WHY IT MAKES YOU MORE USEFUL:
It avoids confusion.
WHAT TO DO:
Either lead or follow, but put somebody in charge of making quick decisions onstage. When the unexpected comes, let one person make the decision. You can always second-guess them later.
THOUGHTS:
The first time I heard the band at Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, CA, they blew me away. They were having fun. On one song the song leader invited the sax player out to take a solo. I assumed this was planned ahead of time, which is fine. He blew a fantasticsolo. (I thought ‘where did they find this guy?’ But of course, it was a huge church—20,000 attendees on a weekend—and this was Southern California.) As the solo was ending, the song leader turned to the sax player and said, “Do it again!”. I held my breath. I thought, ‘If that request was pre-planned to LOOK spontaneous, I’m going to be grievously disappointed.’
So I looked at the band to see how they acted. Were they surprised? Did they see it coming? I assumed the piano player was the leader, so I watched. To my everlasting delight, everyone in the band, when they heard ‘Do it again!’, looked at the piano player. The piano player put his hand up in the air and made a little circle—‘Take it around again’. I think I laughed out loud with delight. This was wonderful ensemble playing. It was soooo refreshing to see in a church band. There was a hierarchy in place: the song leader called for a second solo, and the band looked to their leader to confirm it. And then they just rolled with it. I wanted to marry this band and have it’s babies. Their music was so fun. It was real. It was human. It was compelling. It was not just live music, it was a-live music. They didn’t know the extra solo was coming, but they followed the leaders and made great music out of it.
Later, in a breakout session with the band leader—his name was Bob Barrett—he said, “Spontaneity and improvisation are two pillars of live playing”. Just writing this, 22 years later, I remember how badly I wanted to play with those guys.
This is an excerpt from my book, “The Useful Musician”. Available on Amazon
theusefulmusician.com 