WEBVTT - Bowie, Jazz, and the Unplayable Piano 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:20.916 Pushkin. Hey, this is Justin Richmond, host of Broken Record. 0:00:21.276 --> 0:00:23.236 We're going on a short hiatus for the holidays, but 0:00:23.276 --> 0:00:26.236 we'll be backed January twenty eighth, and guess what we're 0:00:26.236 --> 0:00:29.676 going weekly in twenty twenty. Super excited and trust me 0:00:29.716 --> 0:00:31.516 when I say we have some great shows coming up 0:00:31.516 --> 0:00:33.596 for you guys. But while you're waiting, we wanted to 0:00:33.596 --> 0:00:35.676 give you a chance to check out another great show 0:00:35.716 --> 0:00:38.916 from Pushkin Industries. It's called Cautionary Tales and it's hosted 0:00:38.916 --> 0:00:41.436 by Tim Harford, who hosts some great shows for the BBC. 0:00:41.836 --> 0:00:44.556 An episode you're about to hear, Tim explores a pivotal 0:00:44.556 --> 0:00:47.676 performance by one of the great jazz improvisers of all time, 0:00:48.036 --> 0:00:51.236 pianist Keith Jared. His solo live shows are known to 0:00:51.276 --> 0:00:54.676 be among the best concert performances. Ever, none of them 0:00:54.716 --> 0:00:57.236 are ever the same. His shows are so special that 0:00:57.276 --> 0:00:59.636 I remember spending an entire paycheck when I was only 0:00:59.676 --> 0:01:01.756 sixteen to catch him in downtown LA and it was 0:01:01.796 --> 0:01:04.236 worth every last cent. But in order for him to 0:01:04.236 --> 0:01:07.636 walk out on stage and improvise, he needs conditions to 0:01:07.716 --> 0:01:12.036 be perfect. He's a notorious control freak who demands complete 0:01:12.196 --> 0:01:15.796 quiet from his audiences. No talking coffee and walking to 0:01:15.836 --> 0:01:19.556 her from the bathroom, just complete attention to the music. Meanwhile, 0:01:19.636 --> 0:01:22.196 Jared's most famous recording comes from a show where nothing 0:01:22.476 --> 0:01:24.836 was right. So why was this concert that should have 0:01:24.876 --> 0:01:27.756 been terrible one of the best of his career. That's 0:01:27.796 --> 0:01:29.956 tim starting point, but it's question for an answer. Leads 0:01:30.036 --> 0:01:32.996 us to David Bowe and producer Brian Eno. You'll want 0:01:32.996 --> 0:01:40.476 to hear this episode, believe me. Here's Tim Harford. As 0:01:40.516 --> 0:01:44.116 the night draws in and the fire blazes on the hearth, 0:01:44.916 --> 0:01:49.196 we warn the children by telling them stories. The juniper 0:01:49.276 --> 0:01:52.716 tree teaches them, Oh, I don't know what it's just horrendous, 0:01:52.836 --> 0:01:58.356 don't google it. But my stories are for the education 0:01:58.516 --> 0:02:02.396 of the grown ups, and my stories are all true. 0:02:03.476 --> 0:02:18.356 I'm Tim Harford. Gather close and listen to my cautionary tale. 0:02:23.596 --> 0:02:28.916 Late in January nineteen seventy five, a German teenager named 0:02:29.156 --> 0:02:33.156 Vera Brandes walked out onto the stage of the Cologne 0:02:33.196 --> 0:02:38.436 Opera House. The auditorium was empty, lit only by the 0:02:38.516 --> 0:02:42.516 dim green glow of the emergency exit sign. This was 0:02:42.556 --> 0:02:47.516 the most exciting day of Vera's life. Vera loved jazz 0:02:47.836 --> 0:02:51.236 and was frustrated that there just wasn't enough good jazz 0:02:51.236 --> 0:02:55.596 in Cologne, so at the age of sixteen, she had 0:02:55.676 --> 0:03:00.476 started to arrange concerts herself. Tonight would be the fifth 0:03:01.076 --> 0:03:04.996 and by far the biggest. Vera Brandes had persuaded the 0:03:05.036 --> 0:03:08.356 Cologne Opera House to host a late night concert of 0:03:08.476 --> 0:03:13.836 jazz from the American pianist Keith Jarrett. A remarkable venue 0:03:14.116 --> 0:03:18.156 for a remarkable twenty nine year old musician. Jarrett had 0:03:18.196 --> 0:03:21.956 already played with greats such as Art Blakey and Miles Davis, 0:03:22.276 --> 0:03:26.796 but now he was on his own. The vast auditorium 0:03:27.076 --> 0:03:30.876 was sold out. Fourteen hundred people were coming, easily the 0:03:30.956 --> 0:03:35.876 largest audience for Jarrett's tour of improvised piano performances. In 0:03:35.916 --> 0:03:39.516 just a few hours, Keith Jarrett would walk out alone 0:03:39.556 --> 0:03:43.076 on that stage. He'd sit down at the piano, and 0:03:43.196 --> 0:03:47.876 without rehearsal or sheet music, he'd begin to play. But 0:03:48.076 --> 0:03:52.676 right now Vera was introducing Keith to the piano in question, 0:03:52.996 --> 0:03:56.876 and it wasn't going well. Jarrett looked at the instrument 0:03:56.916 --> 0:04:01.116 a little warily, played a few notes, walked around it, 0:04:01.396 --> 0:04:05.196 tried a few more. His producer, Manfred Eicher, joined in. 0:04:06.196 --> 0:04:09.956 Neither of them spoke to Vera instead. They were huddled together. 0:04:11.356 --> 0:04:15.196 Then Manfred Eicher came over to Vera. If you don't 0:04:15.236 --> 0:04:20.356 get another piano, Keith can't play tonight. There'd been a mistake. 0:04:21.196 --> 0:04:25.196 Jarrett was and is an exacting musician. He likes things 0:04:25.236 --> 0:04:29.396 to be perfect, absolutely the way he wants them, and 0:04:29.636 --> 0:04:35.676 he'd requested a specific piano, a Bersendorfer Imperial. The opera 0:04:35.676 --> 0:04:38.556 house had told Vera Brands they had just the thing, 0:04:38.996 --> 0:04:42.556 but somehow the piano on stage was nothing like what 0:04:42.676 --> 0:04:46.636 had been promised. As Vera Brands remembered, they found this 0:04:46.796 --> 0:04:50.956 tiny little Burstendorfer that was completely out of tune. The 0:04:51.156 --> 0:04:54.156 upper and the lower octave was wrecked, the black notes 0:04:54.196 --> 0:04:58.836 in the middle didn't work, the pedal stuck. It was unplayable, 0:05:00.116 --> 0:05:06.156 absolutely unplayable, and quite understandably, Jarrett didn't want to play it. 0:05:06.636 --> 0:05:08.956 And when it became clear there was no way to 0:05:08.956 --> 0:05:11.716 get at a replacement piano on stage. When it became 0:05:11.796 --> 0:05:16.676 clear that it was the unplayable piano or nothing, Keith 0:05:16.756 --> 0:05:20.836 Jarrett opted for nothing. He walked out into the rain, 0:05:21.316 --> 0:05:25.476 leaving a bedraggled Vera Brands trailing behind him, begging him 0:05:25.476 --> 0:05:31.076 not to cancel when fourteen hundred people showed up for 0:05:31.116 --> 0:05:34.836 their late night concert. Vera Brandas was going to find 0:05:34.876 --> 0:05:58.356 herself facing a riot. You're listening to another cautionary tale. 0:06:03.636 --> 0:06:06.876 About the same time as Keith Jarrett's encounter with the 0:06:07.116 --> 0:06:11.316 Unplayable Piano on the side of Germany, a very different 0:06:11.396 --> 0:06:16.316 musician was scrambling over his own musical obstacle. Course David Bowie, 0:06:16.636 --> 0:06:21.956 the unearthly ambisexual rock icon, had moved to Berlin. Bowie 0:06:21.996 --> 0:06:25.356 had had a grim, alienating period living in Los Angeles. 0:06:25.636 --> 0:06:29.116 He was beset by legal troubles, his marriage alternated between 0:06:29.156 --> 0:06:32.596 indifference and contempt, and he was taking far too many 0:06:32.676 --> 0:06:37.316 hard drugs. It was a dangerous period for me, Bowie reflected. 0:06:38.036 --> 0:06:40.956 But Bowie had a very different attitude to his music 0:06:41.156 --> 0:06:46.076 than Jarrett. While Jarrett was a purist, Bowie actually enjoyed 0:06:46.196 --> 0:06:51.076 self imposed obstacles. Bowie believed that accidents were to be treasured, 0:06:51.356 --> 0:06:56.316 even planned, rather than avoided. That's why he asked Brian 0:06:56.556 --> 0:07:00.156 Eno to join him and his producer Tony Visconti in Berlin. 0:07:01.276 --> 0:07:05.236 They'd meet regularly in Hunsa Studio too, the Big Hall 0:07:05.396 --> 0:07:08.356 by the Wall, as Bowie called it, It was a 0:07:08.396 --> 0:07:13.196 beautiful rca flawed concert hall popular for recording chamber music, 0:07:13.636 --> 0:07:16.156 and a few hundred feet away from the shadow of 0:07:16.196 --> 0:07:19.556 the burning wall. Eno took to showing up at the 0:07:19.596 --> 0:07:23.476 Hansa studio with a soft black box containing a selection 0:07:23.516 --> 0:07:28.396 of curious cards he called oblique strategies. They're quite simple, 0:07:28.476 --> 0:07:33.236 these cards, small black text on a white background, curved corners. 0:07:33.516 --> 0:07:36.356 They're about the size of playing cards, although there are 0:07:36.356 --> 0:07:38.756 more than a hundred of them, making a thick deck 0:07:38.996 --> 0:07:43.636 to be shuffled and consulted. Each card has a different instruction, 0:07:44.276 --> 0:07:46.196 and you never know which one you're going to get. 0:07:46.956 --> 0:07:50.076 Eno once told me, you have to pick one if 0:07:50.076 --> 0:07:55.716 you don't like it. Tough. Whenever the studio sessions were 0:07:55.796 --> 0:07:59.356 running aground, Eno would draw a card at random and 0:07:59.476 --> 0:08:03.236 relay its strange orders. Be the first not to do 0:08:03.356 --> 0:08:06.876 what has never not been done before. Look at the 0:08:07.036 --> 0:08:12.796 order in which you do things. Emphasize the floors, change 0:08:12.956 --> 0:08:17.596 instrument roles. Sure enough, during the recording of David Bowie's 0:08:17.716 --> 0:08:22.036 Lodger album, Carlos Alamar, one of the world's greatest guitarists, 0:08:22.556 --> 0:08:27.036 was told to play the drums instead. Another guitarist, Adrian Bellu, 0:08:27.476 --> 0:08:30.156 was asked to improvise a solo in response to a 0:08:30.236 --> 0:08:36.516 recording that would eventually become the single boys Keep Swinging. Sorry, 0:08:38.076 --> 0:08:41.996 don't worry about the key, just play. Belieu described the experience. 0:08:42.076 --> 0:08:44.636 It was like a like a freight train coming through 0:08:44.716 --> 0:08:55.116 my mind. It's an amazing solo though, and that astonishing 0:08:55.356 --> 0:08:59.676 wailing guitar at the beginning of Heroes, that's Robert Fripp. 0:09:04.156 --> 0:09:07.636 Fripp was just playing around with guitar feedback, but when 0:09:07.756 --> 0:09:12.396 Visconti patched together the random noises, the effect was beautiful. 0:09:13.276 --> 0:09:16.476 The poet Simon Armitage describes the cards as if you're 0:09:16.476 --> 0:09:20.556 asking the blood in your brain to flow in another direction. 0:09:23.036 --> 0:09:27.916 That doesn't sound fun. Yet the strange, chaotic working process 0:09:27.956 --> 0:09:32.276 produced some of the decade's most crittically acclaimed albums, Low 0:09:32.876 --> 0:09:38.196 Heroes and Lodger. You can't argue with the results. I 0:09:38.276 --> 0:09:41.676 sought out Brian Eno to discuss this strange approach of 0:09:41.716 --> 0:09:46.076 deliberately adding obstacles. Eno is to me one of the 0:09:46.076 --> 0:09:50.236 most interesting musicians alive. He began his musical career in 0:09:50.236 --> 0:09:53.996 the nineteen seventies with Roxy Music, where he'd create strange 0:09:54.076 --> 0:09:57.396 sound effects and play synthesizer with a giant plastic knife 0:09:57.436 --> 0:10:02.396 and fork. He created Music for Airports, a simple, beautiful 0:10:02.476 --> 0:10:06.516 landmark in ambient music, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, 0:10:06.676 --> 0:10:11.916 an influential, sample rich collaboration with David Byrne, and Another 0:10:11.956 --> 0:10:15.356 Green World, the record that Prince once named as his 0:10:15.476 --> 0:10:20.436 biggest inspiration. Eno has collaborated with Talking Heads, You Too, 0:10:20.636 --> 0:10:25.356 Twiler Tharpe, Cold Play, Laurie Anderson, Gavin Bryars, Paul Simon, 0:10:25.516 --> 0:10:29.396 and the Cult director David Lynch. When the music magazine 0:10:29.476 --> 0:10:33.276 Pitchfork listed its top hundred albums of the nineteen seventies, 0:10:33.636 --> 0:10:36.276 Brian Eno had a hand in more than a quarter 0:10:36.356 --> 0:10:40.236 of them. And of course there's his remarkable collaboration with 0:10:40.356 --> 0:10:43.996 David Bowie. But I wanted to talk to Brian not 0:10:44.116 --> 0:10:47.916 just because he's produced beautiful music with remarkable people using 0:10:48.116 --> 0:10:52.796 very strange methods, but also because Brian Eno is, like me, 0:10:53.836 --> 0:10:57.956 a nerd. He thinks hard about why obstacles are so 0:10:58.076 --> 0:11:02.356 often helpful. Listen on and I'll tell you what I learned. 0:11:20.316 --> 0:11:22.876 You know, that feeling of being a tourist in a 0:11:23.036 --> 0:11:27.636 totally foreign land, how rich all the tiny details are, 0:11:27.756 --> 0:11:31.116 how densely layered the memories you can look back on 0:11:31.156 --> 0:11:33.396 a day and marvel at just how much you managed 0:11:33.436 --> 0:11:36.196 to pack in, whereas a day of your normal routines 0:11:36.276 --> 0:11:39.156 can be hard to remember at all. One of the 0:11:39.196 --> 0:11:41.796 things that Brian Eno is trying to achieve with his 0:11:41.996 --> 0:11:47.436 Strange Cards is that same sense of attention of being alert. 0:11:47.476 --> 0:11:51.196 The enemy of creative work is boredom, actually, and the 0:11:51.316 --> 0:11:55.596 friend is alertness. Now, I think what makes you alert 0:11:56.196 --> 0:11:58.476 is to be faced with a situation that is beyond 0:11:58.516 --> 0:12:01.316 your control, so you have to be watching it very 0:12:01.356 --> 0:12:03.956 carefully to see how it unfolds, to be able to 0:12:03.996 --> 0:12:08.916 stay on top of it. That kind of alertness is exciting. 0:12:09.836 --> 0:12:13.756 There's nothing like an unfamiliar problem to make you start focusing. 0:12:14.236 --> 0:12:16.956 If things feel out of your control, maybe even a 0:12:16.996 --> 0:12:21.036 little dangerous, that gets the adrenaline flowing, and, in the 0:12:21.116 --> 0:12:26.836 right circumstances, the creative juices too. This attention grabbing effect 0:12:26.876 --> 0:12:30.156 applies whether we're talking about trying to play a strange instrument, 0:12:30.476 --> 0:12:34.556 navigate a strange place, or work together with a strange person. 0:12:34.916 --> 0:12:37.916 And while it sounds dramatic, it can work its magic 0:12:37.956 --> 0:12:40.956 at a subliminal level. It can be something as subtle 0:12:40.996 --> 0:12:44.156 as whether the words we're reading on a page look 0:12:44.196 --> 0:12:51.796 familiar or odd. Consider a study by the psychologists Connor Diamond, Yeoman, 0:12:52.236 --> 0:12:56.356 Daniel Oppenheimer, and Erica Vaughan. They teamed up with high 0:12:56.356 --> 0:13:00.116 school teachers, getting them to reformat the teaching handouts they used. 0:13:00.716 --> 0:13:04.396 Half their classes, chosen at random, got the original materials 0:13:04.396 --> 0:13:08.516 in standard fonts such as Times New Roman. The other 0:13:08.556 --> 0:13:12.196 half got the same documents reformatted into one of three 0:13:12.516 --> 0:13:18.196 challenging fonts, the dense text of Haddensfeiler, the cursive flourishes 0:13:18.236 --> 0:13:23.236 of Monotype Corcever, or the zesty bounce of comic sans italicized. 0:13:23.716 --> 0:13:28.196 These fonts are, let's be honest, distracting and hard to read. 0:13:28.756 --> 0:13:31.876 But the ugly fonts didn't hamper the students at all. 0:13:32.556 --> 0:13:35.396 Students who had been taught using them ended up scoring 0:13:35.516 --> 0:13:38.636 higher on their exams. We don't know exactly why, but 0:13:38.716 --> 0:13:42.276 it seems that the strange fonts prompted them to pay attention, 0:13:42.716 --> 0:13:46.076 to slow down, and to think about what they were reading. 0:13:46.876 --> 0:13:50.836 If such obstacles make us focus and think harder, they 0:13:50.916 --> 0:13:54.956 may end up not being obstacles at all, but secret weapons. 0:14:02.916 --> 0:14:06.036 There's a second reason that the oblique strategies may have 0:14:06.076 --> 0:14:09.916 helped David Bowie. They pushed him to try something fresh. 0:14:10.956 --> 0:14:14.796 Brianino described to me the tendency of highly skilled musicians 0:14:14.996 --> 0:14:18.396 to end up exploring a narrow territory because it's the 0:14:18.436 --> 0:14:21.516 only place they feel completely comfortable. You get more and 0:14:21.596 --> 0:14:26.436 more competent at dealing with that place, and your cliches 0:14:27.076 --> 0:14:31.916 become increasingly clichde. But when you're forced to start from 0:14:31.956 --> 0:14:36.236 somewhere new, the cliches can be replaced with moments of magic. 0:14:37.236 --> 0:14:40.676 This effect is well understood far outside the realm of music. 0:14:41.436 --> 0:14:46.716 Computer scientists use algorithms to look for solutions to complex problems, 0:14:46.756 --> 0:14:50.196 and those algorithms often use the tactic of stepping back 0:14:50.556 --> 0:14:54.516 and adding some randomness part way through their search. What 0:14:54.676 --> 0:14:57.556 sort of complex problems do I have in mind? There 0:14:57.596 --> 0:15:01.476 are plenty planning efficient roots for a fleet of parcel 0:15:01.556 --> 0:15:05.116 delivery trucks, figuring out the best layout for a silicon chip. 0:15:05.556 --> 0:15:09.396 Such problems have so many possible solutions that it's impossible 0:15:09.556 --> 0:15:13.236 even for a computer to check them all. So computer 0:15:13.316 --> 0:15:16.476 scientists have developed algorithms that try to find a solution 0:15:16.516 --> 0:15:19.156 that may not be perfect, but it is good enough 0:15:20.476 --> 0:15:24.116 you'd be surprised at how many of these algorithms add 0:15:24.356 --> 0:15:28.236 random shocks and remixes. Those shocks are there to prevent 0:15:28.276 --> 0:15:31.956 the algorithm getting stuck on a bad solution. In the jargon, 0:15:32.156 --> 0:15:35.676 that's called a local optimum, but you or I would 0:15:35.716 --> 0:15:39.036 simply call it a dead end. The random shocks offer 0:15:39.076 --> 0:15:41.556 a way of backing out of the dead end and 0:15:41.716 --> 0:15:45.476 trying something else. This might seem a long way from 0:15:45.476 --> 0:15:49.996 our everyday concerns. We're not musical geniuses and we're not 0:15:50.116 --> 0:15:53.796 computer algorithms, but the same logic is at play in 0:15:53.836 --> 0:15:59.076 the most humdrum circumstances, such as our daily commute. For example, 0:15:59.316 --> 0:16:02.596 in my own long standing commute across the London Underground, 0:16:02.796 --> 0:16:05.236 I know exactly where on the platform I should stand 0:16:05.276 --> 0:16:07.596 when I get on the first Tube train, to ensure 0:16:07.636 --> 0:16:10.516 that after riding nine stars, including a change of lines, 0:16:10.836 --> 0:16:13.276 I'm in the perfect position to be first on the 0:16:13.356 --> 0:16:16.236 escalator out of London Bridge station and thus at the 0:16:16.316 --> 0:16:19.916 front of the line for coffee the Monmouth coffeehouse near 0:16:19.956 --> 0:16:23.636 the tube exit. Find differences in where I stand on 0:16:23.636 --> 0:16:26.596 a train platform on one side of the city determine 0:16:26.636 --> 0:16:30.076 how quickly I get my coffee. Half an hour later 0:16:30.116 --> 0:16:33.556 on the other side. Yes, I promise myself I'd never 0:16:33.596 --> 0:16:38.276 become that person. Happened anyway, And however you commute, you 0:16:38.596 --> 0:16:41.956 likely have your own little shortcuts and time saving habits, 0:16:42.596 --> 0:16:46.556 assuming that is those habits really do save you time, 0:16:47.236 --> 0:16:50.676 because according to the logic I've been outlining, if you 0:16:50.756 --> 0:16:54.996 commute being forced to change your plans, they actually help 0:16:55.076 --> 0:16:58.276 you in the long run. It's the obstacle in your 0:16:58.276 --> 0:17:03.316 path that forces you to find a better path. But 0:17:03.436 --> 0:17:07.236 in what circumstances might the London underground possibly be disrupted? 0:17:07.236 --> 0:17:11.556 I hear you ask well. In February twenty fourteen, two 0:17:11.676 --> 0:17:15.516 trade unions representing workers on the subway launched a forty 0:17:15.596 --> 0:17:19.396 eight hour strike which closed well over half the stations 0:17:19.396 --> 0:17:22.956 on the system. The first day of the strike was wet, 0:17:23.156 --> 0:17:25.836 as well as being cold and dark, which will have 0:17:25.876 --> 0:17:28.716 discouraged people from simply walking or getting on a bike. 0:17:29.356 --> 0:17:32.516 The trains and buses that day were rammed full of 0:17:32.596 --> 0:17:35.516 grumpy commuters trying to figure out how to get around 0:17:35.516 --> 0:17:40.476 the disruption. After the strike, the economists Ferdinand roush Seawan 0:17:40.556 --> 0:17:44.676 Larcom and Tim Williams looked at data from London's electronic 0:17:44.756 --> 0:17:47.916 fair card system those fair cards work on the subway, 0:17:48.036 --> 0:17:51.596 the buses, and the overground trains too. Rousch and his 0:17:51.716 --> 0:17:54.876 colleagues identified people who had to change from their regular 0:17:54.956 --> 0:17:58.276 route during the strike. Most changed back again when the 0:17:58.276 --> 0:18:01.996 strike was over, of course, but many did not. They 0:18:02.076 --> 0:18:06.276 realized that they'd been getting their own commute wrong all 0:18:06.316 --> 0:18:09.236 their lives, and all it took to prod them to 0:18:09.276 --> 0:18:16.276 finding a better way was two days of disruption. So 0:18:16.596 --> 0:18:19.636 there are two reasons why an obstacle might actually help 0:18:19.676 --> 0:18:25.356 us solve a problem. First, the ugly font effect. The strange, unfamiliar, 0:18:25.636 --> 0:18:29.636 or even threatening situation grabs your attention and holds it. 0:18:30.036 --> 0:18:33.276 You're not checking your phone, you're not daydreaming, you can't 0:18:33.276 --> 0:18:36.396 afford to miss a second. And then there's the tube 0:18:36.396 --> 0:18:40.076 strike effect, the way a random disruption forces you to 0:18:40.116 --> 0:18:43.356 try something totally new, whether by forcing us to pay 0:18:43.396 --> 0:18:46.596 attention or by prodding us to try something different. These 0:18:46.636 --> 0:18:49.956 obstacles can actually help us find better solutions to the 0:18:49.996 --> 0:18:54.916 problems we face. But this is still a cautionary tale 0:18:54.956 --> 0:18:59.036 because it's a story of danger. The danger is that 0:18:59.076 --> 0:19:03.636 we shun these obstacles, avoid difficulties, flee from problems, when 0:19:03.676 --> 0:19:07.076 in fact we might flourish from facing them head on. 0:19:07.996 --> 0:19:11.476 Keith Jarrett, after all, didn't celebrate the appearance of a 0:19:11.516 --> 0:19:15.196 bad piano on stage at his largest ever concert, rubbing 0:19:15.236 --> 0:19:17.596 his hands in glee at the opportunity to have his 0:19:17.716 --> 0:19:22.076 creativity supercharged by the challenge. Of course he didn't. He 0:19:22.196 --> 0:19:28.236 walked away. Who wouldn't when faced with the unplayable piano. 0:19:28.836 --> 0:19:46.996 We resist. We resist all sorts of obstacles. But the 0:19:47.036 --> 0:19:50.116 most obvious example of this resistance comes when the obstacle 0:19:50.276 --> 0:19:54.396 is a strange or unfamiliar person. There's a large body 0:19:54.396 --> 0:19:57.556 of research that suggests a diverse group of people I 0:19:57.636 --> 0:20:02.636 mean people of different ages, genders, nationalities, professions, and political views. 0:20:02.996 --> 0:20:06.076 That diverse group of people is more likely to find 0:20:06.116 --> 0:20:09.916 solutions or make better judgments than a group full of lookalikes, 0:20:10.156 --> 0:20:14.356 everyone echoing everyone else. When pulling together a team, our 0:20:14.436 --> 0:20:17.076 instinct is to go for quality, the best people we 0:20:17.116 --> 0:20:21.196 can find, But perhaps instead we should be going for variety. 0:20:21.956 --> 0:20:26.476 One analogy is that different perspectives, skills, and experiences are 0:20:26.516 --> 0:20:30.596 like different tools and the toolbox. A well stocked toolbox 0:20:30.716 --> 0:20:33.556 is more useful than a case full of hammers, even 0:20:33.596 --> 0:20:36.876 if they're really good hammers. But while we should be 0:20:36.916 --> 0:20:40.276 looking for a diverse group, we tend to gravitate to 0:20:40.316 --> 0:20:44.276 the familiar friends rather than strangers, people who look and 0:20:44.396 --> 0:20:47.836 sound like us, who reflect our own views and make 0:20:47.956 --> 0:20:51.476 us feel comfortable. We are hammers looking to get cozy 0:20:51.516 --> 0:20:54.996 with other hammers, and we view wrenches and screwdrivers and 0:20:55.116 --> 0:21:01.436 saws as awkward misfits. There's an elegant experiment that underlines 0:21:01.476 --> 0:21:06.036 this point, conducted by the psychologists Katherine Phillips, Katie Lillianquist, 0:21:06.116 --> 0:21:10.276 and Margaret Neil. They gave murder mystery problems to students. 0:21:10.756 --> 0:21:15.156 These problems consisted of dossiers of information with alibis and evidence, 0:21:15.396 --> 0:21:19.716 witness statements, and a choice of three possible suspects, so 0:21:20.356 --> 0:21:24.676 who committed the crime. The researchers divided the groups into 0:21:24.716 --> 0:21:28.436 two sets at random. In one set, the murder mysteries 0:21:28.436 --> 0:21:31.076 would be solved by four people who knew each other 0:21:31.156 --> 0:21:34.156 four friends. In the other set, the dossiers would be 0:21:34.196 --> 0:21:38.836 given to three friends and one stranger for maximum awkwardness. 0:21:39.556 --> 0:21:42.396 You can see where I'm going with this. Obviously, I'm 0:21:42.396 --> 0:21:44.716 going to say that the groups with the stranger solved 0:21:44.716 --> 0:21:48.716 the problem more effectively, which they did, but the scale 0:21:48.716 --> 0:21:52.156 of the improvement may surprise you. The groups of friends 0:21:52.196 --> 0:21:54.796 did better than a random guess between the three options, 0:21:55.236 --> 0:21:57.996 but the groups with a stranger did much better yet, 0:21:58.396 --> 0:22:02.116 with a success rate of seventy five percent. In fact, 0:22:02.316 --> 0:22:04.796 the groups with the stranger were as far ahead of 0:22:04.836 --> 0:22:07.276 the groups of friends as the groups of friends were 0:22:07.316 --> 0:22:11.596 ahead of pure random guests work. But what's really interesting 0:22:11.716 --> 0:22:14.036 is not just that the groups with the stranger made 0:22:14.076 --> 0:22:18.116 smarter decisions than how they felt about it. When the 0:22:18.156 --> 0:22:21.276 scientists interviewed the groups of four friends, they had a 0:22:21.356 --> 0:22:23.676 nice time, and they also thought they'd done a good job. 0:22:24.116 --> 0:22:27.076 They were complaisant. When they spoke to the three friends 0:22:27.076 --> 0:22:30.236 and the stranger, they hadn't enjoyed themselves, and they were 0:22:30.276 --> 0:22:32.996 fun of doubts about whether they'd chosen the guilty man. 0:22:33.876 --> 0:22:37.996 I think that really exemplifies the challenge. Here's what seems 0:22:38.036 --> 0:22:41.076 like an obstacle, this awkward stranger sitting in the group 0:22:41.116 --> 0:22:44.916 and spoiling everyone's fun. But the obstacle is actually a 0:22:44.956 --> 0:22:49.036 secret weapon. The stranger dramatically improves the performance of the group, 0:22:49.596 --> 0:22:53.196 yet the people in the group don't realize it. The 0:22:53.276 --> 0:22:56.916 same thing happened with Brian Eno and his curious cards. 0:22:57.916 --> 0:23:02.196 The musicians hated them. That can't have been a surprise 0:23:02.276 --> 0:23:06.116 to Eno. On that earlier Eno album that Prince loved 0:23:06.116 --> 0:23:10.196 so much, Another Green World, Eno asked Phil Collins, the 0:23:10.276 --> 0:23:15.196 Superstar drama from Genesis, to play the instructions from the cards. 0:23:15.236 --> 0:23:19.516 So infuriated Collins he was reduced to hurling beer cans 0:23:19.556 --> 0:23:25.116 across the studio in frustration. Faced with one piece of 0:23:25.236 --> 0:23:29.276 card inspired foolishness, the guitarist Carlos Alomar told, you know, 0:23:29.636 --> 0:23:34.516 this experiment is stool. The violinist Simon House commented the 0:23:34.676 --> 0:23:38.796 sessions often sounded terrible. Carlos did have a problem simply 0:23:38.836 --> 0:23:42.156 because he's very gifted and professional. He can't bring himself 0:23:42.156 --> 0:23:45.236 to play stuff that sounds like crap. How do we 0:23:45.316 --> 0:23:49.916 persuade ourselves to engage with broken tools, from possible deadlines 0:23:50.236 --> 0:23:53.596 or awkward people when really all we want to do 0:23:54.236 --> 0:24:01.956 is hurled beer cans. Back in dark, rainy Cologne in 0:24:02.156 --> 0:24:06.636 nineteen seventy five, young Vera Brands was in big trouble, 0:24:07.596 --> 0:24:11.716 an opera house full of paying customers, an unplayable piano, 0:24:12.116 --> 0:24:17.076 and an understandably reluctant Keith Jarrett. So she did the 0:24:17.116 --> 0:24:20.356 only thing she could. She ran after Jarrett found him 0:24:20.396 --> 0:24:23.556 waiting in his car, flung open the door and begged 0:24:23.636 --> 0:24:27.796 him not to cancel. And Keith Jarrett, looking out at 0:24:27.796 --> 0:24:32.756 this rain drenched teenage girl, took pity on her. Never forget, 0:24:33.676 --> 0:24:39.236 just for you, Keith Jarrett would play after all. While 0:24:39.236 --> 0:24:42.076 a tuner worked to straighten out some of the kinks 0:24:42.116 --> 0:24:46.316 in the unplayable piano, Vera Brands took Jarrett and Manfred 0:24:46.316 --> 0:24:48.876 Ikea to an Italian restaurant to get some food before 0:24:48.876 --> 0:24:52.236 the show. Jarrett barely had time to bolt down a 0:24:52.276 --> 0:24:55.116 few mouthfuls of pastor before rushing back to the opera 0:24:55.196 --> 0:24:59.276 House to face the piano. The instrument was now in tune, 0:24:59.756 --> 0:25:03.596 but still had some silent keys, a malfunctioning sustain pedal, 0:25:03.716 --> 0:25:06.196 and was harsh and tinny in the upper register, but, 0:25:06.316 --> 0:25:09.916 of course, not being a full sized concert grand, it 0:25:09.956 --> 0:25:13.356 was simply too quiet. If played in the conventional style, 0:25:13.476 --> 0:25:17.636 it would never fill the vast auditorium with music. But 0:25:17.716 --> 0:25:20.476 it was too late to back out. Now utterly alone 0:25:20.916 --> 0:25:25.156 in front of fourteen hundred people, Jarrett walked back out 0:25:25.196 --> 0:25:28.276 onto the stage of the Opera House. He sat down 0:25:28.356 --> 0:25:35.436 at the unplayable piano and began. The minute he played 0:25:35.476 --> 0:25:43.076 the first note, everybody knew this was magic. That's something 0:25:43.716 --> 0:25:48.676 I will never forget. The first tone and everybody was 0:25:50.276 --> 0:25:56.956 totally mesmerized. Jarrett was avoiding those tinny upper registers. He 0:25:57.076 --> 0:25:59.436 was sticking to the middle tones of the keyboard, which 0:25:59.476 --> 0:26:11.436 gave the piece a soothing ambient quality. His left hand 0:26:11.516 --> 0:26:15.276 produced rumbling, repetitive bass riffs as a way of covering 0:26:15.356 --> 0:26:18.636 up the piano's lack of resonance. The music had a 0:26:18.716 --> 0:26:23.596 trance like quality as a result, but Jarrett couldn't simply 0:26:23.636 --> 0:26:27.516 relax into that easy listening zone because the tiny piano 0:26:27.636 --> 0:26:31.876 simply wasn't loud enough. He stood up, twisting, pounding down 0:26:31.916 --> 0:26:35.156 on the keys, desperately trying to create enough volume to 0:26:35.236 --> 0:26:39.396 reach the people in the back row. Jarrett really had 0:26:39.476 --> 0:26:43.116 to play that piano very hard to get enough volume 0:26:43.156 --> 0:26:46.756 to get to the balconies. He was really pachoo pushing 0:26:46.836 --> 0:26:52.516 the hoods down, standing up, sitting down, moaning, writhing. Jarrett 0:26:52.636 --> 0:26:56.356 didn't hold back in any way as he pummeled the 0:26:56.556 --> 0:27:03.236 unplayable piano to produce something unique. That night became legendary, 0:27:03.436 --> 0:27:07.716 the performance that made Keith Jarrett's reputation. It wasn't the 0:27:07.796 --> 0:27:11.356 music that he ever imagined and playing, but handed an 0:27:11.356 --> 0:27:16.596 impossible mess. Jarrett saured, I never before or after saw 0:27:16.676 --> 0:27:19.716 anybody so immersed in his music. You could see it. 0:27:20.156 --> 0:27:24.596 He was absolutely there. That was how one member of 0:27:24.596 --> 0:27:28.316 the audience remembers it. It's just as Brian Eno said, 0:27:29.036 --> 0:27:31.796 what makes you alert is to be faced with a 0:27:31.876 --> 0:27:37.396 situation that is beyond your control. Jarrett was having to 0:27:37.436 --> 0:27:40.596 play the piano in a different style, from a different stance, 0:27:40.876 --> 0:27:44.556 remembering to avoid certain faulty keys, and all in front 0:27:44.596 --> 0:27:48.196 of the largest audience he'd ever faced. You can bet 0:27:48.236 --> 0:27:51.956 that he was alert, and you can bet also that 0:27:52.076 --> 0:27:55.276 he was trying something new, like a commuter dealing with 0:27:55.276 --> 0:27:58.356 a transport strike who suddenly discovers a fresh way to 0:27:58.396 --> 0:28:01.716 the office. Keith Jarrett could have played the music he 0:28:01.796 --> 0:28:04.916 played at Cologne on any piano, but it was only 0:28:04.916 --> 0:28:07.036 when he was forced to deal with the limitations of 0:28:07.036 --> 0:28:09.676 a bad piano that had occurred to him to try. 0:28:12.716 --> 0:28:17.716 Usually we don't try unless something forces us to. Maybe 0:28:17.756 --> 0:28:20.636 it's a subway strike, maybe it's the turn of an 0:28:20.636 --> 0:28:24.796 oblique strategist card, or maybe it's a gilt trip from 0:28:24.836 --> 0:28:36.756 a German teenager. You might wonder why Keith Jarrett and 0:28:36.796 --> 0:28:40.156 Manfred Ikea even bothered to record the concert when they 0:28:40.196 --> 0:28:43.716 expected it to be an embarrassment. It's a fair question. 0:28:44.116 --> 0:28:46.996 Jarrett had told Ika to send the recording engineers home, 0:28:47.036 --> 0:28:50.276 what was the point, but Ika argued that since they 0:28:50.276 --> 0:28:52.316 were there, they might as well press record on the 0:28:52.316 --> 0:28:56.676