Jazz sounds like art, but it’s really more like a science

When I was in music school, I went through my Bebop phase where that's all I listened to, played and wrote. It was the ultimate challenge to (try to) play Bird solos on the bass. It was just as much a science as it was an art. Observation in hindsight: Bebop was seen as a brilliant invention and musicians were excited about its endless possibilities. But it was seen as elitist and too arty. Wynton Marsalis: “You have to go to art--it should not have to come to you.” (While I agree with that idea, there still seems to be a bit of elitism in it. Isn’t sharing something an act of giving, rather than making it available?) The best thing for me to remember about my Bebop fling, was that music can be used not merely for entertainment, but for the challenge, and feeling all the smarter because of it.