Musical memories are stored in the same way those thoughts are, which explains why melodies stick in our heads. So, when a memorized tune is altered, the brain becomes confused and jarred. However in the case of the creative soloists, changes are expected and revered. So the jazz fan listens expectantly and hopefully for an aesthetically titillating experience. These experiences are exciting for both the performer and the audience and make listeners and fans of all of us.

In my experience, especially during the wee hours of the morning, I could find the road to liberation from the frenzied pulse of modern life to the cool exhilarating world of jazz. I learned to close my eyes, to withdraw from all that is buzzing at my senses demanding my attention. I become absorbed, vibrating with the music, getting off on the improvisation and in a real sense becoming a masterpiece in myself. I have learned to rise to a higher awareness where all that matters is that I am alive and grooving. Miles Davis can do in a moment what psychotherapy can’t do in a lifetime. Such is the power of great jazz. Unfortunately, when the music stops, we spiral back to our troubled world of socially driven needs that leave us troubled and unfulfilled.

I grew up in Brooklyn and I can remember exciting times sitting on the steps of friendly tenement buildings, rapping with the guys about this and that for hours, actually years. We, as a group, evolved like a living organism, growing with each new experience, amassing a body of knowledge and sophistication that was there for us to draw upon. It taught us and counseled us. It cajoled, exposed and intimidated us. Yet compassionately, it was always there for us. It still is. I believe growing up in a world of ghettos awakened in us the value of community and the growing desire for personal recognition. It was the glue of the gang. The glue for all communal activities.

The more creatively gifted among us self-actualize by encompassing individuality and community, separateness and intimacy, still possible in ghetto life and almost impossible elsewhere. These days only money talks and everybody is listening.

I cannot imagine that my experience was any different for the self-actualizing jazz musicians. They also came together to talk about this and that just as we did. All they needed was a place, a time, a tune and a tempo. The rest happened. This is one of my fondest memories of Brooklyn. Who knew then that sitting on the steps, exploring the universe and listening for the bells of the good humor man could be heaven? We were young then and the force was with us and heaven could be around every corner.

In improvisation the musicians must be conscious of the music and of themselves at the same time or be lost. The improvisation relies jointly on freedom and painstaking carefulness, goals that seem in collision with one another. The truth of the performance is, in the end, a reflection of the courage, character and skill of the performer. It depends not only on the artist’s gifts, but tastes and the extent for which the artist has experienced and reconciled his or her own life. Improvisational jazz tells a story that has no end or at least begins unknown. At the same time it contains a strong sense of preparation, passion and direction. If the artist is rigid and controlling it will not work. The artist must be loose and confident and, most of all, fearless of the unknown. He or she must accept the knowledge that there is no place to hide, for it comes out in the music. Some claim it begins with a hunch, gut feelings or intuition. Some see it as a gateway to another level of consciousness. Since it is non-verbal, we cannot define it, we cannot teach it, we can only encourage it.

When the performance is finished, the artist has the sense of being in another place. Carl Jung called that place the “Collective Unconscious.” It contained the learning from experiences accumulated in our long evolutionary history and emerges in modern life as myths, legends and dreams. It is the world of cellular or racial memories and instinctive knowledge. Creativity, passion, fearlessness and intuition are its engines, hallmarks of the TypeE personality.