Jazz_daredevil

Introduction

I was listening to Jon Benjamin's "Well, I Should Have..." the other day and got to thinking on why I like it so much. Every time I hear it I can't stop laughing, and not laughing because I think it's funny, I laugh because I think it's fun, and there's a big difference (I think).

Well, I Should Have...

If you haven't heard of this album, it's a jazz album starred by Jon Benjamin, an American voice actor, who just so happens to be a piano player that has no clue whatsoever how to play piano. He's accompanied by an actual jazz band with great musicians, which makes for some really interesting music. According to him, the band wasn't actually aware of the full situation going in, so when they realised they were playing with someone who literally had never touched a piano before, they got pretty mad. But not mad enough to not finish the album thankfully.

Why do I like it so much?

And that begs the question, why do I like it so much? Well, first of all, I don't hate the comedy bits sprinkled here or there, but I don't really care for them either. It may sound weird, but I actually, really, truly enjoy the music tracks in the album. It's such a fun, carefree sound that I haven't heard anywhere else, it reminds me of the childlike whimsical feeling of bashing away at my mom's piano, without caring about the end result. Jon's playing feels like that, like a child playing and having fun. And that's what I love about it. I love that it could literally be me playing the piano in those songs, and I just really like imagining that it really is me.

Who cares?

You may be asking. The piano licks aren't great, and the timing is even worse, but I just can't not have fun eeverytime I hear it. I know this sounds cliche, but it's so easy to get caught up in out day-to-day life, stressing over work and tasks and deadlines and all that, being so serious about everything. And it's refreshing to remind myself that I don't have to take things too seriously, it's okay to do things for fun, to do things for the sake of doing. Even if they make me look ridiculous. Even if it turns out you are actually a worse pianist than a kid after his first piano lesson. Sometimes it's ok to suck at something and do it anyway. That's what children do, and they seem to me a lot happier than most adults I know.