jazz and democracy
Thanks to Ed Brayton for quoting this gem, in a piece on Nat Hentoff’s goodbye to jazz drummer Max Roach.
The following Quote of the Day is from this list of “Pocket Paradigms” of author Sam Smith:
“The essence of jazz is the same as that of democracy: the greatest amount of individual freedom consistent with a healthy community. Each musician is allowed extraordinary liberty during a solo and then is expected to conscientiously back up the other musicians in turn. The two most exciting moments in jazz are during flights of individual virtuosity and when the entire musical group seems to become one. The genius of jazz (and democracy) is that the same people are willing and able to do both.”