Friday night and we're in the legendary Ronnie Scott’s. It's one of the most iconic live music venues in the world.
We’re there to listen to jazz but my notebook is never far away.
After a great night out, I woke on Saturday morning and wrote 3 short blogs which I'd like to share with you today, tomorrow, and Friday.
Lesson One
I'm almost 50 and happy to report that I have quite an eclectic taste in music. I appreciate musicianship more than ever. Imagine the dudes:
- The drummer who can play 4 parts with 4 limbs and make it look effortless.
- The keyboard player who gracefully takes up the melody, changes key, and adds a riff.
Amazing talent.
But there's a problem with talent. When you're in a band yours can bubble to the surface. And that's what happened on Friday.
Of course, this is only my opinion, and if you were there, you may disagree. But for the first 30 minutes of the main show, there were five musicians, extremely talented brilliant musicians… but it sounded to me like they were playing 3 different songs.
All at the same time.
In four different keys.
And with three different tempos.
The sagacious jazz fan in front of me, with his long grey ponytail wearing a waistcoat that Joseph's brothers would have beaten him up for (again), nodded along - lost in the complex sounds.
For me, and to quote my dad watching Top of The Pops circa 1982, it was 'just noise'.
Talent
I hear business leaders discussing talent; 'We need a top 'x', and a brilliant 'y'. Then when they find the talented individuals, they don't fit into their existing team.
The ‘new talent’ is playing sharps while the old team still plays flats.
The 2nd half of the Ronnie Scott’s gig was much better. Brilliant even. The band (to my immature jazz ear) started playing the same piece. And here's the best bit. The audience (and for audience read customers) joined in.
The whole room was clapping, singing, and bopping.
Talent is great. But only when it's part of a team.
Tomorrow I'm going to tell you how one person loses Ronnie Scott’s a fortune every night.
Be Brilliant!
Michael
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