We work so hard on our craft, and once we get out of Duke Ellington, there are not going to be people looking for technique. I worry about that a lot.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
You need better technique than I have to play jazz, but what you have to do is the same thing, isn't it?
My style is a little quirky. I can't play as fast as most professional jazz players.
If I were to put on Barbra Streisand and Duke Ellington, one might say the combination isn't good.
I think it was Duke Ellington who once said that we're always most pleased with our current record. I mean, you have to assume that you learn from one, and you do something better next time.
Certainly one of the more common experiences in the jazz field is discovering someone new. Improvising musicians are capable of being musical travelers, voyagers. We want to join in on whatever we hear. There is a freedom to wander the musical landscape.
I don't feel that I have any great grasp of technique that I should pass along to people.
If I'm not a jazz player all the time, I've at least been cued in to what I do by jazz.
Jazz is a way of life, and you have to learn about it on the street, so to speak. But the training comes in by giving you the tools to work with.
I'm glad there are a lot of guitar players pursuing technique as diligently as they possibly can, because it leaves this whole other area open to people like me.
I'm not a huge practicer, which is probably not a good thing because my band definitely needs to practice.