[Dixielandjazz] Yogi Berra on Jazz

[domitype .]

I don't know if this is an actual quote or made up, but I like it!

Dave Richoux


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Yogi Berra's Explanation of Jazz

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 what's so simple about it.

Interviewer: Do you understand it?

Yogi: No. That's why I can explain it. If I understood it, I wouldn't know
anything about it.

Interviewer: Are there any great jazz player 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.

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.