I've really enjoyed this thread, and have purchased 4 albums from Amazon today based on suggestions here. Someone mentioned that anyone can play music from a written score. That reminded me of a once- in- a- lifetime experience some years ago. My son (who was eight years old at the time) was a Suzuki violin student and played in an orchestra. The Suzuki group he was in sponsored a 10 day music institute each summer in Snow Mass, Colorado, near Aspen. The institute drew kids, and teachers, from all over the world. It also coincided with the annual Aspen Jazz Festival. That particular summer, Wynton Marsalis and the Kennedy Center Jazz Band were staying at the Hotel we were at rehearsing for the Aspen Festival. The kids and parents were invited to attend their rehearsals (if we remained quiet) and Marsalis and the band members made themselves available to the kids for questions during breaks.
My son and I sat in a conference center room for three hours watching and listening to those consument musicians practice and struggle with the music. They were working on a Charles Mingus piece, the name of which I can't remember, and trying to both figure it out, and play it. The band had written scores, but more importantly, tapes of Mingus performing the piece live. The written scores did not match up with the tape performance, and Marsalis and company spent hours trying to reconcile the sources. It was truly inspiring to watch and listen to musicians at that level work through a very difficult and esoteric piece. Both my son and I marveled at the shear virtuosity of the musicians, and the talent they brought to bear on the music. Marsalis sought to capture the emotion, and energy of the piece, not just play the notes. So, anyone can play a piece from sheet music, but it takes masters of their craft to play it right.
My son and I sat in a conference center room for three hours watching and listening to those consument musicians practice and struggle with the music. They were working on a Charles Mingus piece, the name of which I can't remember, and trying to both figure it out, and play it. The band had written scores, but more importantly, tapes of Mingus performing the piece live. The written scores did not match up with the tape performance, and Marsalis and company spent hours trying to reconcile the sources. It was truly inspiring to watch and listen to musicians at that level work through a very difficult and esoteric piece. Both my son and I marveled at the shear virtuosity of the musicians, and the talent they brought to bear on the music. Marsalis sought to capture the emotion, and energy of the piece, not just play the notes. So, anyone can play a piece from sheet music, but it takes masters of their craft to play it right.