Jazz Comments

Audience Participation : Jazz is an emotional as well as intellectual art Sound and feeling, however, do not count as much as musical content.

Take the difference between a Miles Davis solo and a rip-roaring Rhythm and Blues solo. You appreciate the first in a more intellectual way, following his harmonic and melodic progressions, as well as being moved by the depth of feeling shown. You like the second because of the emotion displayed, but it is not so satisfying musically and artistically speaking.

Now when a musician plays a solo, there is always this conflict—how to please the crowd without being dominated by them. The musician should not ignore the audience as they become, in effect, part of the group. When it is a one-way conversation (i.e. no audience response) either the music or the audience could be at fault. Listening quietly is not always enough when the music is good, just as a musician expects nothing when his solo is mediocre or bad. Applauding a good solo not only bucks up the soloist, but gives the next horn a kick he otherwise would not have. Applauding solos discriminately not only promotes interest in the casual listener, who would think "I missed something there, I must listen more closely," but encourages the musician to think of new ideas and techniques.

At a concert a musician is expected to give of his best, but in coffee-shops round town he should be listened to even more than at a concert. In their more intimate atmosphere a musician can, and should, put across ideas he is working on to see how they sound. And you should not be annoyed if he tries something that does not come off. Experiment is necessary to keep freshness of ideas.

In any art form those who are introducing new ideas and concepts are the ones in the forefront I think that is true whether the ideas have a lasting effect or not Those people who invariably copy what has gone before do not achieve very much for their art.

This is true for jazz too. If the musicians follow the style of some established artist, even if they do not copy specific ideas but play with swing and feeling, they show a lack of originality and do not have compelling ideas. What they are doing has more or less been said before. I am not condemning sincere musicians who play Traditional or Swing, but I say that they are not advancing the art of jazz very far, and therefore their work does not have as great a fascination as more modern music. That does not mean to say one cannot enjoy listening to them.

Therefore, if what Musicians are Doing Sounds Strange and Unusual, Even Unreasonable, do not Condemn them out of Hand. Give yourself a chance to listen to their ideas and understand them. I think that if they play with feeling, and they get that feeling through, then what they are doing is worth listening to.

—r.t.m.