Play What Your Hear - Three Individuals
We all learn this music by listening to what music is already out there, what has already been done, and we look for a way to fit into the present musical landscape. Some of us try to create a sound like someone we admire, or that other musicians will be impressed with, or that fits into what is happening in our local scene (all the better to get hired, my dear).
I feel it's more important to be honest in your music: play what you hear, not what you think others want to hear from you- be it the group of players you want respect from, record labels, promoters, even audiences at jazz clubs or festivals. Play what you hear.
If you are studying your chosen instrument, if you are studying the music and its history and development, if you are learning the songs, you will feel a stylistic concept evolve, and you will hear your sound as you play.
Three of the most influential jazz masters of all time were told they had no business playing jazz.
Lester Young was told his sound wasn't muscular enough, because Coleman Hawkins had what was thought to be the perfect jazz tenor sax sound. Bandleaders actually sat Young down and played Hawkins' records, saying "that's what you're supposed to be doing!" Count Basie, however, enjoyed the contrast of having this sweet, smooth sound coming out of his roaring, stomping, blues-based band. As he recorded under his own name, his melodic lines that emphasized the color tones- 6ths, major 7ths, 9ths- offered an alternative approach to tenor sax, and opened the door for the birth of the cool.
Ironically, Thelonious Monk was not considered to be a prime time musician until Coleman Hawkins hired him. People thought Hawkins had lost his mind, because Monk didn't play like other pianists played; in fact, many people thought he couldn't play at all- what was Hawk thinking?
Of the four primary elements of (jazz) music- melody, harmony, rhythm and form- Monk's playing and writing was essential to the development of a modern (post-big band swing) jazz vocabulary in all of them, even though his piano style was firmly rooted in stride. Players nowadays are still challenged by his writing, and very few pianists can play like him without sounding clumsy.
Bill Evans was also denigrated- in his case, for being too studied, too classical in his approach. He didn't come through the blues; he saw a piano trio as a chamber group, a collective of equal partners, not the star-and-sidemen style of most other small groups. His introspective ballads, deceptively simple voicings, and use of 'inner melodies', reflecting his love and understanding of classical and romantic compositional forms, changed jazz piano accompaniment dramatically.
There are so many other examples, but these guys stuck with who they were, committed to what they heard. Fame, respect, these things came late for them, but their legacy is heard in countless jazz players who came after them.
Play what you hear...
I feel it's more important to be honest in your music: play what you hear, not what you think others want to hear from you- be it the group of players you want respect from, record labels, promoters, even audiences at jazz clubs or festivals. Play what you hear.
If you are studying your chosen instrument, if you are studying the music and its history and development, if you are learning the songs, you will feel a stylistic concept evolve, and you will hear your sound as you play.
Three of the most influential jazz masters of all time were told they had no business playing jazz.
Lester Young was told his sound wasn't muscular enough, because Coleman Hawkins had what was thought to be the perfect jazz tenor sax sound. Bandleaders actually sat Young down and played Hawkins' records, saying "that's what you're supposed to be doing!" Count Basie, however, enjoyed the contrast of having this sweet, smooth sound coming out of his roaring, stomping, blues-based band. As he recorded under his own name, his melodic lines that emphasized the color tones- 6ths, major 7ths, 9ths- offered an alternative approach to tenor sax, and opened the door for the birth of the cool.
Ironically, Thelonious Monk was not considered to be a prime time musician until Coleman Hawkins hired him. People thought Hawkins had lost his mind, because Monk didn't play like other pianists played; in fact, many people thought he couldn't play at all- what was Hawk thinking?
Of the four primary elements of (jazz) music- melody, harmony, rhythm and form- Monk's playing and writing was essential to the development of a modern (post-big band swing) jazz vocabulary in all of them, even though his piano style was firmly rooted in stride. Players nowadays are still challenged by his writing, and very few pianists can play like him without sounding clumsy.
Bill Evans was also denigrated- in his case, for being too studied, too classical in his approach. He didn't come through the blues; he saw a piano trio as a chamber group, a collective of equal partners, not the star-and-sidemen style of most other small groups. His introspective ballads, deceptively simple voicings, and use of 'inner melodies', reflecting his love and understanding of classical and romantic compositional forms, changed jazz piano accompaniment dramatically.
There are so many other examples, but these guys stuck with who they were, committed to what they heard. Fame, respect, these things came late for them, but their legacy is heard in countless jazz players who came after them.
Play what you hear...
Tags: Evans, Monk, Scotty, Wright, Young, education, individualism, jazz
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Esquizito on -
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Yeah man! Significantly insightful. I was told long ago and far away, that a player who has their "own thing" is better off - in the long run. I suppose that I'm still putting this to the test. However, it is apparent that so much of Jazz's development, and existence even, is caused by people trying to eat.
Peace,
E.
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Permalink Reply by Scotty Wright on -
...and always will be. The trick is how to give what we're good at, and get the public to like it.
or, how to live on what we get paid to play what we want...
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Permalink Reply by Esquizito on
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Of course the former is most desirable; interesting to note: "trick" and, "get the public to like it." Perhaps this be the truest mastery of the mystery.
May I ask: How do you enjoy your working of over-seas bookings?
Peace,
E.
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Permalink Reply by Scotty Wright on
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Still loving it, after 12 years. My worst day as a traveling jazz musician is better than anything else I've done- except being a father (right, girls?)
The tough part is that there are even less gigs for jazz groups- now it's either solo or computer bands: singer with a pianist, singing to sequence tracks.
I'm talking about the itinerant jobs. If a musician re-locates to China or Thailand or Japan, there is local work to be had with a band. In Tokyo, a gig that began 12 years ago as a singer bringing his own pianist, became a singer with trio about 5 years ago- but the trio must be local musicians, not necessarily Japanese, but living in Tokyo.
It's still one of my favorite gigs, because I spend so much time working solo. I have a coterie of players I work with, and we just have a ball- playing originals, stretching out a bit, working some Monk, Horace Silver, Miles.
There's also the joy of travel- being someplace new, and realizing that you are someone new because of it.
A real treat. If the opportunity arises, grab it...
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Permalink Reply by Bruce C on
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Scotty....i agree with you...and in all forms of art too...painting, photography, poetry...what is in an artist's heart is the fire to be fed to the creative "boiler"...and channeled as the "steam" of life's driving force into the crfeative process and works thereof....Many artists' haven't been "picked" by "juries" or galleries in their careers and gone on to obscurity...but the persistent ones, who live the creative process have a chance of having their works germinate to leave a mark in the art/jazz world....your works are beautifully crafted and possess a certain brilliance the begs to be listened to and fed to the creative souls of others....i play with 2 different quintets...one is a staight ahead mostly cool school grouping...tastey, and precise...and lovely to listen to...in my other quintet, we'll "jump off" the beaten path in a heartbeat, and without fear of the unknown come up with amazing compositions, and spontaneous pieces...truly a joy to partake in...i do the same with my photgraphy/illustration works too....and again thank you for sharing the artistry you put your heart into...you are sooo apreciated on this rocky outcrop in Maine...always my best to you...always b
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Permalink Reply by Mike Valeras on -
Brilliant Post. Thank you!
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Jaijai, what a wonderful mission you've undertaken to create such a place for artistic minds to meet and share their hearts. A place to renew faded determinations, and revive lessened momentums. A place to display our wares and reconfirm to one another that we actually are on the right track.
I commend you, Jaijai, for caring so much that you created this castle of the heart for all of us. I want to share my praise for all of the new friends as well as old friends that I've met and will meet here in our castle. Here we can garnish the where-with-all, the strength, the conviction, and the selflessness through our symbiosis, to share our gift to the world with an unbiased agenda.
My mentor, Daisaku Ikeda says of art: "A beautiful flower delights and refreshes the hearts of all people equally, no matter what soil it grows in. That is the power of beauty. The same is true of great art. It is this spirit that the German poet Heinrich Heine sang of when he wrote that once the peapod bursts open, the sugar peas inside are for everyone to enjoy."
Let's be audacious, my friends!
Buster Williams
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