Their Job was Inventing Music
That's why these were still confident, optimistic men. Even though they were broke and misunderstood, sometimes difficult of personality, sometimes impaired by a too-intense encounter with mind-altering substances and trapped in a culture that was rapidly moving away from professional levels of musicianship, romantic expression, and the arts in general, they still believed in the value of this jazz they played and still understood that their job was inventing music—and making sense of it with one another.
From the Book Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life, New York: Random House, 2008, page 5, ISBN 1400060788
Copyright © 2008 by Wynton Marsalis Enterprises
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