“Calculated discomfort” is the idea that stepping the right amount outside of your comfort zone is the ultimate key to personal growth—whether it be emotional, professional, artistic, or spiritual.

Last November I invited 15 of my closest friends and collaborators from jazz projects, classical music, and metal bands to join me for a largely improvised recording session. I came armed with a few compositions and sketches, but the main goal of the session was to see what a group of great listeners, out of their comfort zones, could create on the fly with some gentle direction.

We recorded more than six hours of glorious sound over the course of two days, and we did it almost exclusively the old school way: all in the same room without do-overs.

I spent time with all that sound and have paired it down to a 45 minute musical journey that I can’t wait to share with you August 17th.