RUFFIN: NOW. A JAZZ MOMENT...

…OR RATHER, A LESSON IN LISTENING FROM 2014 NEA JAZZ MASTER, JAMEY AEBERSOLD.

Jamey Aebersold: If you study music, it encourages you to listen. Now I will say this. In teaching jazz, I don't know what percent, but there's a percent of people that I will listen to for the first time. And they might be an intermediate or advanced player, but I distinctly get the feeling they are not playing what they hear in their head.

And those students are the ones that I have to grab by the back of the neck and say, "Now, listen, you gotta stop, play fewer notes, leave some space, and don't play unless you hear that note that you're playin' in your mind first." It takes a lot of discipline for someone that's used to playin' to back up and go to the first grade, note-wise. But if they'll do it, it'll pay them dividends the rest of their life.

THIS JAZZ MOMENT WITH EDUCATOR AND JAZZ ADVOCATE JAMEY AEBERSOLD WAS PRODUCED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Excerpt of Bb Blues, composed by Jamey Aebersold, used by permission of Jamey Aebersold Jazz.