Is music necessary for human existence? Brooklyn-based pianist Aaron Goldberg says he learned the answer when he visited Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. “I went down there with some other musicians to play a few concerts. Even though some of what we were doing was unfamiliar to the audience, the response was unbelievable,” Goldberg recalls.
“People were starved for music. I’ve never felt like what I did was more important than when I did it in a refugee camp of 45,000 people living in tents. “You’d think they would have much greater needs — for example, food and shelter — but actually, music was actually right up there with food and shelter.
“When you go to a place like that, where the material needs are so obvious, you see that music, even jazz music, is high up on Maslow's hierarchy of needs — right at the very top.”
Psychologist Abraham Maslow’s theory put physical and security needs at the foundation, followed by the need for love and belonging, and esteem. His last level was self-actualization, where morality, creativity, lack of prejudice and spontaneity reside.
Playing through Friday at the Jazz Standard on E. 27th St., Goldberg’s trio will demonstrate. Bassist Reuben Rogers is a longtime member, while Greg Hutchinson sits in for longtime drummer Eric Harland, who is dealing with a death in the family.
“The way that we communicate on the bandstand, at its best, is really a model of great communication in general,” Goldberg says. “People say variations of, ‘I love the way you guys are listening, talking and responding to each other, are sensitive to each other. There's so much compatibility and empathy.’ People feel that. . . .
“It’s a pinnacle of social interaction, where you can have a three-way constant conversation with people that based on total trust and respect for the other,” he adds.
“That’s what people respond to the quickest: They have a desire to interact like that in their daily lives. They want that unity with their fellow human beings, and they feel it coming from the bandstand.
“Here I am, this nice Jewish boy from Boston, connecting with this guy Eric Harland, who grew up in a black church in Houston, and also Reuben Rogers, who grew up on the beaches of St. Thomas. You see that we didn’t grow up together. But yet we make this very human connection.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/great-music-a-global-uniter-pinnacle-social-interaction-rising-brooklyn-jazz-pianist-aaron-goldberg-article-1.994469#ixzz1hAn6MM5H
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