Ari Roland
Listen, it's the most wonderful thing in the world to go to a country like Syria and play jazz. You don't get much more privileged than that, you know. We do have relations with them and we do have an Embassy there, but we haven't had an ambassador there in a long time.

And get Syrian government approval to meet with young people—how could you ask for anything more? If you really believe that people are supposed to meet each other and bring their cultural heritages and exchange. And if you really believe that that's—these are great things, and if you happen to like jazz and there are gonna be Syrian young people really enthusiastic about going to hear jazz, I feel very lucky.

Ernest Turner
I guess it was different to see how excited people oversees were to learn about jazz.

So that was a huge part for me, ‘cause I mean, well, not all the time, but you could do a tour, you’ll play a couple cities, you’ll play some music, but it’s semi forgettable just because you’re like, well, we play and you don’t really remember the audiences. But I don’t think we’ll ever forget the audiences, just because of that educational component that we had to do. So.

I will always remember this little girl. I mean, she had to be, I think 8 or 9 and she could barely reach the piano, but she played with more conviction than many musicians I have seen. And she was playing like the Pink Panther and it was like the most killin’ version of the Pink Panther I’ve ever heard. And just how excited she was when I like asked her to come back up and I was like showing her stuff. I’ll never forget that.

I mean, you can forget, you know playing a great instrument or a great venue, but you’ll never forget those kinds of experiences, so.

Ryan Cohan
This tour in particular, because it requires a deeper type of skill set of not only playing at the highest level, but being able to communicate in ways that are not usually the case, it really makes you articulate what the most important values you have in your group.

Specifically for me, how I relate to my group, I’ve had this group together for over ten years and we play, we tour nationally. We’ve toured internationally and it’s always just been about the concerts and we do some master classes.
In this context, having to relate this group to an audience that might not know music at all—let along Jazz or even have seen Americans, it’s made really think about, what are the important values in my quartet that drive me musically and how can I translate those values as poignantly, as effectively as possible to an audience that might not even speak English. The experience of doing that every day makes you a better musician. Just makes you more articulate person, a more articulate artist. It makes you really think about what’s important. What are the values that are important to you as an artist?

Ari Roland
This is Ari Roland of the Chris Byars Quartet.

Ernest Turner
This is Ernest Turner of the Brian Horton Quartet.

Ryan Cohan
This is Ryan Cohan, from the Ryan Cohan Quartet. Join us on the Rhythm Road, American Music Abroad.