WHAT JAZZ MEANS TO ME

by David Liebman

To begin it is necessary to make a distinction between art and craft. Craft implies mastering technique to the degree that a craftsman is competent enough to skillfully reproduce the artifacts of the given art form. For a jazz musician, this means that one can sound convincing using the rules and customs of the music, no mean feat by the way. But art on the other hand utilizes and transcends mere technique to communicate 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." For me, craft is a stage along the way, whereas artistic expression represents true individual freedom and the overall goal.

Jazz is the medium through which I represent my deepest feelings and thoughts to the world at large. For the sake of comparison, prose, assuming it is honestly spoken or written, supposedly reflect the thoughts of the speaker or writer. In that case, something said or written should logically be construed as a mirror of the author’s true and accurate feelings. But the act of being human implies that along with this supposed 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 can easily be misconstrued or misinterpreted which can easily result in obscuring the original thought, no matter how well intended they may have been.
On the other hand, music goes beyond the tangible and is inherently devoid of these kinds of human frailties, leaving it as a very personal 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 literally 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 delivered without pretense. The true message of jazz goes beyond mere intellect and philosophy directly to the heart itself.
On a more abstract level, a spontaneous, improvised art such as jazz purports to be serves to magnify the moment. The act 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 one hundred percent or the objective at hand would be lost. The jazz player would then have to rely on past habits or future projections rather than immediate feeling. In fact, the constant struggle of the jazz player is just that: to stay in present time, psychologically and musically. This enables 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 performer, the majority of jazz takes place in a small group which at its core represents participatory democracy at work. Though jazz places importance on finding and expressing one’s 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. Subtle 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 the vehicle.
Jazz also requires fine tuning of the intellect intertwined with physical coordination on the highest level. The intellect has to have stored an incredible amount of technical and 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 reactions necessary 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 process and challenge for the improviser.
There is also 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 of the way? Does it really matter? In the final analysis it is the listener’s reaction that is paramount but these are important questions concerning the process for an artist to consider.

Finally, the quest for an individual and recognizable sound or style emphasizes the concept of total freedom. What an audience is really feeling is the result of an individual’s act of free will. Whether cognizant of this concept or not, I feel that this forms a large part of what is truly felt by the listener. 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 and open.

Besides being my major activity and vocation, jazz has played the largest role in forming me as a human being. I have learned more positive things in both the spiritual and real world directly from listening, experiencing and playing jazz than from any other source. 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. In my opinion, jazz possesses a positive energy that serves as a beacon of light in the world.