Like life, jazz is mostly improvised. It unfolds in real time and what we as performers do must respond to a plethora of factors both inside and outside the music. Sure, we have plans, but things change. I’ve read a military-style saying in stories along the lines of ‘a plan lasts until the first contact’. That can be jazz too. Whatever we’ve prepared and planned will inevitably have to adapt to the reality of performance.
We, as performing musicians, need to be able to adapt to whatever happens. This can be confronting for new players or people coming to jazz from a classical or even rock/pop background.
Things go wrong.
Unexpected things will happen.
- the rhythm section might forget about the cunning interlude you rehearsed between the head and the solos;
- the horn players will forget the riffs they were meant to play;
- the MC or stage manager will ask you to stop playing suddenly;
- you’ll run out of time in your set and have to cut a tune short;
- the power will go off;
- someone will be sick on the trombone player’s shoes;
- a string will break;
- the tune will be counted in at the wrong speed;
- and so much more…
Jazz players must learn to cope with the unexpected
We do need to plan for what we are going to do and prepare and also be flexible enough that we can take unexpected changes in our stride. The audience shouldn’t know that anything’s gone wrong. Okay, they might notice the bone player’s shoes or a blackout, but if the form goes wrong, so what? Just notice it, make sure everyone in the band knows what’s going on, and get on with making music.
Good jazz players learn how to cope with surprises and even turn them into opportunities. Remember that improvisation is not just soloing, it is the flexible, adaptable interaction between performers, the music they are making, and everything that happens in the performance including audience, environment, and bandmates.
It’s jazz, and sometimes things happen. Dealing with that is one of the skills for improvising jazz musicians to master.
