Know your role... it's about respect

Hey everybody!

Greetings from a COLD Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

This weekend I went on an out-of-town trip to do a gig with a jazz trio that I work with (John Edwards on piano, Devon van Rooyen on drums, and me on bass). We have been preparing some new tunes lately - many of which are quite challenging... and FUN!!!

In the process of learning one of the new songs ('Django') we encountered a situation that deserves some reflection. Two of the four sections of this tune's solo form are pretty traditional 'swing' sections which require walking bass parts as accompaniment. At one point in my line I chose to hit a Bb on the first beat of a bar containing an Eb chord since it's the 5 of the chord and leads to the Ab chord in the next bar nicely. Whether you understand that or not, the issue is that it's not wrong, it was one of the many right notes I could have played as part of my line. When we got to the end of the solo John stopped and said: 'Andrew, would you mind playing the root (Eb) at the beginning of that bar? The note you chose threw me a little.' My response was: 'Sure. No problem.'

John has many years' experience in the jazz scene and has worked with many musicians. We were talking a little while after the jam, and he thanked me for my response in that situation. He said that he has worked with other musicians with whom the conversation would have gone more like this:

John: '(Musician X), would you mind playing the root (Eb) at the beginning of that bar? The note you chose threw me a little.'
Musician X: 'I played a Bb man. It's totally right. It's the 5th.'
John: 'I feel like I need to hear the Eb to express myself the way I want to in my solo.'
Musician X: 'Dude, it's not YOUR gig. I can play any note I want in my line. This is JAZZ. It belongs to everyone equally.'
John: (getting annoyed) 'Well this is called the John Edwards Trio...'

And from there the whole thing gets nasty.

Now, as much as it may be everybody's gig, and I agree that the music belongs to everyone, I do think that each musician has a role to play and those roles are very closely linked to our what should be concepts taken from how we live life. In the situation above my role is to support John's solo by providing what he wants as a foundation for expressing the ideas he is trying to express. I don't do it because I play bass so I HAVE TO be the support instrument. I do it because he is my friend and I respect him as a musician and want him to feel comfortable when he plays. I also do it because I know that when I solo he is going to try to support me as best as he can.

I have found that music that is played from this point of mutual respect is always great music... if I respect you I will listen when you speak, I will try to catch you if you 'fall', I'll share my ideas with you, I'll consider your preferences and my own, and I'll try my hardest to make you sound/look good to others.

How could life lived with this attitude not be great life?

BTW the gig was amazing! We played to a sold out venue in a beautiful setting, and a highly appreciative audience... and I played the Eb that John wanted to hear :)

Take care
Andrew