Lipton’s Journal/December 17, 1954/48

Swing in jazz is different. Swing is a distillation of the competitiveness of social life. One follows the patterns, one loafs until it is one’s turn, and then one is out and racing in a “jam” with victory as the only end. Is a mistake made? Does one falter? No matter; the purpose is not to turn back, to re-explore, to attempt to convert set-back into progress, but instead to go on, to “ride”; to “go.” One is like an automobile driver in traffic who leaves the ensemble of cars and sets out to race, turning corners at hottest speed with no regard for whether a truck is coming the other way. If it is coming perhaps one can swerve at the last moment, but that is around the corner, and the road-race is on. So with bullfighting which is a tableau of the vast competitiveness of life.