Advice from New Orleans’s Great Drummer Johnny Vidacovich

There’s a story in the New Orleans music world about one of our great drummers, Johnny Vidacovich. The story goes, a student comes for his first lesson. Johnny listens. He says, hey man, you’re a very proficient drummer. My job is going to be to slop you up … To slop you up. That verb captures improvisation’s appeal: while much of the world values craft and virtuosity, there is also a value in apparent artlessness.