http://slyoyster.com

It’s not Machiavelli or Sun Tzu, but there’s lots to soak in from the great jazz master for music lovers and regular people alike. In many ways this is musical zen.

Like: “You’ve got to dig it to dig it, you dig?” or “whatever you think can’t be done, somebody will come along and do it.  A genius is the one most like himself.”

Most of the rest of his advice or rules to himself were about making everyone else in the band better.  It was about staying within yourself.  As a piano player, Monk was all about making the drummer sound better, about filling in the parts the bass player couldn’t get to, about playing the bridge to bolster the rest of the song.