Tal Wilkenfeld: The Art of 'Edge of the Cliff' Performance, Navigating Grief, and the Philosophy of Trust in Music

This podcast episode features Tal Wilkenfeld, a renowned musician, discussing her profound approach to music, performance, and life. She emphasizes the importance of playing at the "edge of the cliff," embracing uncertainty and vulnerability over perfectionism. Wilkenfeld argues that fear limits artistic expression and walls off musicians from each other, advocating instead for passion and an open, responsive approach to real-time creation. Her experiences with legendary artists like Jeff Beck highlight the significance of musical chemistry, built on trust and a shared aesthetic, rather than mere technical skill or individual confidence.

The conversation delves into the distinction between confidence and trust, with Wilkenfeld preferring trust as a more open and less ego-driven state of knowing one can handle whatever arises. She shares anecdotes from her early career, including performing with Jeff Beck despite food poisoning, and the wisdom imparted by mentors like Anthony Jackson and Steve Gadd. Wilkenfeld also discusses her daily meditation practice, which she extends to her band before shows, to foster connection and flow state, illustrating how inner peace directly translates to enhanced collective performance.

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on Wilkenfeld's journey through profound grief following the deaths of Prince, Leonard Cohen, and later Jeff Beck. She describes how the loss of these mentors and collaborators deeply affected her, leading to a period of unplugging and unexpected healing at The Comedy Store. This experience taught her to laugh at everything and equipped her with tools to process subsequent losses, transforming her perspective on pain and beauty. She reflects on Leonard Cohen's songwriting advice, which encouraged viewing work from multiple perspectives to achieve wider audience interpretation.

Finally, Wilkenfeld explores the nature of loneliness, defining it as a product of feeling separate from the world, and her active efforts to cultivate a sense of interconnectedness through meditation and spiritual study. She touches upon the concept of karma as acquired experiences influencing the future, rather than predetermined fate. The episode ultimately paints a picture of an artist who has deeply integrated her spiritual and philosophical insights into her musical practice, finding profound meaning and connection in both creation and loss.

I am standing on the edge of the cliff the entire night and if I you know mess something up mess it up like what even is a mistake but if I do like a little clunker or whatever it is it's like so what I like I wouldn't have played half the stuff that I'm playing if I wasn't constantly standing on the edge of the cliff like wild

because at the edge of the cliff is all possibilities and unknown you don't know what's coming and I love being there in the unknown it otherwise it's just like why are we doing this am I am I just like a clown on stage like showing you my skills or what you know what I've studied in my bedroom it's like no like I I want to be like pure expression happening right now and responding in real real time to everything that's happening

I think that you can get an adrenaline rush before a stage which is natural but I think as soon as you bring fear to a band stand you're you're like limiting yourself you're kind of like wooling yourself off from everyone else if you're afraid like what is there to be afraid of that you must be afraid of making a mistake and therefore you're coming at it as like a perfectionist and you can't come at music that way or it's not going to be as expansive and vulnerable and true

on your worst day you're still a bad motherfucker

I kind of a word that I prefer over confidence is Trust because I think with confidence is almost like there's there a belief assigned to it that I am this thing that you believe in whereas trust is just simply knowing that you can get up there and handle whatever is going to come your way

The thing that he taught me — or his advice to me was when you're writing a song look at it the next morning like just first thing and read it and then take a walk smoke a joint read it again go have a fight with your you know daughter come back read it again get drunk read it again wait a week read it again just so that you know from every state and every position that you the The wider the lens is going to be from an audience perspective you want things to mean multiple things

I felt like I lost a piece of myself that I had given to somebody else and I feel like people feel that in romantic um exchanges whether it's long-term shortterm you give a piece of yourself and then if that person dies or you break up with that person you feel like you've lost that piece of yourself

Everything Is Beautiful if you if you look long enough and deeply enough