I think many other parallels abound, but I won’t bore my readers with all of them here. As they say in academia that’s beyond the scope of this article. Within the scope of this article, however, I’d like to share some quotes from Bruce Lee interview from the special features section of the Enter the Dragon DVD. To me, a lot of what Bruce Lee says about martial arts applies directly to jazz. After each quote, I’ve tried to paraphrase what each means for jazz musicians.

Granted, this post is probably informed largely by my own biases and views on life and music. But I hope that for readers who are jazz players, you’ll find something here that is consonant with your own experience. And for readers who are jazz listeners and fans, hopefully this can give a brief glimpse into some of the work, creative process, pitfalls, challenges, and metaphysical dimensions of being a jazz musician and martial artist. That is, as told by Bruce Lee, channeled by yours truly. Enjoy -

Trent Harris

On the nature of the artistic pursuit:

Bruce Lee: As a person, one thing that I have definitely learned, my life it seems like it’s a life of self examination and self peeling of my self, bit by bit, day by day. To me, at least the way when I teach it, all types of knowledge, ultimately means self knowledge. So therefore they’re coming in and asking me to teach them, not so much for how to defend oneself or how to do somebody in; rather, they want to learn to express themselves through some movement, be it anger, be it determination, or whatsoever. So in other words what I’m saying therefore is that he’s paying me to show him in combative form, the art of expressing the human body.

Lesson: Jazz is about music, but it’s about a lot more. Yes, we learn to play instruments and songs. But it’s also about exploring, experimenting, journeying, discovering, and expressing your self through the art of jazz. Not only that, but it’s about using that expression to constantly define, reexamine, and redefine yourself. It’s creation. It’s reality. It’s existence.

Bruce Lee: To me, ok, to me, ultimately martial art means honestly expressing yourself. Now it is very difficult to do, ok? I mean it is easy to for me to do a show and be cocky, and be flooded with a cocky feeling, and then feel like pretty cool and all that. Oh I can make all things of phony things, you see what I mean, blinded by it, or I can show you some really fancy movement. But to express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, and to express myself honestly now; that, my friend, is very hard to do and you have to train. You have to keep your reflexes so that when you want it, it’s there. When you want to move, you’re moving. And when you move, you’re determined to move. Not taking one inch, not anything less than that. If I want to punch, I’m gonna do it man, and I’m gonna do it you see? So that is the type of thing you have to train yourself into; to become one with the punch. 

Lesson: Great jazz, just like great martial arts, isn’t about showing off, and it isn’t about ego. It’s about being true to yourself and the people around you, and being real. Sure, you can try to be flashy, show off, and try to be cool by impressing people with technical displays and fireworks in your playing. But being totally musically honest and real is a different bag, and isn't easy. It takes lots of diligent practice and hard work over a period of time. Eventually, you can get to a point where you can leave appearances, self-criticism, ego, and everything else behind, so that when you get up on the bandstand, it’s just you and the music. You’re simply being yourself – being the music – or in short, just being.

On artistic styles:

Bruce Lee: Because of style, people are separate. They are not united together because style became law. But the original founder of the style start out with hypotheses. (scoffs) But now it has become the gospel truth. And people that go into it man, became the product of it. It doesn’t matter how you are, who you are, how you are structured, how you are built, how you are made; it doesn’t matter. You just go in there and be that product. And that, to me, is not right.

But you do not have styles, if you just say, “Well here I am, you know, as a human being. How can I express myself, totally and completely?” Now that way, you won’t create a style because style is a crystallization you know what I mean? That way, it’s a process of continuing growth.

Lesson: Jazz and martial arts have both been fractured by sub-genres, but this after-the-fact segmentation misses the point. There shouldn’t be an argument between Dixieland, Bebop, Cool, Post-bop, Free, Latin, or Fusion and which is best, any more than there should be a battle between Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Jujitsu, Greco-Roman Wrestling, Judo, and so on. If all you try to do is be a “style”, then you’re selling yourself out.

Don’t get caught up in styles. Each style has its own place in terms of being a way of expressing the human self. Each one is appropriate and “right”, depending on the circumstances. It’s about the music. Play whatever best lets you express what’s in your soul, plain and simple. If you can do that, it’s right, and it doesn’t matter what style people want to call it, because it’s you.

On learning by imitation versus cultivation of individuality:

Bruce Lee: When I first arrived [in the U.S.A.], you know, I’d get the Green Hornet television series back in 65. And as I look around, man, I saw a lot of human beings. And as I look at myself, I was the only robot there. Because I was not being myself, and I was trying to accumulate external security. External technique – the way to move my arm. But never to ask and say what Bruce Lee would have done, if - the word if - such a thing happened to me.

When I look around, I always learn something, and that is, to be always yourself, and to express yourself, to have faith in yourself. Do not look for a successful personality and duplicate it. Now that seems to me, that that is the prevalent thing happening in Hong Kong. Like they always copy mannerisms, but they never start from the very root of his being. And that is, “How can I be me?” So unless, you really at that time have gone through quite a lot and understand what life is about, and that right now man, some game is happening, and realize that that is a game, fine and dandy, then it’s allright. But most people can’t do it. They’re blinded by it.

Lesson: Martial artists, as well as jazz musicians, begin by imitating the techniques and styles of other performers. But while artists who imitate the styles and technique of other artists may be well-schooled, they lack that thing that could make them great – their own unique personality.

The best jazz and martial artists are those who are able to master styles and technique, and then transcend it by using it as a tool to develop, come into, and express their unique musical personality and self. That’s what separates the great jazz artists from lesser jazz artists. Imitation of other jazz artists’ styles and technique are used by lesser jazz artists as a shield, covering up one’s true musical personality, or concealing the fact that he/she has yet to develop one. If you can recognize this in yourself, then you could be on the path to being great. But many people won’t, or can’t do this, so imitation of others’ styles and technique will always limit them artistically.

On spontaneity versus control:

Bruce Lee: I mean here it is, the natural instinct (gesturing to left hand), and here is control (gesturing to right hand). You are to combine the two in harmony. Now if you have one to the extreme, you will be very unscientific. If you have another to the extreme, you are all the sudden a mechanical man, no longer a human being. So it is a successful combination of both. So therefore it is not only, it is not pure naturalness or unnaturalness. The ideal is unnatural naturalness, or natural unnaturalness. (smirks)

Lesson: A jazz artist, just like a martial artist, needs a lot of technique, structure, and control to be able to perform. But this by itself isn’t enough. You also need a certain amount of creativity, disorder, and surprise to keep things interesting. So it’s a balancing of the two – you need technique and discipline, but also creativity, spontaneity, and willingness to break the rules and do the unexpected. The two have to exist in equilibrium, as too much of one or the other will ruin the performance. Too much technique and repetition, and your playing will be rote and boring. On the other hand, too much spontaneity and disorder in your playing, and the result will be chaos. Thus the successful jazz musician, like the successful martial artist, has to balance these two extremes for optimal performance. 

On some of the traits of a great artist:

Bruce Lee: Empty your mind. Be formless. Shapeless. Like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash. Be water my friend. Running water never grows stale. So you gotta just keep on flowing.

A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready. Not thinking, yet, not dreaming. Ready for whatever may come. When my opponent expands, I contract. And when he contracts, I expand. And when there’s an opportunity, I do not hit (motioning to clenched fist held up). It hits all by itself.

Lesson: To a certain extent, martial artists and jazz musicians must be “shapeless.” They must always be mentally present, in the moment, able to roll with the punches, ready to adapt to every circumstance, and respond to seize opportunities whenever they appear. If they can do this, they don’t have to think, or consciously “perform”. It’s about being in the moment, and letting the music happen naturally, all by itself. Letting the music take you where it will, going with it to wherever it may lead, and being transformed by the music nearly to the point where it becomes music that acts, and you are merely a passive conduit for the music.

On the means and ends of artistic expression:

Bruce Lee: It is like a finger, pointing a way to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all that heavenly glory.

Lesson: A great jazz musician, just like a great martial artist, can’t really concentrate on his technique or his individual performance while he’s performing. I mean it’s there, and it’s hard to ignore, but the whole thing is the art. Whether it’s music or it’s a fight, the paydirt is the transcendent experience created by performing, not the performing itself. When a jazz musician thinks about his technique or performance as he’s playing, it can get in the way of achieving that. When an artist lets everything else just fall to the side and finds a way to just be in, of, and for the music as it’s happening, he becomes the music, and that’s when magic – great music – happens. Technique and individual performance are things that can help get you to magic and that transcendent state, but if you’re thinking about them while you’re playing, you’re probably going to miss getting to the good stuff.

On Friday the 28th we're featuring Chicago's own Ryan Cohan on piano, one of the jazz world's top players and a good friend to the band. On a set break, ask Ryan about his great new CD "One Sky," and his upcoming tour of Africa, where he and his band will be "ambassadors for jazz" for The Rhythm Road -- a very cool project from Wynton's Jazz at Lincoln Center and the U.S. State Department.

Saturday night we're fortunate to once again have Damian Espinosa at the piano. Damian, too, is one of the best players out there, as anyone who heard us last weekend can attest.

Last but not least, on both nights, catch Frank Parker on drums. Frank plays regularly in town with Orbert Davis and Kurt Elling, and has worked with just about everyone else -- Freddie Hubbard, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton (three of my favorite trumpeters), as well as Joe Lovano, Chris Potter, Benny Carter and many, many more.

So come on out, 601 N. State (corner of Ohio), 9pm-1am on both nights.

You'll be glad you did.

Note: once the player opens (and after you sit patiently through that annoying ad), click down to "Sounds of Leadership."

(And, in the spirit of full disclosure, yours truly produced this piece for Crain's, as part of my day job).

For deets on our December Chicago gigs, click here.

Friday, December 7th

Saturday, December 8th

Friday, December 28th

Saturday, December 29th

Pops is at 601 N. State Street, at the corner of Ohio. Call (312) 266-7677 for details.

The fun starts at 9pm each night, as we play plenty of hip orginals, some cool holiday tunes, and feature some of the best musicians in Chicago, including the great Ryan Cohan (12.28) and Damian Espinosa (12.7, 12.8, 12.29) on piano, and the venerable Frank Parker on drums (12.28, 12.29).

Hope to see you there!

The self-released debut Up to Get Down by straight-ahead postbop quintet Jazz Conspiracy shows another side of younger Chicago jazzers.

Led by the confident and swinging horns of Thomas Mucha (trumpet) and Trent Harris (tenor saxophone), this tight group's set features a dozen varied originals that highlight the talents of each member without showboating or grandstanding. Especially fine are Harris's tenor work and pianist David Beazley's vibing Wurlitzer piano playing on the dark ballad "Clean and Clear," an original penned by bassist Marc Piane. Mucha contributes five tunes replete with sterling solos, including the neobop cooker "City Snap" and Latin boogaloo "The Conspiracy." Beazley also varies his McCoy Tyner-esque piano tracks with some crunchy Rhodes comping on "The Sound of Inevitability" and also contributes some refreshingly restrained and melodic solos on "Riverside Blues" and "Freddie's Groove." Definitely a group to catch live.
-Bob Holub

It's part of a longer story the site did on "some of Chicago's best Jazz." Read the whole thing here.

Then, in the upcoming issue of Chicago Jazz Magazine, you'll find the following:

Up to Get Down, the debut CD from Jazz Conspiracy is the textbook definition of the phrase "straight ahead." This disc oozes mid-sixties Lee Morgan charts, Blakey-style backbeats, and Freddie Hubbard-esque exuberance. And on the back cover of the disc, the guys in the band even attempt to look old school. Unfortunately, they end up looking like CIA henchmen, but the idea is clearly stated: this is a jazz band rooted in the straight up sounds of the classic Blue Note, Prestige, Riverside and early CTI sides.

There are some tight tunes here that are fairly impressive. Whoever is doing the arranging for Jazz Conspiracy is doing a fantastic job! This isn't just head-solos-head stuff. This is a return to form of the Cannonball Adderley-Horace Silver school of big band charts for small groups... a genuinely nice touch. "Freddie's Groove" and their take on "Bohemia After Dark" stand out well in this regard.

Jazz Conspiracy is the kind of band that you hope to see in any number of smaller jazz clubs around town. They keep the tempos poppin', the arrangements slick, and the grooves happening. If you want a little of that in your CD player, then Up To Get Down comes recommended.

Thanks to Ken Scott and WDCB program director Paul Abella for posting that review to the WDCB site (and if you're not already hip to it, this is the best place to find great jazz on Chicago radio).

If you like what you read here, check out the CD yourself. It's available on iTunes, and at CD Baby.

That's really too bad. Jazz Conspiracy has had some fun gigs there, and Muse was a fun spot in that part of town.

And it was in walking distance of Matchbox, one of the band's favorite post-rehearsal dives.

Let's hope the owners of Muse quickly find another, well, muse....

To make this simple and painless, here are three places where you can post your own comments and reviews. Go here to get to iTunes. Here for CD Baby. Or click here to send us a note directly.

Here's what jazz educator and historian Richard Andrews has to say about Up to Get Down:

 The (Jazz) Conspiracy , Conspirators take heed, You won't be outdone.
Reviewer: Richard Andrews
To use that famous sentence "are you cats serious??", spoken by T.S. Monk, directed at Ornette Coleman many years ago. These musicians are very serious, and they have laid down a very good CD, one of the best this reviewer has heard in a long time. Richard Andrews, Jazz educator, musician and lecturer/historian.

Thanks, Richard. And we look forward to hearing from the rest of you, too!

Up to Get Down is 12 songs of originals (and one semi-cover) that we hope captures the Jazz Conspiracy vibe: burning swing, jumpy funk, ballads, mid-tempo tunes, Latin, and every other mood and groove we can muster. It's been a labor of love, and we hope you enjoy it!

So if you haven't already grabbed yours, head over to our page on CD Baby. You can also review it there, so please tell us what you think.

And if you prefer your music in the digital form, then head on over to iTunes. We're now up on that great site, too.

Thanks again for listening, and see you soon.

There's a heavy jazz element here, too. Plenty to read. I especially like the entry on Polka radio, with the low fidelity an especially nice touch.

It's got some pretty good stuff in here, and some good lessons the Conspiracy tries to apply on the bandstand, if not in the workplace.

Thanks to fellow Chicagoan Joan Lufrano for pointing it out....

1/17/2007 Matt says:
This jazz/boardroom crossover thing is a bit weird - signs of a new fad? Is "swing" going to be the next buzz word in the work place? God I hope not! But anyways, I really liked this bit from the article:
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... I had not paid enough dues to play with meaning or feeling. The great jazz trumpeter Sweets Edison, who played in Count Basie's 1930s band, asked me "Where are you from?" I said, New Orleans. He said, "What did you grow up doing?" I responded, "Playing." Then he said, "Why are you trying to act like what you are? Be what you are."
---------------------

While not entirely unexpected (he's been seriously ill for some time), the news is still very sad. Mr. Brecker is a hero to us in the Conspiracy, and one of my personal favorite jazz memories is a Brecker gig I saw about ten years ago in London. His playing that night was endlessly creative, relentlessly powerful, and beautiful.

He will be greatly missed. Rest in peace.

The group is officially a duo made up of the lovely guitarist/songwriter Steve Hendershot, and the even lovelier Jodee Lewis on lead vocals.

It's smart, moving, and very engaging stuff (even if they don't swing or play hard bop).

Check 'em out. You'll be glad you did.

On Friday, May 26, in Alice Tully Hall, Wynton Marsalis spoke for the Juilliard's 101st commencement ceremony. Here's the transcription of his speech:

"I'm going to provide you all with very few practical words, the fruits of many happy years of varied experiences in the arts.

First, congratulations. No one is ever going to ask you to see your grades.

Take all jobs. If somebody says, "Can you …?" say, "Yes, I can."

Leave jobs that you hate immediately.

If you find a job that doesn't feel like a job, don't let others for whom it is a job make it feel like a job to you.

If you find yourself working at your craft, be happy, because it might not happen again.

Being dissatisfied is not an achievement.

Every chance you get to perform is important. It could be at an elementary school, it could be at a rehearsal—every little aspect of it is sacred and is significant.

And, just as a rule, people are generally more enthusiastic the less they're being paid. Many times people want to know about commercialism versus art. Do what you want to do. Don't be conflicted. But realize that integrity is real, and so is starvation.

Never let pay and the talk of pay occupy more time and space than the talk of your art. If you find that it is, go into banking, or start a hedge fund or something.

Also, about pay: understand where you are. When I was 19, I was on a tour with Herbie Hancock and I started complaining to him before we walked onstage about what I was being paid. I said, "When am I being paid?" He said, "Come here, man. Look out into the audience." He said, "Now, do you see those people?" I said, "Yes, sir." He said, "They paid for these tickets. If you don't walk out of here [onto the stage], how many of them are going to leave? … Now, if I don't walk out, how many will leave? … That's why you're being paid what you're being paid."

Always remember that an agent that you have just met is not your friend.

Never deny a compliment after a performance. "Oh, I love your …" "No, I didn't …" No. No … Say, "Thank you." It takes a lot less words.

If you sign an autograph, always look at the person before you hand it to them. Always.

If you've written some music or a play or anything like that, and everybody is bored, and you even find yourself getting a little bored, it's boring. Don't worry. I would also like to debunk the notion that it will be understood later, because if that were the case, we would have a lot of boring pieces from the 1870s that would be popular hits right now.

If you notice that everybody at the table has been quiet for a very, very long time, except for you, you've been talking too much.

Now, to combat nervousness: Number one, practice a lot. Two, think about how unimportant what you're doing is in the general scheme of things. Three, breathe very deeply and relax. Number four, envision great success, or envision failure and figure, how bad could that be? Finally, forget about all of that stuff and just go ahead and do your thing.

In a crisis—this could be very important for you—in a crisis, or if you are caught lying, you have to come with the truth. Always tell the truth in a crisis.

When you get a bad review, never ask someone if they've seen it.

Don't pretend not to have seen it. Never, ever dwell on it—or on them, in case you get more than one, which you will if you stay out here—so as to mention it to someone who might not even know or care about what you're talking about. Too much commenting on bad things or criticism, somebody attacking you, is really a form of egotism.

Don't eat too much bread late at night after performances. But wine is O.K.

Never take the last of anything off of a table when you are a guest. Let that last thing sit there. "Do you want … ?" "No, I don't want …" the last of anything.

I also want you all to realize that our collective success as artists, all of us, is inextricably tied to the taste levels of the world. The concerned, the refined, the soulful—they're always at battle with the callous, the crass, and the exploitative. That's why Picasso said that a work of art is actually a weapon. You know, we don't fight over land too much today. We fight for consumers. Artists have always had to fight for consumers. And you all—all of you young artists—you're called to battle the runaway global descent in the popular taste. You're called to do that without snobbery, or prejudice, or retreat into the smug, high ground of the academy—and please, without selling out, or selling people short.

Use your talent, your good looks, and your education, to transform the whole world with the power of art. Engage the world through inspired teaching, through tireless proselytizing, through an unwavering practice of craft at its highest levels. Engage the world of fellow artists, teachers, audiences, students, critics and other various haters, with a boundless energy, an irrepressible zeal, an unassailable humility, and an infectious joie de vivre. Then you go from being the isolated, misunderstood, besieged artist to being a powerful testimony for the inevitable transcendence of artistry.

You see, as you all go out into the world, know that you have a very special gift: a gift that announces itself through music, dance, drama, film, literature, comedy, painting. You have a gift that survives. It survives the disappointment of not being famous, or not becoming as great as you thought you would be. It's a gift that many times actually grows larger with life's unpredictable and inevitable heartbreaks.

This gift is as old as cave people gathering around a campfire to skillfully lie about some animals they killed. Or some grizzled old cowboys trying to shake the trail dust off their brains with an old harmonica and some out-of-tune song, and some nasty coffee. Or Negro slaves at a jubilee, healing days and nights of sorrow with the bittersweet balm of a dancing fiddle and the piercing cry of the blues. Or a stage re-enactment of some epochal love affair that rekindles again and again the grandeur of romance between a man and a woman for those who may have forgotten.

This is the gift that caused old, sick, deaf Beethoven to crawl out of his bed at 2:37 in the morning and put his ears on the piano just to hear the vibrations. He couldn't hear any notes. This is the gift that had old, blind Matisse laying up on his bed, looking up at the ceiling with a stick, trying to put some color on the ceiling, to figure out some way to squeeze the last moment of something out of his life.

What about Louis Armstrong? The Promethean giant of American feeling, with lips as scarred as the moon, reaching for those last few, blood-soaked high C's? Yes, this gift is something.

Whether you play on the main stage of the world or you toil in obscurity, believe me, you have the gift to create community with your song, with your dance. Don't sell it short. Get people to gather around, and understand that we are us, and we become us through art by hearing about who we used to be, who we are, and, in some cases, who we should be—or who we're going to be.

Use this gift wisely. And if you end up broke, or unhappy, or lonely, it's going to be by choice, because people love art, and they love artists, and they love to be touched, and they love for you to touch them, and they love you. They're not your enemy; they're your friend. And you won't believe the way that they'll open their heart and the love that they will give you.

In closing, I'm going to go to an old master of plantation trumpet, Enute Johnson, the early pioneer. He played the cornet around 1883.

A government interviewer found him as an old man, got him a new set of teeth. He saw him working in the sugar-cane fields, around Vacherie, La. He observed that Enute Johnson was not bitter at all about his seeming misfortune. So he asked Enute to reflect on his trumpet playing and other things that he liked to do.

Mr. Johnson said, "Son, play long, play hard, and play as much as possible." And that makes life quite sweet, brothers and sisters. Quite sweet.

Sandwiched between our two nights at Pops, we also played the annual Holiday Brunch at the Arts Club of Chicago, one of our favorite rooms around town (nice big stage, beautiful room, a great Steinway for Dave to bang on, and some of the coolest artwork on display in Chicago).

We made a bunch of new friends, and as usual had a great time. Thanks to all of you who braved the cold, and watch this space on how to get your hands on the new CD.

We're taking the next couple weeks off (hello, holidays) and we'll be back in force after the New Year.

So thanks to all of you, and here's a Jazz Conspiracy toast to you all: have a healthy, happy, and jazzy 2007.