Exploding the Myths of Jazz Improvisation | Ken Avis | TEDxTysonsSalon

There's an image of the jazz improvizer taking inspiration from the gods and inventing a new music of the soul in the moment. Only those with the spiritual connection have their antenna tuned to receive the divine message. What about the rest of us? How do we develop our sage-like qualities to hang with the cool kids and create in the moment? Let's democratize the idea of improvisation to transform it into an everyday frame-of-mind which we can all use in our daily activities.

Ken Avis is a jazz guitarist, and vocalist with international world-jazz quartet Veronneau. The band tours in Europe and the US and have had Top 10 CD's in the Jazz and World music categories. They have received WAMMIE Awards for Best Jazz Group, Vocals and Recordings, as well as performing live on BBC radio, and performing regularly at DC venues such as The Kennedy Center, Strathmore, Blues Alley, Twins Jazz, DC Jazz Festival and many more.

In 2014 Ken proposed and co-curated Strathmore Jazz Samba Project Festival, a week-long festival of Brazilian music, workshops, and film which earned a National Endowment for the Arts award. He co-produced a documentary, Bossa Nova, and is currently working on a movie, Anacostia Delta, for release in 2016, which spotlights the impact of DC guitarists Danny Gatton and Roy Buchanan.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx