IN MY FAVORITE AND INCREDIBLY REALISTIC RECURRING DREAM, I HAVE PERFECTED A KIND OF HUMAN FLIGHT - I CAN JUMP AND GLIDE ON THE AIR AT WILL, AND GO FOR LONG, THRILLING, BEAUTIFUL RIDES WITH A DELICIOUS MIX OF ABOUT 90 PERCENT CONFIDENCE AND 10 PERCENT FEAR. AT ITS BEST, IMPROVISING MUSIC CAN FEEL LIKE THAT.
What do you dream about? Literally.
read called “Eggs” by Jim Harrison.
I don’t often remember my dreams, but when I do, as Freud noted, there is always an element of something that happened the day before. It’s often twisted and co-opted for other means, but it’s there.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Wishes and fears are also regular features. I have performance anxiety dreams from time to time. My favorite was one where I was standing in the wings at a Madison Square Garden Phil Collins concert just before the start of the show, and someone rushes up to me and thrusts an acoustic guitar into my hands, shoves me on stage and says: “Phil is sick - you have to go on for him and play all his tunes!” Horrible. Perhaps as a result of those dreams and anxieties, I’m a serious over-preparer.
Oh, I think it would have to be life itself. Your favorite food and drink? Just like in music, there are too many greats - I like great coffee, great wine, and I’ve lately been on an IPA kick. I like Mediterranean food best, especially Italian and Middle Eastern cuisine, and I lean towards vegetarianism, though I don’t get all the way there. In your next life, what or who would you like to come back as and why?
In my favorite and incredibly realistic recurring dream, I have perfected a kind of human flight - I can jump and glide on the air at will, and go for long, thrilling, beautiful rides with a delicious mix of about 90 percent confidence and 10 percent fear. At its best, improvising music can feel like that.
I don’t expect to come back, and I tend not to indulge in wishes like that. This life feels richer under the assumption it’s all I’ll get.
What are your aspirations? Greater personal freedom, more acceptance, less neurosis, less judgment, less need to interpret reality.
Again, it’s very hard for me to play the “wish” game. But natural talent seems to arrive with the obligation to develop it, as was true for me with music, so I’m quite content to have learned that my talents are limited - I’ve loved it, but it’s been hard enough!
What one event in music history would you have loved to have experienced in person?
In life or in music, what is the one central key learning that you’d like to pass on to others?
The first performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
It’s certainly nothing unique to me, but I’d have to say this: There’s great power in humility and self acceptance. It’s paradoxical, but it turns out by accepting your limits you increase your capacity for making the most of what you have. Strive to see things as they really are.
Your favorite heroes in fiction? Heroes might be the wrong word, but a couple of characters that come to mind are Don Quixote and a character named Catherine from a novella I recently
The natural talent you’d like to be gifted with (other than music)?
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AUTUMN 2016 | ISSUE 9