9بخش

Gentlemen, ladies, I apologize

on behalf of Shaffer Conservatory.

Piece of shit.

I’ll **ing kill you.

Fuck you.

Get the.

Get the ** off me.

Get off me.

Fuck off.

Fuck you.

Fuck you!

Fuck you, Fletcher!

Fuck you!

Get off.

Fuck.

Piece of shit!

Fuck you!

When did you start talking to her?

Your father got in contact this week.

Does the name Sean Casey mean anything to you?

You know of his death?

Last month, he hanged himself in his apartment.

What does that have to do with me?

He suffered from anxiety and depression.

His mother claims this started during his time as Fletcher’s student.

Now, the Caseys aren’t wealthy, they don’t wanna file suit.

So, what do they want?

To make sure Terence Fletcher is never allowed to do this to another student.

Hey, Dad, look at my paradiddle.

Yeah, that’s my boy.

He didn’t do anything.

What is wrong with you?

It’s over, okay?

He’s out of your life.

Why would you let him get away?

Would you characterize his conduct as extreme, Andrew?

Did he ever intentionally inflict emotional distress?

This would not be a public hearing, you know.

Fletcher would never know it was you who spoke up.

Why would you do this to me?

Do you think that I would let him put my son through hell

and then just walk away scot-free?

Don’t you know I would never let that happen?

That there is nothing in the world more important to me than you?

Don’t you know that?

Andrew?

Andrew?

Just tell me what to say.

And I loaded the pantry up with Gushers.

Saw that.

Okay.

All right.

Thanks.

Right on, man.

Andrew.

Hey.

I don’t know if you heard. Uh.

I’m not at Shaffer anymore.

Yeah, I did hear that.

Did you quit?

Not exactly.

Some parents got a kid from Sean Casey’s year, I think, to say some things about me.

Although why anybody would have anything other than peaches and cream to say about me is a mystery.

Yeah.

That’s a good laugh, right?

I’m sorry.

No, listen.

I get it.

I’m sorry.

I know I made enemies.

I’m conducting a little, though.

They brought back the JVC Fest this year.

They got me opening in a couple of weeks with a pro band.

That’s great.

Yeah.

It’s all right.

Truth is, I don’t think people understood what it was I was doing at Shaffer.

I wasn’t there to conduct.

Any **ing moron can wave his arms and keep people in tempo.

I was there to push people beyond what’s expected of them.

I believe that is.

an absolute necessity.

Otherwise, we’re depriving the world of the next Louis Armstrong.

The next Charlie Parker.

I told you about how Charlie Parker became Charlie Parker, right?

Jo Jones threw a cymbal at his head. Exactly.

Parker’s a young kid, pretty good on the sax.

Gets up to play at a cutting session, and he **s it up.

And Jones nearly decapitates him for it.

And he’s laughed off-stage.

Cries himself to sleep that night, but the next morning, what does he do?

He practices.

And he practices and he practices with one goal in mind,

never to be laughed at again.

And a year later, he goes back to the Reno and he steps up on that stage,

and plays the best mother**ing solo the world has ever heard.

So imagine if Jones had just said,

“Well, that’s okay, Charlie. That was all right.

Good job.”

And then Charlie thinks to himself, “Well, shit, I did do a pretty good job.”

End of story.

No Bird.

That, to me, is an absolute tragedy.

But that’s just what the world wants now.

People wonder why jazz is dying.

I tell you, man, and every Starbucks “jazz” album

just proves my point, really.

There are no two words in the English language more harmful than “good job.”

But is there a line?

You know, maybe you go too far and you discourage the next Charlie Parker

from ever becoming Charlie Parker.

No, man, no.

Because the next Charlie Parker would never be discouraged.

Yeah.

The truth is, Andrew.

I never really had a Charlie Parker.

But I tried.

I actually **ing tried.

And that’s more than most people ever do.

And I will never apologize for how I tried.

I’ll see you later.

Yeah.

Hey, Andrew.

Listen, I have no idea how you’re gonna take this,

but the band I’m leading for JVC, my drummer is not cutting it.

You understand what I’m saying?

No.

I’m using the Studio Band playlist.

You know, “Caravan,” “Whiplash.”

I need somebody who really knows those charts.

What about Ryan Connolly?

All Connolly ever was to me was incentive for you.

Tanner?

Tanner switched to premed.

I guess he got discouraged.

Hey.

Take the weekend; Think about it.