There is a story, and I’ve heard it attributed to a saxophone player named Phil Woods. Phil Woods was a disciple of Charlie Parker, and as the story goes, one day after a performance, some knucklehead walks up to him and says, “Man, all you’re doing is playing like Charlie Parker.” Phil Woods looks at him, takes his saxophone, holds it out of the guy and says, “Here, you play like Charlie Parker.” I really like this story. Not only is there nothing wrong with imitating your heroes, if you’re learning and we’re all learning, you sometimes learn more from the imitator than you do from the original.
If you’re trying to get your head around someone who has created a dense language and has a really full musical understanding, you may find it utterly impenetrable. But when you find someone who’s managed to rarify those qualities, to distill the essence of what they do, even if it’s into tropes, let me put some of the sounds in reach. It’s the way we learn, and so you shouldn’t be afraid to dissect the playing style or the engineering techniques or the chord voicings of the people inspired by the people who inspire you.
It may bring some of that stuff into reach.
