On mind-melding and my favorite star war

Occasionally I hang out with a famous jazz pianist in LA and one day I told him that it was unreal watching him play, because it’s like he mind-melds with the instrument—you can just see how all the thoughts and ideas seem to just spring effortlessly from his fingers.

He shrugged. “That’s cause I’ve been playing for sixty-something years,” he said.

“Oh, that’s like, more than twice as long as I’ve been alive!” I said, which in hindsight was not the most tactful thing to say.