UNIVERSAL MIND OF BILL EVANS

Universal musical mind -> where music comes from -> varies depending on the cond
itioning on diferent styles of music -> we often need effort & exposure.
There's more value in the layman's judgement of music than in the professional's
-> because of the musician's constant involvement with the mechanics of music,
he must fight to preserve a naivety that the layman already possesses.
Style eventually comes of it itself, it's much more important to master fundamen
tals, both theory (to understand what you're doing) and active practicing (devel
op musical muscles -> not just technical facility but brain connections with the
muscles) -> developing them to the point the subconscious mind can take over th
e basics -> freeing the conscious to concentrate on the spontaneous creative ele
ment.
Jazz is a process -> making music on the spot (1 min of music in 1 min time).
Record oneself playing and getting surprised hearing what happened.
Compositions should sound as if they were improvised -> spontaneous quality.
People approximate the product, the end result, rather than attacking it in a re
alistic true way, at any elementary level -> no matter how elementary, but it mu
st be entirely true and entirely real and entirely accurate -> people rather app
roximate the entire problem than take a small part of it and be real and true ab
out it.
You must be satisfied to be very clear and very real and to be very analytical a
t any level -> to approximate the whole thing in a vague way gives the feeling t
hat you've more or less touched the thing but in this way you just lead yourself
towards confusion -> eventually you won't find your way out.
The person that succeeds has the realistic point of view at the beginning, and k
nowing that the problem is large and he has to take it a step at a time and he h
as to enjoy the step by step learning procedure.
If you try to take it in a way that's too general you can't build on it -> you c
an't progress -> if you don't know what you're doing you can't advance.
But you can get too cautious -> to the point that you never discover anything ->
you need to have a certain adventurous spirit -> but over a long period of time
you have to be aware of what is really accurate and what is not, and when you'r
e adventurous you have to know when you've succeded and when you have not.
Improvisation on the 3 elements -> Rhythm, melody & harmony.
Jazz is improvisation in a framework -> no matter how far you diverge -> it only
is free insofar as it has reference to the strictness of the original form -> t
hat's what gives it its strength -> there is no freedom without being in referen
ce to something.
Take this problems from the outer level, one by one, and stay with them at a ver
y intense conscious concentration level until that whole process becomes seconda
ry, subconscious -> then you can concentrate on the next problem, which will all
ow you to do a bit more, and so on. Then some day (like ten years on in Bill's e
xample) you have a "switch" when you sit to perform, no matter the circumstances
, a professional level of creativity you can depend on which is satisfactory for
the public, but also other high levels that happen occasionally, that you don't
know when they're gonna come -> it's thrilling -> but you can't try to capture
it, you enjoy it when it happens.
If you don't have any great facility immediately -> you gotta be more analytical
-> forces you to build something.
Most people don't realize the immensity of the problem, if they can't comprehend
it immediately they think they don't have the ability, or they're so impatient
to conquer it that they never see it through. But if you do understand the probl
em you can enjoy your whole trip through.
You just have to take care of the music, even inside a closet, and if you really
do that someone will come and open the door to the closet and say 'Hey, we're l
ooking for you'.

When you begin to teach jazz the most dangerous thing is that you begin to teach
style -> you must try to teach principles which are separate from style, you mu
st abstract the principles of music that have nothing to do with style and this
is excessively difficult. It must come to a point that the serious jazz student
teaches himself.
You as an individual always make a decision of what to accept and what to reject
. "You must find an avenue, next week I'll show you an avenue but now you must f
ind one yourself" -> make the student excited and explore it on his own.
In order to motivate yourself further you must discover things yourself -> if yo
u give the student too much you take his motivation away -> "get into it yoursel
f".

MARIAN MCPARTLAND INTERVIEW

Pre-plan solo piano -> basic, fundamental structure -> then go around it, grow t
he tune from it.
You have to know the tune really well -> intuition has to lead knowledge but it
can't be there on its own. Be clear and get down the basic structure. Better to
practice a tune for 24 hours than practice 24 tunes for 1 hour each.
Listen to everybody, not just your instrument.