IMPROVISATION

     Writing presents challenges – what story to tell? in what order?  what to emphasize?  It’s hard.  It can be frustrating.  But at least it’s done in private.  One can take one’s time, revise, work it out or, failing that, quit.  Imagine being an improv performer or jazz musician, needing to access ideas in front of a live audience.

     I’m way cooler today, more “with it” than I was last week.  I attended a jazz club over the weekend.  And it wasn’t Dixieland or watered-down Herb Alpert-type jazz.  It was the real deal, largely unmelodic and untethered to conventional timing.  Three performers appeared before about fifty audience members on a stage in a dimly-lit space in a warehouse-like building in Durham.  Very noir.  There was a pianist, a bassist and a drummer.  They wore sunglasses and hats even though it was dark and we were inside.  They played together.  I know they were collaborating because each piece began with a barely perceptible nod from the bassist, and each piece finished at the same moment, when he subtly caught the others’ eyes again and stilled his hands.

     In between, it seemed to me, a classical music afficionado, like total chaos.  First one riffed, then another.  Then they handed the reins to the third.  And, so it went.  Audience members more cutting-edge than I kept time with their toes, or moved their heads knowingly.  A look of pure ecstasy on the faces of the performers, who SEEMED to be making it up as they went along, but who were probably not, matched the expressions of many folks around the room.

     As to me, while I completely admired and appreciated the artistry, skill and inventiveness of the performers, I didn’t really “get it.”  I wondered when the cacophony might end.  I furtively checked my watch.

     Musical tastes are highly subjective.  I imagine they are formed by some combination of background, childhood exposure, subsequent experiences and temperament.  Who knows?!  What I do know is:  I came, I heard, and I failed to conquer.  Apparently, I am STILL not cool.