I Returned To Jazz After 20 Years–and Discovered 5 Unfair Advantages

I walked away from the jazz community for 20 years. When I came back, I realized it had given me several unfair advantages. Jazz had been building a strong foundation I didn’t even recognize—until now.

I grew up in a small town with a thriving performing arts culture. While each music director set high standards, our jazz band director demanded our very best. His expectations required the highest levels of musicianship possible—pushing us to play at professional levels in high school.

Little did I know that he was helping each of us craft a rock-solid foundation that would serve us in the long term.

After high school, I took a detour. My interests shifted towards other genres of music: indie, rock, pop, alternative, and CCM. While I made great friends in these communities, it always felt like something was missing.

In my mid-30s, I found my way back into the jazz community. This time, I was entering with a whole new musical voice: the saxophone.

The saxophone trifecta.

As I returned to the jazz community, I noticed something unexpected: it felt familiar, like I hadn’t missed a beat. Unlike most other forms of music, jazz doesn’t follow what’s trendy or hip. It just carries on as musicians shape their communities.

Twenty years ago, I was a trumpet and double bass player in a small town. Now, I live outside Los Angeles and play saxophone. Outside of that, everything felt familiar as it did 20 years ago.

Despite being absent for two decades, I was welcomed by others—even those who were more established. I wasn’t viewed as a competitor. I was a member of the community.

Many people assume it would be too late to return 20 years later. That’s when I realized what makes jazz truly special—it’s a community that plays by different rules compared to other genres.

Just because jazz doesn’t change much doesn’t mean that it’s embracing old traditions or dying out. I once held that belief as well.

As I dug deeper into the community, I discovered how jazz offers advantages unlike any other. These advantages are not trendy. They are timeless and constant.

Jazz’s 5 Major Advantages

As I resumed my training after 20 years away—learning more licks, mastering more standards, and playing in all 12 keys—I noticed the spark that I once had as a young musician returned:

• I didn’t feel stagnant; I was getting better.

• I wasn’t wondering what was missing; I felt more fulfilled.

• I wasn’t questioning my musical choices; I was happier with myself.

• I didn’t feel restricted; I had my creative freedom back.

Through these realizations, I remembered that jazz musicians had massive advantages over the rest. These advantages apply both within and beyond the music industry.

1 | Jazz Demands Advanced Musicianship

It’s no secret that jazz requires a high level of musicianship. Compared to other genres of music, jazz contains the widest variety of chord changes, rhythms, phrases, and voicings. For instrumentalists, it demands full technical mastery alongside musical expression.

When I played in other genres, only a fraction of that was required. Chord changes and voicings were predictable. There were a handful of rhythms and phrases that were standard and recycled often.

Unlike jazz, other genres have a lower barrier to entry. Their predictability creates a musical atmosphere that feels simple and safe. Listeners crave catchy melodies supported by predictable chord changes.

Jazz is the honey badger of music genres—it doesn’t care about safety. It goes off the deep end and makes sharp turns. Performers and listeners are required to ride these musical rollercoasters.

Most importantly, jazz doesn’t care whether you are pretty, rich, or well-connected. It simply asks one question to musicians and listeners alike:

What can you contribute to this community?

2 | Jazz Training Is Highly Transferable

This is an advantage I recognized long before returning to the jazz community.

I started as a jazz musician and ventured into other genres after high school. Jazz expanded my skills and abilities to the point where they overlapped with those of other genres. All I had to do was learn the best practices for each genre.

For most musicians, transitioning from jazz to other genres feels effortless. Jazz is a musical gym where the weightlifting is heavy and the gymnastics appear randomized. In comparison, other genres represent musical gyms where the lifting is lighter and the gymnastics are more orderly.

Even if they are not the most well-known performers, jazz musicians are regularly called upon to contribute to other genres. These genres might not ask for Giant Steps in full, but there are small bits and pieces from a jazz musician’s repertoire that make them catchier and tasteful.

Outside the music industry, jazz training provides enormous advantages. Applied correctly, it produces more creative, resilient, and adaptable people across all other industries. It’s one of the few genres that requires continuous improvement at all times.

3 | Jazz Has No Age Limit

Most modern music genres are focused on optics. That’s not to say that optics are bad or aren’t a part of jazz either, but they don’t hold nearly the same weight they bear in modern genres.

Every five years, pop musicians phase in and out. Older, seasoned pop stars “age out” to be replaced by newer, younger pop stars. Talent management is constantly on the lookout for the next new, hip, and sexy act that draws in the big bucks.

It doesn’t matter how much seasoned pop stars contributed. As markets change, new pop stars rise. Every pop star has their own hourglass for their career.

Jazz has no age limits. It accepts both young and old musicians. It doesn’t say “you’re too late.” It just cares whether you’re willing to contribute and continue growing in your abilities. It’s a musical trade school with no end in sight.

While new voices in jazz are embraced, established musicians maintain their prestige. There’s no culture that phases someone out. Musicians enter and exit on their own schedule.

There’s one differentiator that makes jazz special: it’s one of the few genres where late bloomers are made. Here are a few examples:

• John Coltrane didn’t become a defining voice until later in his career, after being fired by Miles Davis and through relentless practice and exploration.

• Clark Terry’s influence spanned decades, mentoring generations of musicians well into his late years.

• Thelonious Monk was ahead of his time. His unique style wasn’t widely accepted early on—but over time, it reshaped the sound of modern jazz.

• Marshall Allen dropped his first album at 100 years old. No, that’s not a typo. 100 years old.

4 | Jazz Has A Tighter Community

It’s tempting to be part of a community with an army of followers. Massive communities feel safe and predictable. But these communities end up chasing trends. This behavior creates significant ebb and flow among community members.

There’s a running joke that jazz musicians play many notes for a few people, while pop and rock musicians play a few notes for many people. This cliche isn’t wrong, but it’s incomplete—it doesn’t demonstrate the strength of those communities.

Jazz has a smaller but tighter community compared to other genres. It is one of the most diverse communities, where members originate from different races, genders, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Despite their differences, there is one unifier: the music. This unifier points back to the same adage from earlier: Jazz doesn’t care who you are; it cares about what you can contribute to the community.

5 | Jazz Enables Greater Creative Freedom

“Fear no mistakes; there are none.” –Miles Davis

This is the greatest advantage of jazz music. Unlike other genres, which follow predictable patterns of melodies and chords, jazz offers the greatest creative freedom of them all. It is an expression machine that lets anyone train and explore their musicianship in almost any direction.

How has jazz gotten away with this for so long compared to other genres? It’s the underlying driving force behind jazz itself: the musicians. Unlike other genres, the market doesn’t determine the music—it’s the musicians.

Jazz creates the space necessary for creative explorations. Through exploration, musicians discover licks that work well, which can transfer into other genres. Jazz serves as the research and development department, producing innovations that can be applied across other departments of the music industry.

Unlike other genres, jazz rewards risk. It is the genre that promotes breaking the rules. Everyone learns rules, but then they break them. In jazz, breaking the rules is not the exception—it’s the expectation from everybody in the community.

These Advantages Are For A Lifetime

It took me 20 years to fully appreciate jazz’s value. It wasn’t an old-school genre that remained stagnant—it’s a system and training ground that made the rest of my musical journey more adaptable and fluid.

The five advantages have made me more creative, adaptable, and resilient. Jazz helped me connect my analytical and creative sides. Even though I later recognized continuous improvement as an engineer, I experienced it first through jazz.

As I continue to embrace my return to the jazz community, it’s not my goal to become the next Miles Davis or John Coltrane. They serve as examples of what’s possible.

The goal is simpler: to become a better version of myself. Jazz was the first true vehicle to reveal a fundamental truth: every day, you’re either getting better or getting worse.

The good news is that jazz provides the community and tools needed to keep getting better, no matter how long it takes. And once you’ve trained this way, you don’t just become a better musician.

You become someone who can adapt anywhere.