A chord is just the name of a sound.
Jazz is neither specific repertoire, nor academic exercise... but a way of life.
These people are interested in a wide variety of music, and that's what we're into.
The way we look at it, everything is a sound.
We expect the listener to have, like, a movie going on when they hear us. That's what it's all about for us.
I always tell my students when you're going to be a jazz musician the first thing you've got to do is be a professional musician, and that means you have to feed yourself with the instrument.