TOM'S IMPROVISATION LESSONS
Oct 31, 2024
Hi Tom!
Happy Halloween!
I apologize for the delay with getting materials posted for you.
I got suddenly swamped.
Go ahead and get to work on 1.0 Scalar Exercises for Time in the EXERCISES section as well as all the material forWhen the Saints Go Marching In in the TUNES section. You can proceed to Blues By Five in the TUNES section if you have time.
As you're listening to the recordings, start to notice these melodic devices:
- flatted-3rd to natural-3rd: this is very common in all jazz, particularly early jazz
- chromatic walk-ups in bass lines
TUNES-
Practice When the Saints along with this recording of the Rebirth Brass Band. You can slow down the tempo via the settings wheel - you'll have to click on the link to get to YouTube first.
Try to match their groove/pocket and the articulation/style.
Remember to USE HEADPHONES when playing along with recordings. And to PRACTICE WITH A METRONOME sometimes, instead of the recording itself.
This doc has the head and also 2 different bass lines. The first bass line has a rhythm that is used a lot in New Orleans-style and it is derived from the Charleston dance. The second bass line is more like what you've been doing with scalar walk-downs, etc:
The head of Saints is written out as a typical lead sheet - it's very square and stale. Listen carefully to this recording and try to play the head like they do. MEMORIZE the head to Saints in F concert key - this will facilitate imitation and give you some great material for improvising.
This recording of Saints features a couple of different bass lines and, of course, different ways of playing the head:
We discussed that the form of the blues is 12-bars.
The harmony of a 12-bar blues can use just a few basic chords or have many chords - we'll talk about this when I see you again. Let's get started with Blues By Five which is a blues in Bb recorded by The Miles Davis Quintet in 1957.
I'll have you MEMORIZE Miles' 1st solo chorus which is a fantastic chorus using 2 melodic devices that are commonly used in the blues:
1) flatted-3rd to natural-3rd
2) 6th scale degree to root
For memorizing, it makes sense to just think of all scale degrees in the tonic key.
And a couple of choruses of Bb blues bass lines: