My apologies if this has been posted before; I know how these things bounce around the net...
Jazz according to Yogi Berra
Interviewer: Can you explain jazz?
Yogi: #I can't, but I will. #90% of all jazz is half improvisation. #The
other half is the part people play while others are playing something they
never played with anyone who played that part. #So if you play the wrong
part, its right. #If you play the right part, it might be right if you play
it wrong enough. #But if you play it too right, it's wrong.
Interviewer: I don't understand.
Yogi: #Anyone who understands jazz knows that you can't understand it.
It's too #complicated. #That's whats so simple about it.
Interviewer: Do you understand it?
Yogi: #No. That's why I can explain it. #If I understood it, I wouldn't
know anything about it.
Interviewer: Are there any great jazz players alive today?
Yogi: #No. #All the great jazz players alive today are dead. #Except for
the ones that are still alive. #But so many of them are dead, that the ones
that are still alive are dying to be like the ones that are dead. #Some
would kill for it.
Interviewer: What is syncopation?
Yogi: That's when the note that you should hear now happens either before
or after you hear it. #In jazz, you don't hear notes when they happen
because that would be some other type of music. #Other types of music can
be jazz, but only if they're the same as something different from those
other kinds.
Interviewer: Now I really don't understand.
Yogi: I haven't taught you enough for you to not understand jazz that well.
"First you master your instrument, then you master the music, then you forget about all that ... and just play"
Charlie "Bird" Parker
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Originally Posted by (Sarge @ April 23 2008, 11:43)
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