Manchester Improvisation Festival

26/01/2026

Manchester Improvisation Festival Launches as Part of Independent Venue Week 2026
As part of IVW’s annual celebration of independent music and culture, the Manchester Improvisation Festival is proud to launch its inaugural edition on:

Wednesday 28 January 2026 at The Carlton Club, Whalley Range, Manchester.

20/01/2026

The melody for one of the Beatles’ most iconic ballads, “Yesterday,” came to Paul McCartney in a dream. When he woke, he immediately went over to the piano in his room and wrote down the notes. Throughout history, dreams have been sources of discovery in both art and science—but why should this be so?

The latest neuroscience suggests that the neural signature during sleep is remarkably similar to that of creative states like flow and improvisation. During these times, activity related to the “waking self” is reduced, which frees the mind to “talk to itself” in novel ways.

We see this in dreams, which reveal the creative power of the subconscious through the real-time creation of fantastic environments, complete with people and dialogue. As Paul suggests, many musicians report playing music in dreams, often alongside their full band. This is an amazing feat when you consider that your subconscious is not only creating the notes your dream-self plays, but also the notes your bandmates are playing simultaneously.

It is the kind of counterpoint you’d think was reserved only for composers like J.S. Bach! Dreams are your mind at play, usually hidden from your waking self. But if you’re lucky enough to remember them—and perhaps have a piano in your room—you might just find the same musical inspiration.

17/01/2026

Saxophonist Gary Bartz in conversation with Gilles Peterson on BBC Radio 6 Music. Gary has performed with many of the greats, including Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Roy Hargrove, and Pharoah Sanders.
With today’s commercial focus, it is easy to forget music’s original purpose as a way to address our most existential questions. Throughout history and across cultures, music has been used as the primary language for this enquiry.

16/01/2026

A lot of people seem to have convinced themselves that they are not creative, and they do not qualify simply because they are not a painter or musician, etc.
But if you are human, you are creative! It comes built-in as standard, just like our ability to walk or speak a language.

Maybe you are a parent who plays make-believe with your child, a mechanic who diagnoses an endless variation of faults, a shop assistant who deals with different customers daily. In fact, most complex tasks demand some degree of creativity, which is the reason we have evolved to be creative in the first place.

Each unique individual is creative in their own way, and expression can take an endless number of forms. Creativity is not one thing - it is a wide spectrum that accommodates everyone on the planet.

15/01/2026

When Hawke speaks of “being creative at your best,” he refers to a flow state in which rational thought and self-awareness are reduced. In this state, the subconscious is free to communicate without the “self” getting in the way, allowing years of learned discipline to shine.

This creative process is foundational across all art forms, and its corresponding neural signature—the literal shutting down of the brain’s “inner critic”—has been well-documented in neuroscience.

It perfectly echoes Pat Metheny’s sentiment on the loss of self during improvisation: “At my best, I don’t even feel like I’m doing anything.”

13/01/2026

Manchester Improvisation Festival Launches as Part of Independent Venue Week - Wed 28th Jan - Tickets on sale now! (SeeTickets)

Big shout out to for the awesome poster artwork!

Buy tickets for Manchester Improvisation Festival 2026 at The Carlton Club from the official retailer, See Tickets.

11/01/2026

McCoy Tyner (pianist for John Coltrane) points toward the idea of an existential purpose and their shared commitment to it. They viewed music as a divine gift—one that words could not satisfactorily explain—and something that existed far beyond their individual egos.

This sense of purpose relates directly to the creative act to which artists selflessly devote themselves. It is not a rational decision, but a calling: a deeply felt meaning that must be attended to. It is the act of doing for the sake of doing, needing no external end goal.

The mental state of improvisation requires being fully in the moment; the music must come first and the ego must step aside. The “reason” becomes the music itself, and the music, in turn, transcends the self. It is easy to see why artists describe the experience of channeling or being a “vessel,” since they feel the music originates from a place other than themselves. This raises the inevitable question: “Where does the music come from?”

It is natural that music, as a language of felt meaning, would be used in a spiritual context—a practice demonstrated across cultures throughout history. The visceral nature of sound invites us into a world that words cannot explain, which is exactly why it is the perfect vehicle for the inward journey and outward awakening.

“During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life.” — John Coltrane (A Love Supreme, 1964)

09/01/2026

Keith Jarrett is describing an approach to improvisation where—in contrast to structured musical forms—there is no predefined framework. He literally starts from “zero,” a blank page. He has stated that when beginning a performance, he has no idea what he will play until he strikes the first note; only then, from that singular seed, does the music spontaneously emerge. This is the essence of improvisation: being entirely true to the moment.

Charlie Haden, a long-term collaborator of Jarrett’s, mirrors this sentiment. He suggests that to keep music “true,” one must approach it with fresh eyes every time, stripped of all preconceptions.

This philosophy has been echoed by jazz legends throughout history:

“You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.” - Charlie Parker

“Learn everything you can, then forget it.” - Miles Davis

“A jazz musician has to improvise within a given framework, but the framework must be internalized so deeply that it disappears.” - Bill Evans

01/01/2026

Pat Metheny describes his mind state during improvisation as being detached from his usual self and being that of the observer or listener asking the question: “What would I like to hear?” He goes on to say that this takes place in almost real time, in less than a millisecond.

“At my best, I don’t even feel like I’m doing anything. I’m just standing there listening. And if there happened to be a guitar player there, which there is, and it happens to be me, what would I like to hear that player do - and then I play that.” - Pat Metheny

“I wanna be able to really be in the moment at the most micro level possible, while essentially being almost removed from it. In that place where the goal of maximum consciousness is an essential component of what it takes to be a great musician, that same sense of consciousness is also paradoxically the thing that you find disappearing completely as you get to your best moments on the bandstand.” - Pat Metheny

By shifting to “What would I (the listener) like to hear that player do?”, he removes the “ownership” of the performance. This allows the music to arise from the body unhindered

Metheny mentions this happens in “less than a millisecond.” In neuroscience, this is the gap between a pre-reflective urge and conscious action. By positioning himself as the “listener,” he stays in that millisecond gap. He isn’t the cause of the music; he is the response to the music as it emerges.

29/12/2025

Following up on my previous Keith Jarrett post - I highlighted this quote in the caption and wanted to share the source so you can form your own perspective on his words.

To me, he’s pointing to the idea of “somatic intelligence” - knowledge the body intuitively holds that the conscious mind hasn’t direct access to. And by tapping into these deeper layers of knowing within the body-mind system, you can find new ways of doing things.

Love to hear your own interpretations in the comments!

“I started to realise that my left hand knew things that I did not know, my left hand actually had knowledge that I wasn’t letting it tell me for years and years, when I gave it the right to just play it started to play things that kept the harmonic flow hanging in the way that I was looking for.” - Keith Jarrett