Jazz Trombone F.A.Q.s

 

12) Is it true that I won't really learn to play jazz well until I do drugs or drink heavily?

I know that many of the jazz greats did use drink and drugs, so I'm curious about

their use and influence on their music.

Jeff Adams: NO!!!!!!!!  Don't even consider it.  Drugs and alcohol have meant the demise

of many great jazz musician's careers.

 

Alex Iles: It is an old debate: Do drugs help you play better? Drugs help to give some people a sense [false, in my mind]  that they are more comfortable with themselves 

and that they play a little better. Many drug takers never learn how to play any other way. 

For them, "performance mode" involves some type of stimulant. This is a pity, in my opinion.

I once heard a certain jazz saxophonist [who fought a drug habit his whole life] said that great players played great DESPITE the drug use, not BECAUSE of it. 

If you take the risk to play straight, you will be in a better position to improve. You 

are more fully aware. In fact, some of the best recordings by famous jazz drug 

addicts were made during a "clean period".Drugs and alcohol have been attractive 

to many jazz musicians because the music has been performed so often in a night club setting with a full bar [and the types of people that bars often attract] right on hand.

Sam Burtis: Tough question.

    To answer it honestly, I have to say two diametrically opposed things.

   1-You're right...I would say that 98% of the great jazz musicians used

some sort of drugs and/or alcohol for at least SOME appreciable part of

their careers. (In the great players I've known through personal

experience, that 98% is CERTAINLY the case.)

   2-DON'T DO IT.

   Drugs are a shortcut to certain modes of perception. NOTHING MORE THAN A

SHORTCUT.

   They are also TREMENDOUSLY DESTRUCTIVE.

   If you were of going somewhere important to you, and had a choice of

going a longer way that was relatively safe or saving maybe a quarter of

that time by taking a route that would almost CERTAINLY result in grievous

physical, emotional or mental injury...which route would YOU take ?

   Many of the previous generations of players didn't understand this

shortcut idea...they thought there was no other way to get there, and were

willing to die to play. They were heroic, in one sense...massively foolish

at the same time.

   Don't do it.

 

Chris Smith: Charlie Parker, the classic example of a brilliant drug-addicted

musician, was constantly warning people not to follow his example.

 

          I’m a “clean musician”, and I’ve known many people involved with drugs

over the years. I don’t think any of them would recommend their lifestyles to

anyone getting started. Having seen firsthand the musician/druggie lifestyle, let

me assure you- it’s an overrated experience.

 

          Being a musician and keeping your life together is hard enough. Don’t

let destructive habits make a mess of your life and the lives of those around you.

 

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