How to become an artist

by Minim Pro @ 2010-06-10
What is the definition of a good jazz solo?

A good jazz solo will outline the chord changes so you could still hear them if nobody else played them.
A good jazz solo has a structure and fully develops musical ideas.
A good jazz solo is a composition in real-time.
A good jazz solo is about creating a new melody for the song against the original changes.
A good jazz solo tells a story.

Would you agree with these statements? These are some of the responses I got recently after asking around online for people's opinions on how a good solo is defined. Whilst there may be truth in these statements, I don't agree with them as a definition. I have one definition of what makes a solo good and one definition alone:

It moves me in some way.

That's it. It's really that simple. If a solo doesn't engage my emotions then it really doesn't matter how technically accomplished, well-structured or innovative it is, if it doesn't engage me on an emotional level then I can't enthuse about it. Music is art, not craft and yet so much of our time and focus as musicians in spent working on and thinking about the craft. We worry about scales and chord substitutions and correct phrasing and playing through key changes and, if we're not careful, our playing can be totally reduced to the level of craft instead of the art it is supposed to be.

Whilst the technical demands of jazz as an idiom mean that better craftsmen are better equipped to produce art, it doesn't automatically follow that the best craftsmen are the best artists. Have you ever been at a gig where somebody displays amazing facility but you've been left a bit cold somehow by the performance?

I have long argued that the focus on individual instrumental virtuosity amongst jazz players is not a good thing. The reason is that continued focus on technical aspects of music-making can stifle creativity and individual expression in players.

If you spend all your time in the woodshed practising licks, techniques,exercises and shredding changes then what will your playing sound like? There seems to be a widespread misconception amongst jazz musicians that somehow, when it's time to play in front of an audience that you will somehow magically and seamlessly transform from craftsman to artist. I've got news for you - you won't. If all your music-making off stage is focused on the craft of music then you'll play like a craftsman. You can't suddenly flick a switch and turn into an expressive artist just because you're now on stage. That's just not how it works.

To express emotion through music, you have to practise expressing emotion through music. This is what the best classical musicians are focused on. It is automatically assumed by audiences in that genre that the technical demands of any piece will be met. Top classical musicians know that they will be judged purely on their interpretation of the music: in other words, whether they were successful in expressing the emotion the composer intended.

Learning to improvise jazz is hard, we all know that. But we need to be careful that our playing doesn't become soulless as a result of our struggle to try and master the mechanics of the music. Once jazz musicians reach a certain level of technical ability, it is all too easy for them to slip into the relative comfort of this hard-won facility when they play - like putting on a pair of old slippers.

Miles understood this and I would argue his greatest strength as a band leader was that he could force his musicians to break out of that comfort zone of technical competence and force them to engage fully with the music that they were playing. All of his famous cryptic comments, throwaway asides and sometimes seemingly unfathomable instructions to his sidemen were designed to shake them out of musical complacency and get them to play that particular piece of music, not the same piece of music they always played tweaked to fit new changes.

Put simply, without emotional expression jazz is not art, merely craft. If, as jazz musicians, we want to engage audiences and make jazz relevant in the modern world then we need to be more than craftsmen. Human beings aren't necessarily as different from one another as we might sometimes imagine. The master and the servant, the prince and the pauper, the knight and the knave all share a common humanity defined by their emotions.

When talking to a stranger, the best way to engage and bond with them is to find some common ground and talk about things you have in common - not try and impress them with a knowledge of subjects they don't care about or can't relate to. If you truly want your playing to resonate with audiences then you need to start using your musical language to explore the common ground of human emotion rather than trying to impress them with your skills as a technician.

Next time you pick up your instrument, remember that you need to practise expressing emotion through music to become good at expressing emotion through music. Like every other aspect of your playing it won't magically happen on stage if you haven't put in the work to allow it to happen.

Ultimately it comes to this. Stop being a musical artisan - there are thousands of those already in the world and we simply don't need any more: what we need are artists.
http://playjazz.blog.co.uk/2010/06/10/how-to-become-an-artist-8774500/