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.