I just got finished watching most of a DVD one of my students let me borrow that featured the great alto saxophonist Phil Woods during a master class at NYU.
He said many things that gave me pause to wonder and that stuck in my head. One thing was a comment he made to some cats from a small jazz combo - typical quartet setting (sax, piano, bass, and drums). What he said reminded me of what I heard Miles Davis say in an interview once. Phil told the young cats that it sounded like they were playing straight ahead bebop and that they were playing it safe and not taking any chances.
One thing he said in particular grabbed me: "I don't want you to please me, I want you to upset me!" As simple as that may sound on the surface, that is actually real steep.
Here Phil Woods is, a bebop player from the old guard, and even HE is saying that the music (jazz) must move forward! He also made comments about finding your "voice". That's a little something a lot of the young cats I meet should pay heed to.
Only 7 or 8 years ago, I can remember being depressed because I didn't sound like Michael Brecker or have that "classic alto sax tone" like Cannonball or Bird. But then people like Todd Coolman, Dan Faulk, Don Braden, Vincent Herring, Dick Oats, and others told me that there was nothing wrong with my playing style or my tone. They got me to understand that the goal in jazz and indeed any art is to find YOUR OWN VOICE. In their view, I was fortunate because I had found it so early.
Now, by no means does that mean that I don't ever have to practice again, that I don't have anything left I need to work on, or that I'm already as good as I possibly can be...I'm a long way from that for my own taste! But I can at least be comfortable in knowing that I'm getting across to listeners as ME and not as someone I wish I could sound like.
He said many things that gave me pause to wonder and that stuck in my head. One thing was a comment he made to some cats from a small jazz combo - typical quartet setting (sax, piano, bass, and drums). What he said reminded me of what I heard Miles Davis say in an interview once. Phil told the young cats that it sounded like they were playing straight ahead bebop and that they were playing it safe and not taking any chances.
One thing he said in particular grabbed me: "I don't want you to please me, I want you to upset me!" As simple as that may sound on the surface, that is actually real steep.
Here Phil Woods is, a bebop player from the old guard, and even HE is saying that the music (jazz) must move forward! He also made comments about finding your "voice". That's a little something a lot of the young cats I meet should pay heed to.
Only 7 or 8 years ago, I can remember being depressed because I didn't sound like Michael Brecker or have that "classic alto sax tone" like Cannonball or Bird. But then people like Todd Coolman, Dan Faulk, Don Braden, Vincent Herring, Dick Oats, and others told me that there was nothing wrong with my playing style or my tone. They got me to understand that the goal in jazz and indeed any art is to find YOUR OWN VOICE. In their view, I was fortunate because I had found it so early.
Now, by no means does that mean that I don't ever have to practice again, that I don't have anything left I need to work on, or that I'm already as good as I possibly can be...I'm a long way from that for my own taste! But I can at least be comfortable in knowing that I'm getting across to listeners as ME and not as someone I wish I could sound like.
