Postcard from Baghdad

Improvisation enjoys the curious distinction of both being the most widely practiced of all musical activities and the least acknowledged and understood... Improvisation is always changing and adjusting, never fixed, too elusive for analysis and precise description, essentially non-academic... They (Improvisors) know that there is no musical activity that requires greater skill and devotion, preparation, training, and commitment. And so they reject the word and show a reluctance to be identified by what in some quarters has almost become a term of abuse.