Drugs, Alcohol and Music
I'm surprised how often I get asked about my opinion on the relationship between drugs, alcohol and the creative process. It's rather interesting since my club was funded by the drinks the musicians purchased at the counter. Furthermore, I frequently refer to the music I play as "whiskey drinking music", and hey, I'm known to need a tranquilizer now and then as much as the next guy (*though perhaps not as much as the guy sitting next to him.)
My overall opinion is that regardless of theories about chemically altered states of mind and how they can help expand one's creative horizons, I don't think any of them prove very practical in a situation that requires craftsmanship, judgement and a performance aesthetic as demanding as many forms of non-free Jazz. Yes, everyone knows, a beer or two can take the edge off, but that's the catch... Its true when you're not nervous and self aware its much easier to get up and perform, and ideas might even flow better, but minds and muscles that are too relaxed can prove disastrous in a performance oriented situation.. - - by that I mean simply not being able to really count on the technical facilities you've spent so many years developing. In fact, it's also why there are laws against drinking and driving... I've yet to meet even the biggest breath-a-lyzer foe who'd dare say drinking makes them a better driver. The truth is, alcohol effects your ability to think and react on your feet... While deadly on the road, more often than not it is simply annoying on the bandstand. Drunk musicians are notorious for their faux pax's the which at worse include playing louder and louder and louder, and getting messier and messier especially during the occasions they over do it, and simply can't feel important parts of their body and lose appropriately professional social inhibition..
Now weed (or the good old Xanax, Lorezepam and whatnot) - - well again, stuff like that will make you tranquil, at ease and hence free your mind to wander, but just remember, it does it by freeing your body from your mind... which is something you don't want always when you're playing Jazz. Jazz requires mind/body connection... If you're high, the music you'll end up hearing in your head will be one thing... but the ability of those nicely relaxed muscles to implement it and rationally judge the effect its happening on the people around you... forget it. --Of course, you may point out some musicians who were legendary for ONLY performing high. I'd point out that you have to remember the miracle of recording studios, engineers and what they can do... Of course, there is also the issue of the effect that the chemicals had on such performers in the long term, or experiences of fans as well as associates having to give up supporting certain musicians due to it being the norm of them showing up for gigs incoherent or being too unreliable to hire.
So all in all, what's my opinion? Well, the way I see it is that there are different types of highs in life... In fact, rather than using terms like "high" and "drunk", I think its more important to think in terms of "transcendence" - - Yes, pills, weed and spirit will do it for you... but there are other forms of bliss and ecstasy as well, and I believe that the true musician must have meaning, message and mission in what he or she is doing... call it getting the ghost, getting one's rishi on, or you can use esoteric "William James" type terminology or specific words like "highs", "states of ecstasy" -- you can even call them andrenelin rushes. I believe that a person can get the exact same psycho-physio reaction from music, even enter into maddened states of hysteria without ever drinking a substance or popping a pill that will prevent them from carrying out their duties as a musician in full charge of their body - - and to take it a step further, I believe the true musician should strive for such a state everytime he or she performs and drugs used within the context of performance can simply serve as a cop out for not having to get high off the quality of the music in itself.
So in conclusion, in moderation, and outside of a professional and legal context, I have nothing personal against getting high... However, if you're a true artist, professional and craftsman, a vital way to make your art even more impassioned is to make sure that whenever you play you are in maximum control of your body and mind, and in total touch not only your surroundings, but the reactions of your body as well -- as well as to use the physical act to lead to higher states of consciousness and experience as a result. --The true musician's high must always be music, first and foremost... Nothing should get in the way of that, either in terms of his or her connectedness with the music, and most important, his or her ability to perform in a manner that is both professional and consistant.
To quote my favorite saying of Duke Ellington, "Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one else," The true musician seeks his or her high by simply being his or her natural self, not escaping from it... and in doing what he or she has been wired to do, the musician's mind rewards him or her with highs only to be found in the perfect groove !
It is for this reason that I prefer that musicians who perform with me abstain from drink until after the last set.
Eddie Landsberg
Tokyo, 2005
My overall opinion is that regardless of theories about chemically altered states of mind and how they can help expand one's creative horizons, I don't think any of them prove very practical in a situation that requires craftsmanship, judgement and a performance aesthetic as demanding as many forms of non-free Jazz. Yes, everyone knows, a beer or two can take the edge off, but that's the catch... Its true when you're not nervous and self aware its much easier to get up and perform, and ideas might even flow better, but minds and muscles that are too relaxed can prove disastrous in a performance oriented situation.. - - by that I mean simply not being able to really count on the technical facilities you've spent so many years developing. In fact, it's also why there are laws against drinking and driving... I've yet to meet even the biggest breath-a-lyzer foe who'd dare say drinking makes them a better driver. The truth is, alcohol effects your ability to think and react on your feet... While deadly on the road, more often than not it is simply annoying on the bandstand. Drunk musicians are notorious for their faux pax's the which at worse include playing louder and louder and louder, and getting messier and messier especially during the occasions they over do it, and simply can't feel important parts of their body and lose appropriately professional social inhibition..
Now weed (or the good old Xanax, Lorezepam and whatnot) - - well again, stuff like that will make you tranquil, at ease and hence free your mind to wander, but just remember, it does it by freeing your body from your mind... which is something you don't want always when you're playing Jazz. Jazz requires mind/body connection... If you're high, the music you'll end up hearing in your head will be one thing... but the ability of those nicely relaxed muscles to implement it and rationally judge the effect its happening on the people around you... forget it. --Of course, you may point out some musicians who were legendary for ONLY performing high. I'd point out that you have to remember the miracle of recording studios, engineers and what they can do... Of course, there is also the issue of the effect that the chemicals had on such performers in the long term, or experiences of fans as well as associates having to give up supporting certain musicians due to it being the norm of them showing up for gigs incoherent or being too unreliable to hire.
So all in all, what's my opinion? Well, the way I see it is that there are different types of highs in life... In fact, rather than using terms like "high" and "drunk", I think its more important to think in terms of "transcendence" - - Yes, pills, weed and spirit will do it for you... but there are other forms of bliss and ecstasy as well, and I believe that the true musician must have meaning, message and mission in what he or she is doing... call it getting the ghost, getting one's rishi on, or you can use esoteric "William James" type terminology or specific words like "highs", "states of ecstasy" -- you can even call them andrenelin rushes. I believe that a person can get the exact same psycho-physio reaction from music, even enter into maddened states of hysteria without ever drinking a substance or popping a pill that will prevent them from carrying out their duties as a musician in full charge of their body - - and to take it a step further, I believe the true musician should strive for such a state everytime he or she performs and drugs used within the context of performance can simply serve as a cop out for not having to get high off the quality of the music in itself.
So in conclusion, in moderation, and outside of a professional and legal context, I have nothing personal against getting high... However, if you're a true artist, professional and craftsman, a vital way to make your art even more impassioned is to make sure that whenever you play you are in maximum control of your body and mind, and in total touch not only your surroundings, but the reactions of your body as well -- as well as to use the physical act to lead to higher states of consciousness and experience as a result. --The true musician's high must always be music, first and foremost... Nothing should get in the way of that, either in terms of his or her connectedness with the music, and most important, his or her ability to perform in a manner that is both professional and consistant.
To quote my favorite saying of Duke Ellington, "Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one else," The true musician seeks his or her high by simply being his or her natural self, not escaping from it... and in doing what he or she has been wired to do, the musician's mind rewards him or her with highs only to be found in the perfect groove !
It is for this reason that I prefer that musicians who perform with me abstain from drink until after the last set.
Eddie Landsberg
Tokyo, 2005
Eddie Landsberg, Jazz piano, organ and keyboards, multi-instrumental Jazz improv coach | Manhattan | Queens | Brooklyn
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