What is Genius?

What is genius?

Is genius merely an obsession for one thing that then displaces everything else, pushing all other things into the background?

Take arranger Gil Evans, who reportedly transcribed -note for note- live radio broadcasts as they aired. He taught himself how to transcribe records painstakingly, too, by notating each instrumental line on the score by hand (how many kids in music school today can do this?)  Evans learned directly from the masters.  He developed a deep understanding of how instrumental sounds could be sculpted and layered.  He became one of the best arrangers in history. Bar none.

Most people are aware of Evans because of his collaborations with Miles Davis (Porgy and Bess, Birth of the Cool, Sketches of Spain...)  However, Gil Evans was obsessed with bands, jazz, and arranging decades before he crossed paths with Miles.  According to author Larry Hicock, who wrote a wonderful and comprehensive book "Castles Made of Sound, The Story of Gil Evans," hearing Louis Armstrong recordings and Duke Ellington live in San Francisco in 1927 decided his fate to become an arranger and bandleader.

 I am sure that Gil Evans was a genius.  What's less certain is whether genius is something a person is born with or if it results from a love and obsession for one thing, translated into action.  The passion for something coupled with the unwavering devotion to doing it over and over and over without tiring. Gil Evans was obsessed with arranging. It consumed him.

Mozart was a prodigy.  Beethoven was exceptionally brilliant.  Johann Sebastian Bach, Wagner, Haydn, Brahms, Chopin, genius composers all.  But how?

Malcolm Gladwell in Blink, noted that those at the top of their chosen professions were "thin slicers" who studied and honed their craft endlessly. Obsession, discipline, and passion inspired athletes Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma to dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to putting in "10,000 hours," (read Blink to see what I'm talking about.)

I know many excellent musicians extremely disciplined and dedicated to their craft.  Are any of them geniuses?

What makes someone a musical genius?

John Coltrane was not a "natural" player, I once heard a music historian say on a radio program.  But Trane became obsessed and his passion and drive made him dig ever deeper to become the genius we recognize him to be today. As a Coltrane fan, I never truly understood what that historian meant. I think about it a lot.

Charlie Parker was not always the genius we know him to be today. A cymbal thrown on the bandstand by drummer Papa Jo Jones when Bird wasn't playing the right stuff, shows us he wasn't born with the skills he later developed. But he became obsessed and dug deep, and now musicians refer to Bird as the father of modern jazz improvisational language (otherwise known as bebop), perhaps the most influential of all styles.  Music historians consider Bird a genius.

So, what is genius?

Is it God given talent/aptitude fueled by passion and drive?  

I honestly don't know.  But I find it hard to believe that passion and obsession alone make anyone a genius. It must be something more mystical and deep...

Perhaps gifts aren't bestowed by our creator.  Maybe genius is actually something deep within everyone, a kind of inner spirit lying dormant. Those we call geniuses have to have been brave enough to follow their soul voices inside, despite the world of naysayers, who always try to put a damper on others' dreams.   

One thing is for sure- without authentic passion, obsession, curiosity, and determination- even the most brilliant will never find out if the road ahead leads to a place of mastery and... Well... genius...

Whatever that is.