It's a music that has to do not only with improvising by yourself, but being able to cooperate with other people. |
Jazz is a highly disciplined music that is very impatient with people who don't play, well, any sort of lazy imitation that can go with it. |
The key may change, the rhythms may change, the people around you may change, but with certain values you can be prepared for all that. |
To be an educated citizen, you really have to know about all kinds of things -- but don't forget Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald -- it's just part of what it means to be an educated person. |