"Now, when we first started, I would be playing something good and then feel like I wasn't doing the right thing and launch into some idiotic cliche. Luckily for me, Bobby was patient"
About this Quote
Charlie Hunter is admitting that the hardest part of becoming original isn’t technique, it’s nerve. The line lands because it’s not the heroic myth of a virtuoso discovering his voice; it’s the messier truth of a musician second-guessing himself in real time. “Playing something good” is the fleeting moment of authenticity, the phrase every player recognizes: you hit a pocket, a phrase that feels like yours. Then the anxiety kicks in - “wasn’t doing the right thing” - that imagined rulebook of genre, band chemistry, and audience expectation. The result is self-sabotage: retreating to an “idiotic cliche,” the safe lick that signals competence but kills the conversation.
The subtext is about social dynamics as much as artistry. “The right thing” isn’t an abstract musical ideal; it’s what Hunter assumes Bobby (likely Bobby Previte, his early collaborator) wants, what the room will reward, what a young player thinks professionalism looks like. In that sense, the cliche isn’t just musical laziness; it’s a bid for approval.
“Luckily for me, Bobby was patient” flips the story into a quiet tribute to mentorship. Patience here is an aesthetic stance: giving someone enough space to risk sounding strange, half-formed, even wrong, until the non-cliche starts to stick. Hunter’s humility is the point. He frames originality as something you’re allowed to grow into, not something you either have or don’t.
The subtext is about social dynamics as much as artistry. “The right thing” isn’t an abstract musical ideal; it’s what Hunter assumes Bobby (likely Bobby Previte, his early collaborator) wants, what the room will reward, what a young player thinks professionalism looks like. In that sense, the cliche isn’t just musical laziness; it’s a bid for approval.
“Luckily for me, Bobby was patient” flips the story into a quiet tribute to mentorship. Patience here is an aesthetic stance: giving someone enough space to risk sounding strange, half-formed, even wrong, until the non-cliche starts to stick. Hunter’s humility is the point. He frames originality as something you’re allowed to grow into, not something you either have or don’t.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
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