What Jazz Means to Me

By David Liebman

First of all, let me distinguish art from craft. Craft implies mastering technique to such a degree that the craftsman is competent enough to skillfully reproduce the general impression of the chosen art form. For a jazz musician, this simply means that one is trained enough to sound convincing using the rules and customs of the music. Art on the other hand transcends mere technique to convey the personal feelings of the artist in whatever manner (s)he chooses. As Aristotle wrote: "The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance."

Much of what is commonly called jazz does in our time not qualify as art in my opinion. As always, we face the age old problem of art versus entertainment, a topic for a separate discussion. So to begin, understanding "what jazz means to me" is very personal. Jazz is the medium through which I present my deepest feelings and thoughts to the world at large. For the sake of comparison, words, honestly spoken or written, supposedly reflect the very thoughts of the speaker or writer. A statement can be logically construed as a reflection of the author's specific feelings on a given subject, assuming that the truth is being told. But the very act of being human implies that along with the truth, there are the inevitable shadings and nuances which form the core of the author's personality. It may be very difficult to separate thought from motivation. What is the writer's or speaker's objective? On these grounds alone, words often become a kind of "lightening rod" for controversy resulting in obscuration of the original and hopefully well intended thought.

But music, which goes beyond the tangible, is inherently devoid of these kinds of human frailties, leaving it as a very personal and objective form of communication between artist and listener. Have you ever heard someone play resentful or selfish music, or even on the other hand, caring music? The fact that music is in the "ears of the beholder," opens it up to the heart and soul of the listener. This is especially true in the case of spontaneous improvised music, the core of jazz, which is so direct in its communicative approach, honestly felt without pretense. The message of jazz goes beyond mere intellect and philosophies, directly to the heart itself.

On a more abstract level a spontaneous, improvised art such as jazz purports to be, magnifies the moment. The art of improvising implies that the past and the future are irrelevant. There is no time for value judgments or censoring when one is improvising. If only because of the amount of information which has to be filtered, the jazz artist must be in the now, present 100% or the task at hand cannot be accomplished. The jazz player would then have to rely on past habits or future projections and wishes, rather than immediate feeling. In fact, the constant struggle of the jazz player is just that: to stay in present time, psychologically and musically speaking. This allows the artist to interact both in relation to the vibrations felt from the immediate environment and audience, as well as the very real interaction which should be taking place among the players themselves.

From a totally different standpoint, jazz for me represents the ultimate synthesis of independence and dependence. Except for the occasional solo performance, the more common small group prevalent in jazz demonstrates participatory democracy at work. Though jazz primarily challenges one's ability to express individuality, it also demands cooperation and teamwork for the greater musical good. There is a delicate balance called for between selflessness and ego, personified in trying to achieve a unified ensemble sound and equally, memorable individual solos. The social skills, which are a prerequisite for any group interaction in everyday life, are called upon in the typical jazz group, albeit using the language of music as its vehicle.

Jazz also requires fine tuning of the intellect as well as physical coordination on the highest level. The intellect has to have stored within it an incredible amount of technical, mathematical-like data in order to reproduce this information upon demand in the spontaneous jazz setting. Improvisation also demands immediate problem solving abilities to delineate the proper responses to both the musical challenges inherent in the music itself, as well as the necessary reactions for handling the consequences of group interaction. It goes without saying that manual dexterity, the range of which depends upon the specific instrument is taken for granted. In common with some team sports, combining mind and body into a smooth flow is an ongoing challenge for the improviser.

Also, there is the matter of simultaneously expressing thought and feeling. In a musical gesture, how much is a mental cognition versus raw feeling? Does the improvising artist know exactly what (s)he is doing every moment intellectually? Does it really matter? As alluded to above, it is only the listener who can judge these type of questions. Finally, the quest for an individual and recognizable sound or style, which for some jazz artists is a primary goal, emphasizes a point I refer to as the "freedom thing." What an audience is really seeing and hearing is the ultimate expression of individual freedom. Especially in totalitarian societies as was so true during the Cold War, this rendering of man's need and legitimate right for self expression is potent and symbolic to all those who hear the music. The inherent "cry" in the sound of jazz cannot be denied by anyone who is the least bit sensitive.

Besides being my major activity and vocation, jazz means much a great deal to me. I have learned more positive things in both the spiritual and real world directly from listening, experiencing and playing jazz than would have been possible for me through other studies of religions and philosophies. Added to this are the incredible personal relationships and encounters with truly deep human beings that I have experienced through this music. Without exaggeration, jazz has been the major force in forming me as a person. And in my opinion, jazz possesses a positiveness that is like a beacon of light in our world.