Much Ado About Nothing

Trane’s Slo Blues

When I was masquerading as a music student almost 25 years ago, I went to my weekly lesson with an agenda in mind. Larry was filling in for our professor for a semester while he was on sabatical and I wanted to pick his brain on getting to the next level with my improvising.

I wanted to learn to play “outside”. Outside the normal range of tonality and push those boundaries.

He looked at me and said something that will stay with me forever:

“Anyone can play outside. It’s how you come back in that makes the difference.”

And then he walked over to the turntable and put this tune on.

Every time I hear it, I think of that lesson.

Larry may not remember that lesson, but I will never forget it.