Today is June 29 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “How often do you practice improvisation as a strategy to navigate the chaos?”
In a New York Times article "The Ethereal Genius of Craig Taborn" Adam Shatz wrote that Craig Taborn has become one of the best jazz pianists alive by disappearing almost complexly into his music.
One strategy that Taborn uses to ‘disappear into his music’ is to improvise. Shatz detailed Taborn’s discovery of improvisation.
“In 2003, Taborn made a discovery that helped him to get closer than he’d ever gotten to his own process. While preparing for a solo concert at a club on the Lower East Side, he decided to improvise the entire performance from scratch, rather than on the basis of scores. He recorded the concert and compared it with previous performances of his compositions. What he found was striking: “When I was improvising, I was able to really play in the moment, away from any preconceived notions. The improvised performances sounded as organized as any of my composed pieces, and they had so much more life.”
Now whenever Taborn performs solo piano, he improvises freely, or, to put it another way, he composes in real time, drawing in part on motifs and structures he has developed while practicing.
Fellow jazz musician Wynton Marsalis noted “Through improvisation, jazz teaches you about yourself. And through swing, it teaches you that other people are individuals too. It teaches you how to coordinate with them.”
How often do you practice improvisation as a strategy to navigate the chaos?