You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - The Best Jazz Players Do This

Episode Date: August 19, 2019

In this episode of You'll Hear It, Peter and Adam discuss how great jazz players got so good.The Best Jazz Players Do ThisListenPlay piano#ABLPracticeChallenge themselvesPlay with other musiciansListen to YHIIf you're interested in Christian McBride's "Piano for Non-Pianists" lesson, check out his Open Studio course here: https://www.openstudiojazz.com/fundamentals-of-jazz-bass-and-beyondLike those You'll Hear It shirts Peter shows off on the podcast? Want some YHI swag of your own? Take a visit to our store! Just go to https://teespring.com/stores/open-studioLet us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel and leave a comment for this episode.Interested in more jazz advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram at:https://www.facebook.com/heyopenstudiohttps://twitter.com/heyopenstudiohttps://www.instagram.com/heyopenstudio See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hey, Peter. Hey, Adam. I want to be the best, but I keep messing it up. Well, I want to be the best, too, but this is our third try at this today. Very unusual for us. We needed a daily affirmation or something. Yeah. I'm Adam Annis.

And I'm Peter Martin. And I'm good enough. I'm swinging enough. And you're listening to the You'll Hear It Podcast. Daily Jazz affirmations and advice coming as to it. This was unusual for us. We had three false starts on this episode. That's never happened to us.

You know, I didn't sleep well last night. It's kind of woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn't get back to bed. I'm thinking maybe it's had something to do with it. That's actually good. No, no, no, no, no, it's not on you. I'm glad. You know what happens when you wake up in the middle of the night? What?

You should stay woke. Bam. You'll hear it. No, that's not the end of the episode. Listen, number one. No, what are we talking about today? Today we're talking about the best jazz players do this. Right.

And this is a little bit, okay, I'm going to admit. Yeah, it's clickbaiting. A little click baby. On a scale of one to 10, you won't believe what number 10 is. What would you rate this one? This is, you won't believe what number seven is, for sure. But speaking of you won't believe, I don't believe what's in your hands, right now.

If you're on YouTube, yeah. That's some, you'll hear it swag right there. Yeah, now if you're listening on the podcast, let me describe this for you.

It's beautiful. In the supple yet, how did your wife describe your hands? Remember in the... Bear paws. Bear paws. In the bare paws of Adam Manus, there's a red,

would you call that red or almost Burgundy? This is fire engine. As we say in New Orleans. Fire engine red. Fire engine red. I don't know about that. But yeah,

a red. Cardinal red. Cardinal red with the logo of that. I've never Can I touch it? Okay. I'm touching the You'll Hear at Mug now.

This is incredible. It's a nice mug. You know, I like a... It's got my mug on it. I'm very particular. It has to be a good feeling mug with a good lip here so that the coffee comes nice and front and center in my tongue. I feel like any mug would achieve that.

No, some mugs are terrible at that. Some mugs are too rounded. Some mugs are too thin. This, you'll hear it mug is just perfect. Is that available at you'll hear it.com? It's available at you'll hear it.com. I did not know that. Yeah.

And you know, if you are a premium member, you get a little bit of a discount. on all this one. I'm a premium member, so I'm getting on that. Yeah, get on that. Okay, so, yeah, the idea of this, the best jazz players do this.

And it was going to be one thing. We kind of, we're talking about this, and we could have just done one thing, but what do we like to do? We like to do seven things. Because? Because we want to be the best. Because we're mainland Chinese gamblers,

and it's a lucky number. No, that's a different number. Okay, no, yeah, we want to do the best. We love seven, and the idea is, so then this, the reality of this is, these are seven things that the best jazz players do. But I love that title.

The best players, jazz players do this. Who could resist, right? So you're here, so we got to give you. We're going to give it to you times seven. Why not? This could be anything. The best podcasters do this. The best audio engineers do this.

That's right. Who would want to know that? No, but I think we're coming strong on this one, except number seven. These are going to be very familiar to most of our loyal, you'll hear it listeners. But let's get started because, you know, we're already like eight minutes into our 11-minute podcast.

Okay, good. And this is the fourth try. That's right, right. Okay, number one? Listen. Wow, there we are. Bam, mic drop. Of course. Yeah, but this really is, I mean, this is so, look, the reason we're always saying this is because it's true.

You know what I mean? And because it's all we know, but at least we know the truth. And the thing is, you know, you're always listening to yourself. We've talked about all these, but you're listening to yourself. You're listening to others as you play. You're listening to recordings. You're listening to the little birds chirping in the morning. It's amazing.

Like once, and this is not just a thing that you say, oh, yeah, I know, I already do that. I've got records on in the background. I've got, I listen to Spotify. No, no, no, really. listen, do something every day, and the best jazz players do this. So if the best jazz players do this, let's all try to do this. We've both been around some incredible players, and it's amazing how these foundational things they're always coming back to. So, you know, I was just with Christian McRide last weekend, and he was like, man, I was checking out this, like, he just has that

mindset of a listener. And so I think it's, you know, we can never say it enough. It's the fuel of the fire, right? You're not going to be able to fuel your playing, your output, unless you ingest some quality stuff. And that's whether you're listening to records or you're listening on the stage, all of it is the fuel that keeps this going. Yeah, I love that as number of it. And let me just,

just to qualify to this list or further explain it too. These are verified things. Usually we're talking about what we believe and what we practice and preach. But these are also included with that, but even more so, this is really what we've observed the top jazz players doing

and read about the ones that came before us that we didn't have the privilege of getting to be. around. So this is like proof in the pudding kind of thing. That's right. Okay, so number two is play piano. Now that seems a little self-aggrandizing. It does, but we're talking about all jazz players. Being that we're a pianist. Right, but we're talking about all jazz players. This is not just about pianists. No. I have never met a great jazz musician that didn't at least play a little bit of piano and usually a lot of piano. Yeah. So there's got to be something in it, right.

Yeah, I mean, you mentioned Christian McBride. On his course here with Open Studio, he's a whole lesson on piano for non-pianist, and he's a pretty decent pianist for a non-pianist. I mean, and you're right. Every one I know who can really play their instrument that's not the piano can play at least a little piano. Including drummers and anybody else. And there's a lot of great jazz players that play a bunch of different instruments. But, I mean, but that's not all of them. Basically all the great jazz players and singers and drummers, every instrument. There's no that left out that can at least play a little bit.

So there's got to be something. Again, if you're a piano player, that's, I mean, you should really know how to play piano. Well, that's just saying. That's not always the case. It's part of the title. So the next one is. a hashtag. Are we going social media viral here with this? Well, no,

I just didn't feel like typing the whole thing out. Oh. But we couldn't, it is a hashtag. It's a concept. It's a lifestyle. It's a hashtag. ABL. Always be learning. Oh, yeah. Need me say more? Did you coin this? I mean, little me, maybe. I don't think I'm the only one who ever said.

Well, what was it from the movie from the Always be selling? Always be closing. Always be closing. ABC. Always be closing. Alec Baldwin, a young Alec Baldwin. That was a fun one. Yeah, but always be learning. This is another kind of framework and really just mindset that I've observed in great jazz players, just great musicians, great artists.

They always wanting to learn. There's always, it's never like, what else should I learn? It's just like you're constantly learning. You're constantly wanting to learn. You're constantly in the flow of learning. And it just becomes like a habit and a lifestyle. And all great, the best jazz players are doing it. Yep.

Curiosity is a tool that needs to be sharpened. and practiced. Although, be careful. Curiosity killed the cat. You always like to say that. You always say that. You always say that. Yeah.

Number four is, it seems evident, but it's not always put into practice. But every jazz player who is, I consider, the best, really does this all the time, and that's practice. Yeah. No matter how good they are. No one stops that process. That's right.

And sometimes some people get this twisted because they all hear an interview or maybe even talk to like a great jazz player and they say, I don't really practice. Like, those words may come out of their mouth, so it would seem to contradict this. But if you listen to it, from what I've heard usually, and I mean, I've been, I've said this as well,

there's always like, I don't practice during this time period, maybe. And that's also usually once you're kind of one of the best jazz players, I would say. But I've never met a great jazz player that just stopped practicing and just rested on what they were doing because it's very hard to ABL, always be learning and you're not practicing. And even if they are resting on what they're doing, there's no way they got to be a great jazz edition without practice. Right.

That doesn't happen. And practicing can be banked for sure. Like it really, like when you go through those spurts and look, a lot of times it's when we're younger. So a lot of times people think, oh, it's too late for me, but that's not true. You can bank that practice at any time. That's more when you have that isolated time to really concentrate. It's just like putting money on the, you know, it's like when you're kind of working hard, you're not spending, you're saving. So that's the kind of that mentality.

You can also practice on the gig. A lot of times we're doing that. But if you're not already a jazz grade, that means you use. still have a lot to practice. You still have a lot to practice. Right. Okay, so number five. Number five of our seven things that the best players, jazz, jazz players do.

And that's challenged themselves. So this certainly links up. Like to sports or? Yes. A motto e mono. Video games or what are they? Yeah, yeah, something like that. They challenge themselves because they don't want to rest at that.

They don't believe that or they're not thinking about how good they are. They're not believe in the hype. Don't believe the hype. Public enemy told you that many years ago. So the idea is that if you challenge yourself, you're going to continue to get better. If you believe, oh, I'm a great jazz player. I'm great already. Maybe you are, but you're not going to develop anymore because you're not going to think you need to challenge yourself because you don't think that you can get better.

But the thing is once you get to be really good, the better you get, usually the possibility seem even more limitless. It's kind of like going up the mountain. The more you get up higher, then you really start to see what the distance is like and get more interested in. getting there. You don't get intimidated or be like, oh, I've arrived, you know. There's almost like this, this balance between, you know, grounded confidence, right, and an aspiration for excellence. So that, you know, if you are, if you're confident in yourself, you're okay with, you know, still being able to recognize your shortcomings, at least according to you. And sometimes, you know, if you get really, really good, sometimes you're one of the only people that can see them,

and it's up to you to kind of keep that fire going and keep challenging yourself. I like that aspiration for excellence. That would be hashtag AFE. or a if you're ath. Oh, you're hashtag in me. Also, your name is Afe. All right. Number six is to play with other musicians. Look, nobody gets here without a community.

Nobody gets here on their own. There's shortcuts. There's language. There's everything you can learn from a group of musicians who are better than you, who are your peers, who are worse than you. There's always something to learn. ABL, well, you need to be around other people. Yeah.

And you need to get their feedback. You can't achieve. greatness without feedback. That's just how it is. In the words of our I believe Hillary Clinton takes a village. It takes a village to You might have been quoting somebody on that one. A great jazz player. But no seriously, I always consider

this as part of the three prongs of learning anything and that's to find a community. Yeah, I can't do three prongs with two hands. Let's go to it together we can do three. It's a three prong approach there. Nice. Yeah, it's a trident. A trident. Kind of has a demonic side to it too as well. I like it. Okay, so what's number seven?

Number seven is possibly the most important advice you'll ever hear about becoming a better jazz musician. The best players listen to you'll hear it. Ooh, I like that. But you know what? There's a little bit of a joke, but there's some truth in this. I know some great players that listen. I don't even want to name them because it's going to make it sound like we made them who they are. I mean, we don't want to take credit.

The proofs of the pudding. We've been hearing that a lot of the best jazz players do listen to, you'll hear it. So we're just putting it out there. you guys decide for yourselves if you believe this or not. Hey, you know what? If you want to learn more about you'll hear it where should you go. You'll hear it.com where the best jazz players go. That's right.

And you can become a, I mean, you know about our premium membership at this point, right? I am a premium member. You invented it. I did invent it and I'm not only a customer of the hair club for men. I am a future customer of the hair club for men, I would say. Go support the podcast. Go see the archives. You know, we have special content just,

They're at the piano with transcriptions and all that stuff. Workbooks or worksheets. Go check it out. You'll hear it.com. Yep. It's good stuff. Everything you'll hear at dot com is free. The premium is a small fee per month that you can join.

Nice little community that we're building there with some extra, especially if you like the stuff at the piano. We got some fun stuff with that every month. For sure. For sure. Anything else? I'll do it. Until tomorrow.

You'll hear it.