Several weeks ago, Boo beautifully articulated the genius of some of the giants of the jazz world. He also captured the essence of the demons most of these incredible innovators faced. The best comprehensive applicable history I've found is "Reading Jazz" By Robert Gottlieb (Pantheon Books-1996).

A few months back, there were several posts which basically said that "good musicians are a dime a dozen...great entertainers are rare.". I happen not to agree with this at all, but I was wondering:

1. How do you personally decide which path to take?

2. How do you set the "mix" of entertaining well or playing well?

3. What brings you the most satisfaction?

4. What have you given up as a result of your musical choices?

5. What would you have done differently?

I'd really like to read contributions from people who have chosen each path. Obviously, there are only right answers for each individual, but, I think this is a benchmark area, where making the right individual decision is one of the most important an entertainer/musician will ever make.

What about it....?


Russ