[Dixielandjazz] Your Brain on Jazz

[Donald Mopsick]

Your Brain on Jazz. Panel participants: Pat Metheny, Marin Alsop, Mike
Pope. All of them have a LOT to say on the creative process of jazz
improvisation. Metheny in particular is especially articulate and
eloquent and has obviously done a lot of thinking on the subject.

(BTW, legions of jazzers are thankful for Metheny's famous comments on
Kenny G's overdubbing of Louis Armstrong, one of the most heinous
crimes against jazz. The Jazz Trials are comin,' and G is goin' FIRST!
But I digress....).

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=anstead-limb-your-brain-on-jazz

It's over 2 hrs. long, and I'm only halfway through, but there's a lot
there to engage you, especially if you are a science geek like me. The
study basically shows (so far) that the jazz player's lobes are in the
"on" position when he's blowing a chorus. The parts of the brain used
are the same ones that produce one's personal biographical narrative,
and this is pretty much what Metheny talks about when he describes a
successful jazz solo as a successful narrative, or story. So good jazz
improvisation has swinging story-telling at its heart.

I have always thought this and try to use it as a concept in my
teaching and playing.

mopo