I saw Miles Davis a few times, the last about a year and a half before he died. It was the most incredible concert I've ever heard. I could go on for pages about that concert but there was one moment that stands out. You see, Miles was not just a great trumpet player and one of the most creative improvisers. He was like a guru of jazz and subsequently of life.

So the band plays the head and Miles riffs a bit with the bass player to set him up for his improvisation. The bass player begins to build on the head, chords, and the riffs Miles set him up with. After a bit he plays this really cool funky bass line and the people clap and make a bit of noise, like you know, its so cool.

For those that know jazz there are certain things a musician can do that will grab the attention of the crowd. A funky base riff, a gospel like organ line, easily recognizable cool sounding musical moments, cliches that many in the audience dig.

The whole band has radio mikes on their instruments and Miles waves and the band backs off a bit and gets quiet. The bassist stopped playing. Miles puts the bell of his horn where the mike is to his mouth and says, "What did you do that for?"

The bass player is silent and after 10 or so seconds Miles asks again, "What did you do that for?"

Finally the bassist responded, "I guess I wanted them to clap."

Miles walked over the the bassist and takes his hand and holds it up in the air. And, of course, the crowd yelled and clapped. Then Miles walked over to the sax player and holds his hand up in the air and again the crowd roars. The sax guy yanked his hand out of Miles' hand a little angry like and walked away.

You know, sometimes I wonder if I imagined this, because most of the people there were busy grooving on the sound and the show and didn't see it. But clear as sunshine to my eyes Miles was showing that young bassist:  Look, you don't have to do nothing and all I have to do is hold up your hand and the people will clap and cheer. Get serious.

Jazz is not about playing the cool riffs that everyone knows and loves. Its about coming up with some thing new and unusual and different than the same old lines that everyone has heard a thousand times before.

So why did I feel like posting this? Earlier today there was some discussion on a thread about who gets the rec's and who gets how much commentary putting someone down for not getting recced. Well I've seen many an interesting post generate a fair amount of dialog only to sink off the page with few rec's because it just wasn't one of the cool lines we all love hearing over and over again. And I've seen many of the same old same old bumped to the rec list with almost no comments because it said the things we love to hear.

Popularity and quality are not synonymous.