A Night in Tunisia: Navigating the Interlude & Solo Break
The interlude and solo break of A Night in Tunisia is a scary moment. The build up. The intensity. All eyes are on you. The band drops out, and somehow you have to play something convincing while keeping the time. The first time I performed A Night in Tunisia was at a concert my freshman ...
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Tom Harrell Plays There Will Never Be Another You
One of the best ways to learn a standard and find answers when you’re completely stuck is simple: check out the masters playing the same tunes you’re working on. Not only is it inspiring, listening closely to your favorite players is a way to step outside of yourself and see a chord, a progression, or ...
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10 Tritone Substitution Tactics from Kenny Dorham
Tritone Substitution is one of those terms you often hear tossed around in music theory classes. A definition to memorize, but not something that actually makes it into your playing… But you may want to take another look at this theory device…because you could be missing out on one of the most valuable tools in ...
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The Transcription Step Most Jazz Players Skip
There’s a common saying that any great improvisation boils down to one thing: “playing what you hear”. And over the years, I’ve found this to be true… The more you can let go and access the music inside of yourself, the more personal, expressive, and natural your playing will be. Simply put, this is where is ...
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10 Levels of Playing the Bridge to Rhythm Changes
From the moment George Gershwin’s composition I Got Rhythm entered the jazz repertoire, it quickly became one of the most played, and most important, song forms in this music… And over the years, it has served as a proving ground for serious players everywhere. From beginners eager to show they can hang on the changes ...
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4 Legendary Bye Bye Blackbird Solos (And What to Steal From Each)
Bye Bye Blackbird is a tune that looks simple on paper, yet one that can become surprisingly challenging the moment you begin to solo. And in Part II of our deep-dive into this standard, we’ll unlock a few key tools that’ll help you improvise with musical confidence… Check out Part I here – How Bye ...
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How Bye Bye Blackbird Really Works (Form, Variations, and Solo Concepts)
Of all the standards in the jazz repertoire, there are certain tunes that seem to play themselves. Songs where you can simply outline a few chord tones, follow the changes, and your solo starts to fall into place… And then there are those tunes where you don’t get any help at all. Progressions where all ...
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Chick Corea: 7 Essential Dominant Chord Techniques
Chick Corea is one of the true giants of this music. A name that’s synonymous with dizzying technique, stunning harmonies, and an unmistakeable creativity that is apparent on every one of his records… But here’s the question for anyone learning to improvise and searching for their sound: What can a regular musician actually learn from ...
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Inside Mulgrew Miller’s Solo: You Stepped Out of a Dream
A great solo can teach us many things (on many levels) about the way we improvise – from simply finding the “right notes” that fit a progression, to the finer points of phrasing and musicality. And the solos of the great pianist Mulgrew Miller are no exception… His playing encompasses the tradition, the vocabulary, and ...
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The Relative Minor Formula in Every Standard
One of the keys to developing a more musical approach to navigating chord progressions is not only learning the definitions of chords – but understanding how they relate to each other. It’s all about discovering those hidden connections and musical pathways that aren’t obvious in the scales you learn or emphasized in the lead sheets ...
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Mastering Forward Motion in Jazz Improvisation
When you first start learning to improvise, the focus is often on which notes work over a chord…which scale to play, finding the key, or memorizing chord symbols. But over time, something deeper begins to take shape… You start to realize that soloing isn’t just about hitting the right notes or outlining the changes – ...
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Bill Evans: 4 Tools for Creating Harmonic Motion
For any improviser learning jazz standards, one of the greatest challenges isn’t just learning the chords to a tune – it’s making music with them when you take a solo. And this can be tricky, because the harmony on the page is just a starting point. The real magic begins when you start to move ...
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