Herbie Hancock speaking as if about a life metaphor

A few years ago, I bought Herbie's jazz piano lessons on www.masterclass.com. They were, in conclusion, unexpected, because in a sentence, they summarised as "you're already there." He liked mentioning the band leader and most brilliant jazz trumpeter, Miles Davis, who Herbie had played keys for.

On hearing an ostensibly wrong note within the mix, Miles' lead and outright genius, would always cause it to be an opportunity for excitement, innovation, and creative exploration. To Miles, no notes were wrong. As in life, some choices lead to rocky paths, but lessons, achievements, and more, can reward the stalwart.

Herbie could have taken a much fussier and prescriptive approach in his lessons, with endless scales, voicing, chord substitutions and harmonic progressions; like the vast majority of related, but highly unoriginal books on jazz piano. The message in my "I am" book is the same; you are already all you need to be!

Of course, academics teach people about the significant artists that worked in the field beforehand. They wouldn’t have courses if they didn’t, and maybe no physical establishments?

In fairness though, if you avoided any adulteration of students, the graduating mavericks might find making livings much harder, because conventionality has always been more acceptable than innovation, and speaking in the broadest scope.

This is like going full circle, back to the beginning. I'll just reiterate the fourth and final stanza of my 2015 poem, "Recalling the wilderness", that goes like this -

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Be aware that most folk act.

They are not better than you.

Be you. Honestly, be true.

You are amazing. Just do.

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