When pianist and composer Benny Green announced the debut of his new solo album this week, he talked about returning to performing with a trio. He said he prepares for their performances in part by listening to “what they have to say without interruption, which directly translates to the quality of trust, empathy and intuitive interaction on the bandstand.” The album, Renovation, was inspired by his wife’s initiative to do just that to the Green family home in Berkeley, which his family had moved into in 1968 when Benny was five years old.
Trust is an essential among musicians who work together, especially jazz musicians where improvising takes the players on a constant tilt-a-whirl of new places and experiences. They have to trust that you will be there with them as they move from idea to idea, just as you have to trust that they will be with you as you solo.
Like other lessons learned learning to play and perform music, trust is essential to virtually everything we do in life, from trusting your car will start in the morning, to knowing that you will be together with the love of your life when you reunite after a day at work, or to putting your kids on a bus and sending them off to school. I trust that if I take a proper swing, my golf ball will take flight in a proper manner and direction.
Of course trusting that things will go well is not a 100 percent guarantee they will, and you can be disappointed by a lack of trust. In music it happens when a player is not listening to others in the group or not playing for the audience just playing for themselves. Those types of attitudes and players don’t get many call backs. In those terms, trust is also essential to being able to make a living.