Jazz is an ever evolving art form, typified by using a structured progression and variations on lead lines. In it's most plesant form (for me), it is delightful non-verbal communication between players, as they assimilate ideas from other players in a group (in real time) and, together, create a one-time, not to be duplicated performance.

That being said, in terms of performance, playing jazz can be a slippery slope. I know many jazz players who are excellent at their craft, and a starving to death. The appreciation of many forms of jazz is an acquired taste. Well-paying venues are few and far between. Players of other forms of music must know the material and be competent. To make a living, jazz players must be superior.

Jazz tunes can be played in many applications
(like supperclubs), but the player must use common sense. In dininf rooms, music must be played at reduced volumes and playing cannot be too busy. One. at a supperclub, I had a request for The Tennessee Walze. Being the cocky smartass I was at the time, I began playing the tune as a jazz walze. A kid about 20 years came up to me and said "don't mess with the tune". I thought, "I'll show him", and asked if he played. He told me he was a trumpet player. I laughingly asked him to sit in. He went to his car and brought back a ratty old canvas bag. Out of that he pull out a horn case with a top of the line Benge trumpet in it. I wasn't so confident then. When I asked him what he wanted to play, he said "anything you want". I called the tune "Four". when I asked him what key, he said "stock", hit the first note, and I spent the next 45 minutes frantically scrambling to keep up. The kid was 22 years old, and part of the Stan Kenton band.He was on vacation, visiting relatives in Kentucky.

At breakfast that evening, he told me he wasn't trying to be disrespectful, but the venue wasn't a jazz one, and satisfying the customer was the challenge. That interpretation on an old "nut" song was massaging my ego, he said. The customer would think the song sounded "funny".

I learned a lot from that kid that night. I love jazz and playing jazz, but there's a time and a place for it. And, playing for people is what music is all about.


Russ