Inspiration for improvisers
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques
A significant part of practicing jazz improvisation consists of working on scales, chords, and patterns. Practicing them in a thorough manner will enable you to obtain the most benefit in the shortest amount of time. Unfortunately, we often get caught up in practicing this material in the same incomplete way everyday. For instance, we may …
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Learn tunes. Transcribe solos. The instructions for aspiring jazz musicians are pretty much the same everywhere you go. You want to play longer lines and master tricky chord progressions? “Learn tunes and transcribe solos.” Need more technique and better ears? You get the idea… We receive this advice from our teachers, friends, and from our …
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Learning tunes. Memorizing standards. Building a solid repertoire that continues to grow. These ideas are always hovering at the back of an improviser’s mind. We make lists of tunes, print out lead sheets to study, set deadlines to learn a ton of tunes by and so on and so forth. For years, I did all …
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A recurring theme on this site seems to be language – acquiring, practicing, and applying the jazz language. There is a reason behind all the repetition, however. Language is a very powerful concept when it comes to improvisation and it’s an idea that can drastically change your mentality about the music. But, even before you …
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Clifford Brown is one of those rare musicians that always seems to play the perfect solo. Every phrase is expertly crafted, every note is musical, and each idea is delivered with impeccable sound … If you’re sitting here like me, wishing you had even one of these qualites in your improvised solos, Clifford Brown is …
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It seems like jazz musicians are always thinking about tunes; knowing tunes, learning tunes, how does that one go again? Performing in different situations we are expected to know certain tunes that other musicians will call or even people in the audience will request. This can seem like a very daunting task at first and …
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Composition, Ear Training, Perspectives, Playing Techniques
I have a vivid memory of the first time I tried to play in an early jazz group. I was in school and was asked to play the trumpet part in an ensemble that met each week studying the music of Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, and other significant early players. Cool, building my jazz …
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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 …
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Composition, Ear Training, Transcribing
Have you ever wondered why great pianists, guitarists, bassists, and drummers often sing along as they improvise? Ever noticed how many of the best horn players also happen to be great singers? Great musicians all over, seem to have developed the ability to sing somewhere along the way, whether they’ve had formal training or not. …
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Chords, Composition, Music Theory
The melodic minor scale is a scale that every musician should be familiar with and eventually master. But what many players don’t realize is that this scale encompasses much more than 8 notes to drill in the practice room… Aside from a minor scale variation to memorize, the melodic minor scale presents a number of …
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Inspiration, Jazz Advice and Tips, Playing Techniques
Open up a music theory book and you’ll likely find pages and pages of definitions. Terms like apogituras, retograde inversions, mordents, hemiolas, turns…Good information, but not exactly stuff that you’d want to put into your next solo. I mean what did stuffy old composers know about improvising anyway? But before you dismiss all that tedious …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Language
Your mother probably taught you not to steal…That taking something that wasn’t yours was wrong or that pocketing an item from the shelves of a store could land you into a world of trouble. But what you or your dear mum might not realize is that some of your favorite improvisers are cold-blooded thieves. And …