[Dixielandjazz] Yogi Berra explains Jazz

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Subject: Yogi Berra explains jazz


Interviewer: "What do you expect is in store for the future of jazz guitar?"

Yogi: "I'm thinkin' there'll be a group of guys who've never met talkin'
about it all the time.."

Interviewer: Can you explain jazz?

Yogi: I can't, but I will.  90% of all jazz is half improvisation.  The
other half is the part people play while others are playing something they
never played with anyone who played that part.  So if you play the wrong
part, its right.  If you play the right part, it might be right if you play
it wrong enough.  But if you play it too right, it's wrong.

Interviewer: I don't understand.

Yogi:  Anyone who understands jazz knows that you can't understand it.  It's
too complicated.  That's whats so simple about it.

Interviewer: Do you understand it?

Yogi:  No.  That's why I can explain it.  If I understood it, I wouldnt know
anything about it.

Interviewer: Are there any great jazz players alive today?

Yogi:  No.  All the great jazz players alive today are dead.  Except for the
ones that are still alive.  But so many of them are dead, that the ones that
are still alive are dying to be like the ones that are dead.  Some would
kill for it.

Interviewer: What is syncopation?

Yogi: That's when the note that you should hear now happens either before or
after you hear it.  In jazz, you don't hear notes when they happen because
that would be some other type of music.  Other types of music can be jazz,
but only if they're the same as something different from those other kinds.

Interviewer: Now I really don't understand.

Yogi: I haven't taught you enough for you to not understand jazz that well.