TAKE ONE STEP BACK AND TWO STEPS FORWARD

Hoday!

Evaluating yourself is always a good thing. In music, it's easy to get complacent. And it can be hard to reach the next plateau without professional help. My single best reason for education is that it will help you reach new plateaus - even if they're not exactly what you had in mind. Sometimes it's good to take one step back to get two steps ahead.

One of the goals of every jazz musician is to become a polished improviser. We begin by learning some chord changes, and then ll-V-l changs in different keys but can we ever learn how to improvise on our own? Maybe, but there's more than playing licks you know in any song you play.

First there's knowing how to arrange your improv to the theme of the song. Many times we have a set amount of "licks" that we arbitrarily insert into whatever song we're playing. What happens when those "licks" sound redundant? How many "licks" do we need to know to speak the proper text of improvisation in conjunction with every song we play? Do we have a memorized set of licks for every song? No. We learn by experience, taking lessons, listening and analyzing music, and having a plan. A plan that includes:

• Learning the Vocabulary of Jazz Theory - ll-V-l, and rhythm changes
• Make Improvisational Phrases - Start low end high...
• Learn Call and Response - Questions and Answers
• Listen to what you are hearing - Use your ears!
• Don't Overplay - Start simple and keep it simple
• Try to improvise out of your comfort zone of memorized licks

There are a number of plans you can develop by knowing what your weaknesses are. One of my main weaknesses has always been using memorized licks over chord changes. My plan is to take the songs of Bill Evans and re-write new solos using parts of Evans' solos and then use compositional tools like retrograde, dimunition, sequencing, and others to create a phrase that makes sense over the solo time frame.

I know you don't have a lot of extra time doing this but you can start simple by choosing a simple 12 bar blues song like "All Blues" or "Freddie the Freeloader," then transcribe a solo, analyze it and re-write it. Isn't music great!

Other blues tunes to analyze are:
John Coltrane: Blue Train, Cousin Mary, Equinox
Duke Ellington: C Jam Blues
Milt Jackson: Bag's groove
Charles Mingus: Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
Thelonius Monk: Blue Monk, Straight, No Chaser
Oliver Nelson: Stolen Moments, Blues and the Abstract Truth
Charlie Parker: Now is the Time, K.C. Blues, Au Privave, Bloomdido

Later,

John