FAQ:
Why play
jazz?
Because it
engages the complete musician: the creative intellect, the body, the emotions,
the soul. It demands historical knowledge infused with personal creativity:
each musician an historian, interpreter, and actor upon the stage of history,
simultaneously. It insists upon mathematical mastery of the twelve tones and their
various implications, then adds an infinite number of notes in between. Jazz is
an endless system which allows musicians to grow into who they were intended to
be, sharing the journey as they do so.
Why listen
to jazz?
Because it
engages the audience in a similar manner. The audience is present to witness,
every night, the continuous growth of an art form that contains the expression
of many peoples, countless souls: the musical hopes, dreams, loves, sufferings
and prayers of the ages, continuing in front of you on that bandstand. But it
goes even deeper for a jazz audience, because they actively participate in that
history. The emotion and spirit that the band receives from the audience in
return for what they’re throwing out there, that grows between an audience and
the musicians as the evening progresses: that is the great driving force of
jazz.
