I was told a long time ago that ‘modeling your classical music performance on recordings can ruin your artistic integrity because it distracts you from finding your own interpretation’. Only now have I considered how this can parallel in improvised music, where playing ’like the recording’ leads me to be detached from my current needs and capacity. It’s more honest to understand a song from the recording, but without using it as an excuse to skip over dealing with current challenges, which might mean performing it in a way that bears little resemblance to the original, and this can be constructive.