"When we first started playing we did a lot of rehearsing. We used to write out everything. In fact, that's the way everybody rehearses: we play the tunes and improvise"
About this Quote
Charlie Haden lands a deadpan punchline that doubles as a philosophy of jazz: the most disciplined thing you can do is build a structure sturdy enough to abandon. He starts with the familiar origin story of craft - early rehearsals, charts, everything written down - then pivots to the sly corrective: "that's the way everybody rehearses: we play the tunes and improvise". The joke is in the contradiction. Rehearsal is supposed to be repetition, control, the elimination of surprise. Haden treats it as the rehearsal of surprise itself.
The intent is less about romanticizing spontaneity than demystifying it. By framing improvisation as the default, he punctures the myth that jazz genius arrives as pure inspiration. The subtext is work: listening hard, learning the changes, internalizing form, practicing so thoroughly that the band can risk getting lost together and still come out on time. "Write out everything" isn't an enemy of freedom; it's the scaffolding that lets freedom happen without turning into chaos.
Context matters: Haden came up in a world where jazz was both a vernacular language and a high-stakes test of credibility. In that ecosystem, rehearsing isn't about perfecting a fixed object the way an orchestra might; it's about negotiating trust, developing shared reflexes, and testing how a tune can bend without breaking. His line also carries a quiet critique of rigid musicianship: if you aren't improvising in rehearsal, you're not rehearsing the music you're actually going to play.
The intent is less about romanticizing spontaneity than demystifying it. By framing improvisation as the default, he punctures the myth that jazz genius arrives as pure inspiration. The subtext is work: listening hard, learning the changes, internalizing form, practicing so thoroughly that the band can risk getting lost together and still come out on time. "Write out everything" isn't an enemy of freedom; it's the scaffolding that lets freedom happen without turning into chaos.
Context matters: Haden came up in a world where jazz was both a vernacular language and a high-stakes test of credibility. In that ecosystem, rehearsing isn't about perfecting a fixed object the way an orchestra might; it's about negotiating trust, developing shared reflexes, and testing how a tune can bend without breaking. His line also carries a quiet critique of rigid musicianship: if you aren't improvising in rehearsal, you're not rehearsing the music you're actually going to play.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
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