First Blog Post

After many years of keeping notes on just about everything I was thinking about and studying musically, I have decided to incorporate all of those notes and thoughts into a blog.  One thing that I've always thought made me better as a musician was discussion with other musicians--asking questions, talking about my approach to a certain song, being more creative, and just plain doing what's right with being a creative musician:  passing your knowledge down to other people.  One of the most quality and memorable things that someone I have and will always look up to greatly said to me:  "Keep it goin', Matt!"  That person was Jimmy Heath, who I met and performed with as a young jazz musician at 21.  He was talking about keeping our music (jazz) alive.  The best way to do this in my opinion is not keep everything a secret.  Talk about what you have learned and know, and tell it all.  After you are gone from this earth, what good was it to have kept it all bottled inside?  Music knowledge is meant to be passed down from generation to generation.  There will always be a teacher and a student.  It's a cycle that will always repeat:  the student becomes the teacher, and he or she will have a student.  And we all thank our teachers, who put forth tireless work day after day after day after day...without them, we would not be where we are today.