Notes from Abroad
Learning Jazz Changed How I Think About Sentence Length
For the last year, jazz has been my project. Miles Davis. John Coltrane. Thelonious Monk. Bill Evans. I have been working through the history of the genre, trying to understand what makes it work. Jazz taught me that variation gives the reader room to feel the words instead of just processing them.
Being a Copywriter Means Learning to Play Any Room
Over the years, I have played piano in churches, rock bands, country bands, and folk groups. Each genre has its own vocabulary, its own rules, its own expectations. You do not play a rock song the same way you play a hymn. You do not comp chords for a country singer the same way you solo over a jazz standard. My job as a copywriter is the same.
What My Year of Listening to Jazz Taught Me About Editing
Miles Davis built a career on playing less. While other trumpet players filled every bar with notes, Davis would hold a single note and let it hang in the air. He trusted that one note, held long enough, could say more than a hundred fast ones. Editing copy is the same discipline.
Why Pop Music Made Me a Better Copywriter
For years, pop music was something I dismissed. Too simple. Too polished. Too eager to please. Then I started paying attention. Copywriting works the same way.