"Don't play the F..."

In my movie Dead Right, the story progression developed elliptically; we see an action in Scene 1 and a new action in Scene 2, so the viewer can “read between the scenes” to know what would have occurred that wasn’t shown but had to have taken place to make Scene 2 possible. This goes against the old adage of “Tell them what you are going to tell them; tell them; tell them what you have told them” which I find rather tedious.

After writing this for my new book, I found myself  watching a video interview with John McLaughlin talking about Miles Davis and the recording of “In a Silent Way” saying, “it was a question of really pruning, and he [Miles Davis] would say ‘don’t play this’. I remember we’d play the blues in F and he [Miles Davis] said: “Don’t play the F.” 

Sometimes, what you leave out is what defines the piece and makes it memorable.

You can read John McLaughlin's interview here:

http://larryappelbaum.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/interview-with-john-mclaughlin-conclusion/