Ep2. To what extent can jazz and improvisation be taught?
“When you begin to teach jazz, the most dangerous thing is that you tend to teach style…I had eleven piano students, and I would say eight of them didn’t even want to know about chords or anything – they didn’t even want to do anything that anybody had ever done, because they didn’t want to be imitators. Well, of course, this is pretty naive . . . but nevertheless it does bring to light the fact that if you're going to try to teach jazz . . . you must abstract the principles of music which have nothing to do with style, and this is exceedingly difficult. So there, the teaching of jazz is a very touchy point. It ends up where the jazz player, ultimately, if he's going to be a serious jazz player, teaches himself.” (bold not author's)
Bill Evans (1929-1980), jazz pianist