For Western musicians living before the time of Jazz, composition was the main route to the expression of their intrinsic musicality. Composition in this manner had some very prohibitive features, not the least of which was that everything had to be written down. As a result performers were required to play the score (and in most cases nothing else). Miles Davis called it “robot shit”. The birth of jazz and the development of digital recording, has transformed this old notion. With the arrival of Jazz came a shift in focus from composer to performer. Jazz offered musicians a platform for improvisation, a chance to experiment and tap into their intrinsic musicality more freely. (Unfortunately today the word Jazz has become loaded with connotations of heady musical masturbation, having become more focused on technical virtuosity than on musical and artistic expression). Before digital technology, the arrangement had to come first, restricting...