We are always receiving comments from musicians around the world on how jazz has affected their lives. More specifically, we continue to learn how Jamey and his dedication to jazz education has reached the lives of musicians all over the world. In this case, we’ve discovered that you don’t have to be in a practice room to unlock the secrets of jazz improvisation. Check out this short story.
“I’ve been a student of yours for decades. Played mostly rock and roll until I became an actor. And now, at 70, I’m finally in a place, as an actor and writer, where I can study jazz for fun instead of having to make a living playing music. I’ll tell you a quick story.
I once met a guy who had taught himself to play jazz flute using your books, all by himself while serving on a nuclear submarine. When he got out of the Navy he could play like a monster but he’d never set foot on a stage. I had the privilege of standing beside him when he first played for an audience. He blew the joint away and was stunned by the applause. Last I heard he was touring with a big faith-based rock orchestra. Just thought you’d find it interesting that you were teaching jazz several hundred feet below the polar ice cap.”
Where did you spend your time practicing?
One reply on “Aebersold Under The Sea”
Dear Jason,
A million times Bravo! for this excellent short article. It shows how american culture can elicit everywhere a climb to the sky with the magnificent contribution to human culture of jazz and musicians who have discovered because of jazz that they can also contribute to the enlargement of human musical patrimony as composers and not only as players of an instrument. What a fantastic contribution to the human cultural patrimony. If a Nobel Prize existed in that field, Jamey would surely get one if not the first to be attributed.