Writing as Jazz, Jazz as Writing: Part 1

Words of writing wisdom gleaned from some jazz greats.

Because I have a musical background, I often think about writing through a variety of musical lenses.

Writing as classical music with its sonata form and three act structure.

Writing as rock music with its raw power of emotion.

Writing as country music with its love of character-driven stories.

Writing as hip hop with its embrace of the poetry of storytelling.

But if I had to choose one musical genre which best fits what we do as writers, it would be jazz.

Why? Because every time we sit down to write, we have to do two fundamental things:

• Write in the moment
• Improvise

Every scene exists in our present tense. We have to be right there with our characters to experience the story unfolding in ‘the Now’.

Every time a jazz musician performs live, they exist in the moment. They find the spark of creativity by playing off each other and giving themselves over to every second of the songs they perform.

Likewise whenever we sit down to write, no matter how much of the story we’ve figured out, we have to give room for spontaneity and to improvise when our characters veer over here or there.

So, too, jazz musicians whose lifeblood is improvisation, making it up as they go along, pushing the envelope, and testing each song in nightly performance.

That inspired me to do a series this week featuring quotes from some of the all-time great jazz players.

Today: Count Basie.

I never thought innovation as such was very important. Not when you have to think about it… If you’re going to come up with a new direction or a really new way to do something, you’ll do it by just playing your stuff and letting it ride. The real innovators did their innovating by just being themselves.

“The real innovators did their innovating by just being themselves.” This is the path of finding your voice as a writer. Learn the craft however you can, but while there is value in imitating the greats, at some point, you need to be “just playing your stuff and letting it ride.”

Jazz musicians have always embraced the freedom to explore and follow their creative instincts. A great object lesson for any sort of writing.

For inspiration, here is the original 1937 recording by Count Basie and His Orchestra of one of his signature compositions “One O’Clock Jump”:

Tomorrow more writing wisdom from a jazz great.