The New Canaan Museum & Historical Society is pleased to partner with the First Presbyterian Church to present John Kao, The World According to Jazz: What jazz musicians can teach the rest of us about creativity, collaboration, and finding our way in a disrupted time. The event, which will be held at the church at 178 Oenoke Ridge Road, is free and open to all. Refreshments will be served.

In their journey to mastery, jazz musicians must become proficient at more than their instruments and the rules of harmony. These deeper capacities include the ability to create meaningfully on demand, to collaborate with others, to express authenticity in their artistry, and to capitalize on practice in striving for mastery.

In short, jazz musicians have a great deal to teach the rest of us. In this presentation, John Kao, whom The Economist called “Mr. Creativity”, will illustrate the principles of jazz using demonstrations at the piano as well as a variety of historical examples. He will draw lessons from the rich traditions

of jazz that are relevant for all of us, especially in these dislocated times.

John is author of the bestseller – Jamming; The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity. He is presently the first Turing Fellow at CCAM, Yale’s center for new media. Described as a “serial innovator,”John is a former Harvard Business School professor. He is now a New Canaan resident.