Jazz—Am I On The Right Track?

[Stefano]

After being away for 45 years, I have a teacher for classical, but am winging it for jazz.I’ve read through a lot of the relevant threads, and thinking this is how I might approach it.

Work through the standards—I think Peter Spitzer has a good list, and I’m guided partly by him in what follows.

Start with, say, All Blues. Get a transcription (Hal Leonard Real Book for Bass Clef?).

Listen a lot, learn the head and improv solos, know the chord changes, be able to play by memory (in different keys?).

Repeat with other jazz standards.

What I’m describing is a process I would genuinely enjoy. But would it make me a decent jazz musician?

Maybe I don’t even know enough to ask the right questions.

[GGJazz]

Hi all .
Hi Stefano .

Of course , it would be helpful to know your actual level about your experience in Jazz music .

Anyway , if you are an absolute beginner about Jazz improvisation etc , I would like to suggest you some basics things that I think could be really helpful to start with.

1) play a melody that you know very well in all keys . You could start with Happy Birthday to You , as well as When the Saints go marchin in , or All of Me , etc . The important thing is that you have to know the melody in a perfect way , so to be able to recognize immediatly if you miss a note ,
having in your mind the right note you have to play instead of the wrong one .

2) play a long with some Big Band recording , as Count Basie . Choose some medium/ medium slow tempo tunes , (as After Supper , Splanky , etc ) and play the riffs with the Band , by EAR . Aim to stay on time with the Band .

3) play the Blues . I will suggest to start with a 4/4 time , regular changes , F blues ( as Now' the Time) , instead than All Blues , that is a further step. Learn the Blues scale in all keys .

4) play some ballads , head only . Try to be warm , clean , with a good jazz feel .

5) learn Major / minor / dominant 7th scales in all the keys .

There are lots of others things to learn , but , in my opinion , what I listed above can keep you busy for a while .

Of course , maybe you have already done all the things I was talking about !

Regards
Giancarlo

[Stefano]

Many thanks for your response! I played in the jazz band in high school and college many years ago, first trombone, but always suffered through my improvs, as did the audience. I’m a competent classical trombonist, listen to a lot of jazz, and am eager in retirement to become a competent jazz soloist. Standards are fine, but I really like listening to folks like nils Wogrom and Nick Finzer.

I like what you lay out above, and will start working that into my practice.

[VJOFan]

I had a colleague once upon a time who played bass in the orchestra but could swing quite hard. He related his experience in a jazz course during his college days. His teacher emphasized the development of aural skills- using listening to develop jazz vocabulary and style.

Instead of transcribing by writing out solos, the assignment was to pick a favourite solo and work with it until it was possible to sign along with it perfectly. Every dynamic, every rhythm and every articulation had to be perfectly sung before a player could begin putting the solo on the instrument.

This kind of work leads to internalization of performance practice. To get the feel right, it helps to be very deep into just a few things at a time.

[tbdana]

There is no substitute for flight time. In addition to the things mentioned above, seek out as many places as possible to play jazz solos. Do as many as you can, as often as you can. Make them longer than one chorus if you can, so you have to stretch. And, of course, be or become fluent in jazz theory.

[dprice23]

Hi Stefano,

I am walking in your shoes brother! I was a trombone major in the late 80s at Youngstown State, at the time one of the premier jazz programs in the country. I was a decent orchestral player, but I never did what it takes to become a jazz soloist. I just started playing again after 30+ years off, and I want to do it right this time.

So far I'm practicing scales and arpeggios - major, minor, pentatonic - in all 12 keys and across all the range I can currently play. I've also picked a couple JJ Johnson licks I really like to practice in all 12 as well.

Learning to improvise is very much like learning a language. You have to learn vocabulary, but probably the most important thing to achieve fluency is to listen to native speakers!

I'd love to follow your journey if you care to share. And of course I too would welcome any advice from the experienced musicians here.

Good luck to you!

[Stefano]

Hi Stefano,

I am walking in your shoes brother! I was a trombone major in the late 80s at Youngstown State, at the time one of the premier jazz programs in the country. I was a decent orchestral player, but I never did what it takes to become a jazz soloist. I just started playing again after 30+ years off, and I want to do it right this time.

So far I'm practicing scales and arpeggios - major, minor, pentatonic - in all 12 keys and across all the range I can currently play. I've also picked a couple JJ Johnson licks I really like to practice in all 12 as well.

Learning to improvise is very much like learning a language. You have to learn vocabulary, but probably the most important thing to achieve fluency is to listen to native speakers!

I'd love to follow your journey if you care to share. And of course I too would welcome any advice from the experienced musicians here.

May thanks! I’ll give an update from time to time. Good luck!

Good luck to you!

[cb56]

No substitute for actually doing it.
Get band in a box on your computer.
Put in the changes for the songs and jump into the deep end
Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Figure out what works and what doesn't. -->IMO<-- Playing scales and copying other people's solos isn't jazz improvisation.

[Bach5G]

“Playing scales and copying other people's solos isn't jazz improvisation.”

But you have to start somewhere.

[GGJazz]

Hello folks .

Playing solos from great Jazz soloist is the REAL key to understand how to build an improvisation.
The pourpose is not to have some "prepackaged" solos to play when necessary ; the poupose is to LEARN how the great jazzmen think , how they build phrases , how they are resolving tones at the point chords changes , how they play on the time , etc.

In my opinion , if you learn by EAR solos from master jazz players ( J. J. Johnson ,Curtis Fuller , Chet Baker , Dexter Gordon , etc ) , you will gradually assimilate this way of thinking they have , and then you will apply this to YOUR own way of playing.

To improvise music is pretty much the same as to compose music ; the big difference is that when you improvise , you do it immediatly , in real time .

To me , playing over a backing track can be fun , but it is just a waste of time , if you really want learn how to improvise ...

Regards
Giancarlo

[Doug Elliott]

^ This.

Except I don't think playing over backing tracks is a waste of time if you use it to practice applying what you have learned.

[GGJazz]

Hi again .
Hi Doug.

You are right ! I was saying this about playing over a backing track without any clear reference , just a "blowing and good luck" approach ! Many beginners do it this way .

Like you said , if one have to practice something he know etc , and he want to check how this sound like , playing over a backing track it result useful .

Regards
Giancarlo