I play a lot of tennis. I have often thought about the similarities found in the mindset and decision making between the tennis player and the improvising musician. On the surface an analogy can be made about the structure of the court (the lines within which the point must be played), and the structure of a song (the form and harmony which defines the particular song being played). For both the tennis player and the jazz musician, we must play within that fundamental structure, yet within those lines…
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