waaaaaay back in 2020, people started to pass around insights and/or grievances about a life as a jazz musician.
I decided to respond with something productive and positive
Here’s a few observations. Some could be perceived as dark, much of this is light, some are short, some are long, and much of it was taught to me but I didn’t see it, until It rang true in my life experience.
1. Those of us drawn to music, but particularly those who deal with it on a deep level use music as a way of self healing. If enough work is done, it becomes a way to heal others.
2. Musical work is allegorical to life work, and the other way around. Often times I’ve discovered a musical revelation becomes a life revelation. A stifled life can stifle your music, bad fundamentals on your instrument can translate to bad life habits. Music is life and life is music.
3. Your first instrument is your body (including your mind). It becomes harder to tune your instrument if your body (and/or mind) is not in tune.
4. a large portion of jazz musicians wish that society would learn to like their music. This isn’t likely to happen, and it breeds unhappiness. Instead, why not take your skill set and find a way to make the music relatable?
5. Many jazz musicians feel the world owes them something because of what they do. THE WORLD DOESN’T owe you anything. You’ve decided to play a piece of wood with strings, blow into a piece of metal with a reed, bang on a bunch of drums as your life path. You’re at least a little crazy if you expect some appreciation for doing something that in itself is a small act of protest against the world. Any appreciation you receive is a gift, don’t sully it by expecting it from people who won’t listen.
6. The music is social by nature. Foster community. Hang out. Be kind to players with varying skill sets. Be honest. Don’t talk about others in a way you wouldn’t feel comfortable telling them yourself. Generally, quality people don’t mind if you’re not a great player; they mind if you’re not a great person.
7. The history of the music is long and broad. Don’t get caught up in thinking that one specific era is the right way, or the truth.
8. As much as we are in a hurry to do all the hip stuff, Strong fundamentals Or lack thereof will make or break you.
9. Although I think it’s wonderful that jazz is offered as a degree in the collegiate world, there are some aspects of it that I think are contributing to the destruction of the music rather than enriching it. It often times encourages narrow mindedness, a disconnect from the social element of learning the craft, and while it acknowledges a lot in history classes, it’s not taught in the way that many of the greats learned. From my observation, there’s a lot of teaching, not a lot of mentorship. One of my teachers, who ironically teaches on a collegiate level, griped to me about the state of it saying “jazz used to be a whole community, a lifestyle; now it’s a fucking institution you get a grade for.” This is merely an observation and I do not claim to have a solution, but it appears that if we could encourage jazz students to seek out a real mentor to learn things about life, which will help their musicianship, the state of the music might be healthier.
10. Jazz is not a Career, it’s a life path. To expect that your hard work will translate directly to dollars is egotistical, and unrealistic. Love the Work, Love the Music, Love the Community. Surround yourself with quality humans. act selflessly. and most importantly, serve the music, it’s the only way you can hope it will ever serve you back.
11. There are a lot of people in a big hurry to mentor others yet have a lot of soul work to do before engaging in the what I’d argue is the spirit work of mentorship. It makes me sad to see abusive teachers passing on practices of shaming, fear, and intimidation to the next generation.
Okay that’s a lot. Big love.
I’d love to hear y’alls thoughts on these.
Kevan