I worked a few years ago with a musician who was shitty to work with, mostly because he lied. Not enormous lies. Just the kind that slowly makes working with someone impossible. He would tell me one thing about money, gigs, lyics, whatever, and then later when it mattered say he never said it. The first couple times I figured maybe I remembered wrong. That’s possible. After a while there was a pattern and somehow every misunderstanding benefited the same person.

Finally I said, “You told me the exact opposite.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did.”

“I would never have said that.”

That last sentence really got me. Not only had the original conversation disappeared, apparently I had invented a version of him who said things the real him would never say. I reminded him where we were when we talked, what else we’d discussed, what I did after based on what he’d told me. No use.

This is a strange thing between musicians considering so much of playing together depends on remembering the small things. Like that somebody rushed the bridge last night. Like we can remember an F-sharp three weeks ago but a conversation about who pays for the hotel completely vanished.

Eventually I realized I didn’t need to prove he was lying. Fool me twice…. Maybe he’d become so good at protecting himself that the editing happened automatically. Who knows. I didn’t like who I became around him. I started saving texts. Making notes after conversations. That’s no way to make music with somebody. I wish not to behave like a court reporter. The relationship reached its natural conclusion.

I finished our work. Didn’t encourage anything more. There are musicians I’ve worked with who make mistakes, lose money, forget things, get grumpy, play badly and occasionally drive me nuts. I can work with all of that. But if we’re going to improvise together, we need at least one thing that isn’t improvised. What happened yesterday.