Inspiration for improvisers
Forrest 
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Chords, Jazz Musicians, Jazz Standards, Transcribing
When you start to transcribe and discover what your musical heroes are doing, you begin to open up a whole new understanding about how to improvise and approach chord changes. But then the problem soon becomes, how do you take this understanding and put it into your musical practice? In other words, transcribing is great …
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Doxy is one of those classic Sonny Rollins tunes that gradually made its way into the jazz standard repertoire. Originally recorded in 1954 and released on the album Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins, its compact form and changes make for a great improvisational vehicle. And today, Doxy has become one of the most recommended tunes …
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Composition, Playing Techniques, Premium Only, Tunes
If you’ve ever been to a jam session before, you’ve probably encountered the famous Thelonious Monk tune Well You Needn’t. Over the years, it’s become one of the most popular jazz standards, but unfortunately, this is one of the tunes that the infamous Real Book got wrong… The chord progression of Well You Needn’t written …
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Composition, Jazz Standards, Transcribing
Tune Up is one of those classic up-tempo jazz standards that every player should work on. Composed by Eddie Vinson, It became super well known when legendary trumpeter player Miles Davis recorded it on his 1956 album Blue Haze. And over the years, it’s turned into a popular jam session tune that can be pretty …
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Jazz Musicians, Jazz Standards, Rhythm, Transcribing
Recorda Me is one of Joe Henderson’s most famous compositions. Recorded on his epic album Page One from 1963, he actually composed the popular jazz standard when he was only 15. And over the years, it’s become a mainstay in jazz education and jam sessions alike, making it a need-to-know tune to add to your …
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Composition, Jazz Musicians, Tunes
Maiden Voyage is a classic jazz standard that all improvisers will encounter at some point in their musical journey. With only four chords, beginners tend to gravitate toward this Herbie Hancock masterpiece because it seems like it would be an “easy” jazz tune… While it’s true that there are only four chords and that the …
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Chords, Jazz Education, Music Theory, Scales
Jazz scales are something everyone talks about. Chances are, you’ve been told that you need to know dozens of scales to play jazz and that these structures hold the keys to unlocking jazz improvisation. But what you might not realize is that you don’t need to know a million jazz scales to construct a solid …
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Jazz Musicians, Playing Techniques, Premium Only
Michael Brecker is one of the greatest saxophonists to arise after John Coltrane. Like Trane, he took the instrument places it had never gone before, adding new fingerings, effects, and extended techniques that made him seem like more than a man…… Superhuman. That’s the word that comes to mind when I think of Michael Brecker. …
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Composition, Ear Training, Jazz Standards
Bebop “heads,” what jazz players sometimes call the melody of a tune, tend to be some of the trickiest and most technically demanding strings of notes you’re likely to encounter. Much busier than classic jazz standards, these intricate melodies are generally more difficult to learn, understand, and commit to memory. So what do you do …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Language, Jazz Musicians
When you’re first starting out on your journey learning how to play jazz, you’ll typically come across two different camps of how to go about things… One camp believes that you need a lot of music theory, particularly scales and modes, along with an understanding of how modes are applied to chords. Many refer to …
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Composition, Jazz Musicians, Music Theory, Tunes
Always searching for a new sound to explore and share with the world, jazz musicians are constantly trying to evolve and push the music forward, reaching for something different and exciting… And this is exactly how modal jazz came about. Legends like Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, and Miles Davis began exploring …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Musicians, Jazz Standards, Playing Techniques
Take The A Train is one of the most classic jazz standards you’ll ever come across. Composed by Billy Strayhorn, the tune quickly became the featured tune of The Duke Ellington Orchestra after his son Mercer Ellington found a draft of the tune in the trash… Clearly, Strayhorn was his own worst critic, so it’s …