Got a few projects on, so I’m taking a little holiday from blogging for a couple of weeks. Hope my dedicated 51.2531 readers (it says here) will be able to handle the disappointment. Hey, I’m sanguine about it – the only…
Blog Archives
La Mer… Qu’on Voit Danser…
Tagged with: Green Dolphin Street, jazz, Marseillaise, pop, practice
Posted in c) Musicianship, e) Rants & Ramblings
Posted in c) Musicianship, e) Rants & Ramblings
Rooting for You
Piano students experience a great leap forward in the authenticity of their sound when they discover the classic rootless voicings. For a breakdown of what they are (and why they are what they are) see Rootless Voicings from Scratch. They…
Composing Solos – or How to Cheat
I have often found it a very useful exercise to sit down and precompose a few choruses of soloing over a tune that’s captured my imagination at the time. It’s pretty obvious to say, really, but improvising is ultimately nothing…
Transcription: Tommy Flanagan on Eclypso
This is a transcription of the two-chorus solo that pianist Tommy Flanagan takes on his own composition Eclypso (solo starts at 0:45). You’ll find it on the 1959 album The Cats. This solo makes a good study for any number of reasons,…
Tagged with: Eclypso, jazz, piano, practice, Tommy Flanagan, transcription
Posted in h) Transcriptions
Posted in h) Transcriptions
Finding Your G Spot
No, it’s not that kind of article. But it’ll probably drive up the hit count a bit… So set spam filters to maximum and we’re going in… Go to your instrument and play a single simple G, nothing more. Listen…
Tagged with: Cedar Walton, Hal Galper, jazz, Kenny Werner, practice, theory
Posted in c) Musicianship, i) Reviews
Posted in c) Musicianship, i) Reviews
A Shaw Thing – Connecting Pentatonic Scales
Mention pentatonics in jazz and people will probably immediately think of Coltrane and McCoy Tyner. They might also think of trumpeter Woody Shaw, who developed pentatonic playing to an incredible level. Woody’s kaleidoscopic approach involved zipping across multiple tonalities on…
Tagged with: Coltrane, jazz, McCoy Tyner, Pentatonic scale, practice, Woody Shaw
Posted in a) Soloing Scales & Modes
Posted in a) Soloing Scales & Modes
Four-Note Scales from Melodic Minor
Well, can we call a four-note scale a scale at all? Possibly not, particularly the ones we’ll be looking at, since the even spread of four notes is more reminiscent of an arpeggio than a scale. But conceptualising them as scales can be…
Tagged with: Herbie Hancock, jazz, melodic minor, practice, solo
Posted in a) Soloing Scales & Modes, b) Harmony & Comping
Posted in a) Soloing Scales & Modes, b) Harmony & Comping
To Lick or Not to Lick…
So everyone’s agreed, right? The way to learn jazz is to learn loads of licks taken from recordings of our favourite players and take them round all the keys. Hmm (a big hmm). While I do agree that you can…
Tagged with: David Devant, jazz, licks, Magic, practice
Posted in a) Soloing Scales & Modes, c) Musicianship
Posted in a) Soloing Scales & Modes, c) Musicianship
The Secret of Jazz? Mathematics
Forget technical studies, listening to the greats, learning licks, advanced harmony, playing out, networking and “living the life”. Well, don’t forget them at all, actually. But those are the obvious bits, and there’s a very simple principle that most learners completely…
Tagged with: comping, heads, jazz, practice, soloing, tunes
Posted in a) Soloing Scales & Modes, b) Harmony & Comping, c) Musicianship
Posted in a) Soloing Scales & Modes, b) Harmony & Comping, c) Musicianship
A Simple Technique for Outside Playing
This article will give you a simple, easy to remember, but very effective formula for taking a solo line outside the changes. When I say simple and easy to remember, I mean it. You’ll grasp the principle inside ten minutes,…
...appetising young books for sale...
Pents book is recommended reading on Gary Burton's Berklee course.
Jason Lyon on Music 