What does it really take to become an artist?

Learning to play an instrument is one thing. Learning what to do with that ability is something else entirely.

In The Art of Skill, legendary jazz saxophonist Dave Liebman and musician and educator Michael Lake explore what happens after you have learned the notes, developed your technique, and put in the hours.

The real challenge begins when you have to discover what you have to say.

Drawing on Dave Liebman’s extraordinary life in music, the book explores what allows a musician to move beyond imitation and develop a genuine artistic identity. It is about listening more deeply, recognizing habits that limit your playing, moving beyond what feels comfortable, and having the courage to follow your own instincts.

This isn’t a book about scales, exercises, or technical instruction. It’s about the person behind the instrument.

Why do some musicians continue to grow while others become trapped by the skills they worked so hard to develop? How do you move beyond the licks, patterns, and habits that have become second nature?

Dave Liebman has spent a lifetime wrestling with these questions. His ideas come from decades of performing, listening, teaching, experimenting, failing, discovering, and reinventing himself as an artist.

The Art of Skill is for musicians who want more than technical mastery—for anyone who senses another level of musical development, one that has less to do with what you can play and more to do with who you are when you play it.