Creativity Quote by Eberhard Weber

In jazz, “ego” is usually the villain in the room: the force that turns listening into steamrolling and makes a band sound like parallel monologues. Eberhard Weber flips the script with a working musician’s pragmatism. “Probably” and “at some point” are doing real labor here, softening what could sound like a manifesto into a survival tip. He’s not celebrating swagger; he’s admitting a professional necessity.

The intent is less psychological than structural. In improvisational music, your sound is your vote. If you never “present your ego,” you become pure accompaniment, a permanent supporting character. Weber’s career - notably his lyrical, bass-forward approach and the ECM-era aesthetic of spaciousness - thrives on presence without bluster. His line suggests that tasteful self-assertion is how an artist claims a distinct voice in a crowded sonic democracy.

The subtext is a warning against false humility. Music culture romanticizes self-effacement: the “serve the song” ethic, the idea that purity equals invisibility. Weber hints that disappearing can be its own kind of ego, too - a way to avoid risk, critique, and responsibility. Presenting ego “at some point” means stepping forward when the music calls for it: taking a solo, introducing a compositional idea, insisting on a tone, a tempo, a silence.

Contextually, it lands as an older musician’s antidote to two extremes: the young player who confuses volume for identity, and the seasoned pro who’s learned to vanish. Weber argues for the middle path: ego as articulation, not domination.