It's all jazz

What is jazz? It's conversation through song; playing your song (which is derived from another song which we jazz musicians call "the head") and hearing, listening and conversing with the songs of others. For example, the great trumpeter Wynton Marsalis might be playing the tune "Take the A-Train" which tells the reality of joy found in the mundane. he and his compatriot, Wessell Anderson would play the "head" together; telling the reality as understood by Duke Ellington, the song's composer. After playing the "head" twice, Wynton would break in and play a bouncing melodic line, proclaiming the bounce in his step that comes from joy. Wessell listens and, when it's his turn to speak, would agree by playing something similar. Then, however, he would move on to his own take on joy. Maybe tonight he sees the pure energy that joy creates (you know how it makes you want to move, jump, do something fast) and he would play a flurry of notes. Fingers flying, he would tell his story and ,once he had said enough for the night, Wynton would break in with him and play the head. Yet, this time it would be different. Maybe some runs here, a new tone color there, they would integrate their songs into the "head" weaving a three part harmony based on Ellington's famous song written so we could converse with him (even though he's dead).

And that's only part of the conversation; I could go into how the rythm section says it's "amens" and tell their stories but that is for another time. The point here is CONVERSATION.

Since, as I said before, we all experience the world differently, we all have different songs. Not only that, we undersatnd things differently. I say pen and you might think of a ball point, black ink, bic but I may be thinking of a blue ink one (what are some other pen types besides ball point?). Now, since we percieve this way, it's a miracle we can communicate. I hope you all like miracles, I do. the important part of conversation, true conversation, is realizing this. We must stop thinking about ourselves and realize that the person on the other end of this conversation has his/her own points to make. They want to convey something just as much as we do, but we forget that there's a living, breathing, person on the other end and simply talk at them. remember I made a distinction at the beginning between listening and hearing? (go ahead, check) We need to really listen to what others say, maybe we could pick up a piece of their song (or what their song means to us). Many arguments could be solved if we would just stop to think about the other persons perspective. We may think they were stupid for making that choice, but at the time it seemed rational to them, possibly even the best option. But you come into the argument with false assumptions. You also bring in baggage from you own life and force it on them. They must think like you, act like you, know what has happened to you. We must stop being egocentric for our own good. Ayn Rand would assert that the best thing to do is whatever benefits you. Well... it is beneficial to realise the position of others.

If only we all thought the same way; but then we wouldn't be unique.
if we could understand each other that would be great; but the greatetst part is that God has enabled us to break through this existential barrier and communicate. It's not done often, but when it happens it truly is a miracle.