The following is the third in a series. These are excerpts from a featured interview that I did with Jazz Improv Magazine in 2005. – daniel w. jacobs
INTERVIEW:
JAZZ IMPROV: How do you stay balanced as an artist and as an individual given the stress and distractions that surround us constantly?
DAN JACOBS: I have learned to trust my instincts completely about people and situations in my life. If I have a bad feeling about someone or something going on around me, I don’t ignore my instincts or make excuses to “explain” away some odd behavior or situation. I call it for what it is and act accordingly. I either handle them in some effective manner to get them straightened out, or get them out of my life. I get rid of “toxic connections” fast and never look back! Conversely, if I see that I routinely do better around certain people, I’ll do everything in my power to help them any way I can.
I’m very loyal to my friends and I know who they are. I never compromise with my own sense of personal integrity in my music or my life. I figure if I don’t believe in myself, why should anyone else? I have an unshakeable belief in the basic goodness in people. Personally, I’ve never found a person who “tried” to do the wrong thing. In my experience, most people try to do the right thing and are willing to correct themselves…eventually.
Finally, I believe that artists are arguably the most valuable people on this earth. For they seek to inject the culture with all the art, beauty or aesthetics you find on this planet.
Without the working artist, the world would not be as livable, and I’m proud to be counted as one of them.
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