A Case for Improvisation

A little over a week ago, pianist Brad Mehldau played a five-day set legendary New York jazz club The Village Vanguard. I own nearly all of Mehldau’s albums and am an obsessive listener, yet did not recognize a single song throughout his set. From an obscure McCartney cover to something from AMC’s “Mad Men,” Mehldau managed to go 90 minutes without resorting to the familiar, even in the eyes of his most ardent fans. His solos turned each song into a mini-symphony, and the communication between Mehldau and his rhythm section would be the envy of even the most loving spouses.

For me, it was pure musical fulfillment: simultaneously witnessing the creative process and hearing the final product. If you know where to look, these magical moments are everywhere–the music industry is just too bloated to recognize them.

In the 21st century, music resembles water. It flows abundantly from numerous sources, and in the industrialized world we seldom think twice before accessing it. Much of it seems the same, unless it’s locally bottled (indie rock), sparkling (hip hop), or contaminated with foreign elements (Lady Gaga’s meat dress). Perhaps the key difference between water and music is that instead of periodic shortages, we face a flood of epic proportions. What used to be a valued product, handcrafted by skilled professionals, has become a commodity that anybody can produce and distribute. As a result, it is not only harder for an artist to break through, but harder for the general public to care about one who actually does.

To hear Mehldau play is extraordinary—partly because you know you can’t relive the experience. The spontaneity and intense communication are impossible to reproduce and are lost immediately after they occur. Unlike a pop concert, where the audience pays to hear exact replicas of a band’s record, a jazz audience gets a different experience every night. It seems strange that the music industry, increasingly reliant on “experiences” for income, hasn’t latched onto jazz. If live performance is the only hope a modern musician has for financial success, and the improvisation in jazz makes a performance impossible to replicate. When I see a show, whether it’s folk rock or hip-hop, it is those elements that play with my expectations and differ from the recordings that intrigue me the most.

Improvisation has no stylistic boundaries. One can improvise within rap, pop, rock, country, and dubstep disciplines. All it requires is a reliance on the present moment, as opposed to a mere reiteration of the past. In a world that changes rapidly and faces an abundance of skillful producers and craftsmen, “the moment” is the only place where the average musician still has the upper hand. There’s no need to rush towards an overproduced single—it will be there in that same exact state forever and then some. When it comes to improvisation, however, you can’t afford to blink.

The coming years will see an increase both in the amount of music produced and the availability of that music. Those artists who embrace the irreplaceable nature of “the moment” will build a place for themselves, while those that produce single after single will find themselves lost in the heaping pile of all available media.