You Need to Be There to See the Sweat

Live Music.

It's as different from listening to a recording as hearing someone recount a meal is from actually eating it. You need to be there to smell the smoke thick in the air, to hear the guy behind you try to pick up the waitress, to watch the leader's style, to witness the musicians interactions.

Anyone who feels that seeing jazz live isn't much different from slapping a new CD into astereo should go check out a show, any show, at any club. After watching Ahmad Jamal finally crack a smile, after hearing spit hit the floor as Tiger Okoshi cleans out his trumpet, after watching Don Byron prance maniacally around stage, even the most diehard homebodies will admit that there is nothing like seeing music unfold before their eyes.

"You need to see jazz live. It's the essence of jazz music: playing without a script, improvising, playing what's unique to that moment," says Cercie Miller.

A figure on the Boston jazz scene for over a decade, Miller has done stints n both Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet and Girl's Night Out. She is now leading her own hand, the Cercie Miller Quartet. Last Tuesday, she headlined at the Regattabar to celebrate the release of her debut CD, Dedication.

"People should go out to hear music, because it is a totally different experience live," she says. Miller recounts how, after hearing both of jazz phenom Joshua Redman's first two albums, she was initially unimpressed. "He was obviously a good player, but he didn't really move me," she says.

"Then I saw him play live a couple of weeks ago and it blew me away. Even someone like myself, who brings a high level of sophistication to my listening, got an amazing amount more out of this live performance.

"Music needs to be seen as well as heard. For people who grew up listening to radio programming, challenging music, avant-guard jazz like The Fringe is going to be very different," she says. "It's just so intense, it demands attention.

"And when you're watching music that's being played live, you are part of that intensity. Some people might be afraid of that. Some people might be afraid of seeing real people sweat, of seeing so much raw emotion. Get over that fear. There's nothing like live music."