Originally Posted By: rharv
I got to meet Borge once in a 2 week music class/camp<...snip...>
He had abilities way beyond what he sometimes showed on stage, mainly due to being an entertainer first and musician second.
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We must never forget that we musicians are entertainers. If we can't entertain the listener, we may as well stay in the practice room.

Read the audience, play to (or with) the audience, meet them at their level, play the songs they want to hear, dress the part, act the part, and entertain them. Make them happy and they will make you happy. This is what it is all about.

If you can't do this, you need to find a different line of work.

Playing Mustang Sally or Yakety Sax for the thousandth time is a little like eating toast with butter for the thousandth time -- nothing new or adventurous, but still good.

When I play a blues scale solo in Mustang Sally the audience doesn't know I've played Tchaikovsky and in a jazz band where the likes of Ira Sullivan and Red Rodney came to sit in. And I don't think they need to know.

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