Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Came across this cleaning out my desk. Forgot I had it.
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"Someone could say, 'Oh, anyone can play like Miles.' He has a trumpet sound that is almost like a student has when a student is learning trumpet. You get that same sound, almost, for a while, and then you get more brassy, and then you play more and more and you lose this 'innocent' sound that Miles has. So the whole world can say, 'Anybody can get that sound,' but nobody can get it [laughs]. And the reason Miles gets that sound and no one else gets it is because Miles wants that sound more than they do; he wants that sound. He wants it with this ferociousness, so he gets it. I don't know what other word to use...ferocious is just...I can't think of a better word, either - it's not enough to say Miles wants the sound because everybody can say they want things, but Miles wants it with all his energy. The ferociousness can't be egotistical, that's why I used that word. An animal doesn't have an ego like we do and animals can be ferocious. They need to eat; they are ferocious. They don't let anything get in their way. But they are not doing it for an ego, they're doing it to survive or for something to survive - maybe their kids, their little baby lions. I'm trying to get out of this thing where_want_means something like_desire_. I don't mean desire. Ferociousness is too fast for desire. Desire is "I think I want, oh, I'd love to do this, or I'd love to do this, or...," but it's not what I'm talking about. The kind of want that would make me play the note I hear isn't ego. That's no ego, that's a sort of harmonizing with reality in a powerful way. Miles can play soft and it's powerful; other trumpet players play soft and it's weak. There is a ferociousness even in the soft note. But it's not anger or ego, it's the whole note: "I want this note. Not for me but for the air." The thing that makes it ferocious is what happens before he plays the note. He has to be ready for the note, for his own note, not somebody else's note. Not the note on the paper, not the note somewhere in the air above him but_his_note, he has to be ready for this. That's very difficult....... Keith Jarrett, on Miles Davis
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Man, that was a trip to type

Last edited by Kerry (2008-08-24 23:39:42)