evans, jazz pianist (1929-1980)

100 Essential Jazz Albums

David Remnick of The New Yorker has compiled a list of the 100 Essential Jazz Albums, featured in the online edition of the mag. It’s purpose is “more as a guide for the uninitiated than as a source of quarreling for the collector.”

For anyone looking to get into jazz, I suggest starting your trip with Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and using this list as a roadmap. (For a look into Kind of Blue‘s genius, check out this post.)

So What?

The Miles Davis masterpiece Kind of Blue is the best selling jazz album of all time, and spun jazz into a whole new direction when it was released in 1959. Fans loved the tone, pace, and sensuality of the album, while musicians were astounded by its creative method.

You see, Miles Davis did for jazz what Albert Einstein did for physics: he established new laws. Traditionally, jazz musicians would improvise over a chord sequence–the musician would choose his notes based on the underlying chord being played while anticipating the one that followed. It was a very forward-flowing method, and the very definition of jazz structure.

Until August 17th, 1959.

All of the songs on “Kind of Blue” are improvised based on various “modes” (aka “keys”.), NOT chord sequences! Each musician is free to improvise within the key, rather than over a sequence of chords. That’s not to say it was a free-for-all. Melody and form were constantly being gauged in-the-moment based on themes explored by the other soloists. This “modal jazz” that Davis pioneered required an immense amount of musical knowledge and improvisational dexterity, not to mention good taste.

The wonder of the album is that it became overwhelmingly popular with people who knew NOTHING about jazz theory or musical forms. It simply sounds sublime.

Below is a live performance of the first track on Kind of Blue called “So What.” (The digital image at the top of this post was created by an artist listening to “So What” and trying to describe it visually. Here are the rest of the tracks on the album in visual form.)

A Mingus Among Us

“Life is a lot like jazz… it’s best when you improvise” – George Gershwin

I was inspired to post about improvisation after reading this post at Lifehack. I’m not going to paraphrase it or steal any of its wise and learned content, but I suggest you look into it.

I will say that at the nut of the post is the idea that we can all learn something about life from jazz. At the heart of the music are standard folk and pop tunes that are reinterpreted on the fly. Harmonies, melodies, keys, modes, moods, feels, orchestrations–all improvised. Notes fly by in simultaneous stacks of rhythms, while a walking bass line propels the song to the finish. At least this is the way it is some of the time. The excitement and fire of creating music can be HEARD during a jazz performance. Improvisation alone isn’t jazz (Mozart is said to have LOVED to improvise, and probably would have kept it up if he had some way to record his creations…), but it is a huge part of the thing.

So what can a non-musician learn from jazz music? Here are 5 pearls of wisdom:

– Take it as it comes. When it’s your turn to solo, it doesn’t matter if you’re sick or upset, or sad, or excited–you have to perform. Simple as that. The audience paid, and is expecting something. Accepting one’s obligation to push forward is something jazz players are comfortable with. They take whatever chord change comes their way and run with it.

– All that matters is NOW. I’m not eschewing the benefits of a healthy 401k plan, or curtailing the merits of studying European history, but there’s sometyhing to be said for soaking up everything this very moment has to offer. Like jazz, what you’re going to do next is not nearly as important as what you’re doing right now.

– Don’t be an idiot. The amount of music theory involved in jazz music, and its level of sophistication, is an awe-inspiring aspect of the music. Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington… these guys were brilliant composers, who had an unbelievable grasp of how music worked. To improvise you have to have a thorough understanding of what’s up.

–Be passionate – “Good jazz is when the leader jumps on the piano, waves his arms, and yells. Fine jazz is when a tenorman lifts his foot in the air. Great jazz is when he heaves a piercing note for 32 bars and collapses on his hands and knees. A pure genius of jazz is manifested when he and the rest of the orchestra runaround the room while the rhythm section grimaces and dances around their instruments.” – Charles Mingus

– Listen. – Jazz, like life, is an art form that requires cooperation. Spend most of your time listening, just like the jazz greats: “The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen” – Duke Ellington