I’m sure we’d all agree that the ratio between good stuff and bad stuff on sites like YouTube is grossly unbalanced (this trend probably applies to all disciplines, not just the arts and music). Talented players and educators are not adjusting their marketing efforts to take advantage of all the opportunities online. Why? For one, creating and posting content online hasn’t’ yet become routine for respected professionals. Second, they’ve got better things to do! They’re too busy practicing, playing gigs, composing, booking gigs, teaching and trying to support themselves and their families. Making that transition would require serious dedication, patience and at least a few years of regular posting to creating a small following. They don’t have time for that kind of endeavor!

Instead, young amateurs and hobbyists are posting awful performance and instructional videos for beginners who don’t know any better. After all, what else are they going to do? They can’t play professionally because they’re not good enough. So places like YouTube become their outlet for performing on an international stage. The worst part is that they’re getting a head start in developing an online presence and a dedicated fan base.

Things will inevitably change. Hopefully fans will know the difference between quality and inexperience. But regardless, this is a great time to your foot in the door. It’s time to start flushing out all those inexperienced Internet ‘experts!’

I thought I’d reflect a little more on my entry from May 10th. Specifically, how to find your ‘zone.’ I’m using that term to reference the mind space performers find themselves in when they are the most focused, creative and a possess a heightened capacity for channeling their ideas and inspiration.

I’m most happy with a performance when I’ve found my zone. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s difficult to find and even when I’ve found it, it’s difficult to retain. It occurred to me that your zone is a place of absolute freedom from the constraints of self-consciousness. If a performer is NOT in the zone, they may feel an internal pressure to play a certain thing or sound a certain way.

For example, they may be overly concerned that they are boring their audience, and feel pressure to alter their performance to keep them engaged and entertained. They may be unprepared or nervous. They may be fearful of sounding un-hip and therefore artificially hipify their music. Maybe they feel a pressure to sound like someone they’re not, hoping to bypass judgment from their peers. They’re all different issues, but will all contribute to the clouding of your zone.

What’s the solution? It mostly boils down to performance experience. And playing what you know and only what you know. Develop a concept you’re confident with and put yourself on the line.

Otherwise, you’ll sound how you feel: unfocused and out of your zone.

Be brave and be honest.

Sometimes I like listening to written music and pretend it’s improvised music.
Sometimes I like listening to improvised music and pretend it’s written music.

Congrats to all the National Jazz Awards winners! Thanks to Bill and Kris King for a great show. For anyone interested, here’s my performance of Donna Lee (Variations). Hope you enjoy!

You can access this video and many others on my Post page.

An artist I respect and admire once chewed me out because I wasn’t familiar with James P. Johnson’s Carolina Shout. The message was very clear: “Every jazz pianist should know this piece. Otherwise, you have no true relationship with the jazz piano tradition.”

Of course, my initial response to this statement was defensive. Who cares?!

Second: Guilt. Yeah, I should know this piece. I’d better check out Johnson if I want to be a true jazz pianist.

Third: Confusion. I do respect the jazz tradition. I’ve checked out lots of music from the 1920’s! I like music from the 1920’s! Why is knowing Carolina Shout so important?

Last: Acceptance. I don’t need to know Carolina Shout to make meaningful music. Maybe we’ll cross paths in the future, but for now, I’m going to keep on doing what I’m doing.

But one question remains: Why don’t I know Carolina Shout?

Here’s what I do know:

Most importantly, I know that I’m seriously dedicated to my craft and that if something warrants checking out, I check it out! I would describe myself as a diligent student of music.

But out of 22 years (I’m 25 now) of being in pre-school, elementary school, high school, music school, music camp and university, not one of my teachers ever mentioned James P. Johnson. I’ve been to many live concerts and I own a lot of music. I’ve never heard a performance of Carolina Shout. I’m not a jazz scholar (clearly), but I’ve read my fair share of biographies, blogs, essays, history books and theory books. I’ve never read about James P. Johnson. I’ve never seen or heard his name on television, the radio, magazines, newspapers, the Internet or any other form of mainstream media. And since hearing his name for the first time on this occasion, I haven’t heard of him since.

The real question: Why isn’t anybody talking about James P. Johnson?

I have no doubt that Johnson is an important figure in music history and that he contributed significantly to jazz culture. But if nobody talks about him, nobody’s going know him! If people talked about Johnson like they talk about Scott Joplin, George Gershwin, Oscar Peterson or J.S. Bach, then people would check him out!

The most telling part of this story is that I was one of ten pianists being chewed out that day. They never heard of him either! I’ll admit that some pianists are less diligent than others, but regardless, you have to admit that this isn’t only a case of pianists neglecting the jazz tradition. If ten diligent jazz pianists have never heard of a cultural icon, then something more revealing must be happening. I would argue that this is also a reflection of society neglecting the value of cultural preservation.

The deep question: Who’s responsible for preserving culture?

You are! We are!

If something moves us so deeply that we feel the duty to preserve it’s impact for later years and future generations, then we are responsible for making that contribution. The bottom line is that unless we do something about it, our generation is going to forget and worse, the next generations won’t know it ever existed! Write about it, speak about it, record it and perform it. And do it often!

It’s silly to assume that the younger generation will preserve culture. Not because their negligent, but because they can’t preserve what they’ve never heard of. The younger generation also won’t preserve what doesn’t move them. Carolina Shout was written almost 100 years ago. In cultural years, that’s a long time ago. And in many cases when it comes to art, the older it is, the harder it is for them to relate. Which is why you need the older generation to pass on their passion and enthusiasm. When I was young, my habits were at the mercy of the previous generation. Unfortunately, they missed an opportunity when it comes to the preservation of Carolina Shout.

(Side Note: This isn’t about Carolina Shout anymore. There’s a much bigger picture here. One that involves learning from our ancestors and not being part of a regressing culture.)

While we’re on the subject, a colleague of mine once gave me a funny look because I wasn’t familiar with Randy Weston’s playing. My best friend doesn’t know any songs by The Beatles and yesterday I heard someone laugh because their friend didn’t know who Susan Boyle was. For the diligent, this raises the last issue: You can’t know everything.

The lesson: Don’t chew people out for not knowing something. The reason they don’t know is because you never told them!

A compromise: I’ll give you permission to chew me out, but only if you chew out the entire jazz community too. We’re all in this together!