Improvisation – Page 2 – The Woodshed

Playing the Changes: It’s what separates the men from the boys.

Jazz improvisation is inherently subjective. What makes one solo “better” than any other is often a matter of taste, a preference for a given style. But while articulation, swing feel, and phrasing vary wildly from one great player to the next, every noteworthy improviser is able to effortlessly demonstrate a tune’s chordal movement. Just as any writer worth her salt showcases complete mastery over grammatical convention, the conversant jazz musician must be fully in command of the harmonic structure on top of which they are improvising. Simply put: You’ve gotta be able to play the changes!

Arguably even more important than their virtuosic technique and impeccable rhythmic feel, what makes the great players truly great is their unshakable fluency of harmonic language. Until you are playing all the changes over a tune, your not really playing the tune. All the cool licks in the world won’t make you sound any more proficient than a truckload of glue will convince anybody that little Tommy’s mustache is a all-natural, glorious Tom Selleck. ...read more

Roy Haynes Solo on “In Walked Bud”

Following up my first post regarding bebop drum vocabulary, I thought it would be fun to present an incredibly tasty Roy Haynes transcription. This particular solo is from Thelonious Monk’s 1958 live album Misterioso, and features Thelonious on piano, Johnny Griffin on tenor sax, Ahmed Abdul-Malik on bass, and the incomparable Roy Haynes on drums.

There are several reasons that make this particular drum solo so enjoyable, both as a listener and as a student honing one’s craft.

Of the two chorus solo, Roy devotes the entire first chorus to the melody. “In Walked Bud” is a catchy and repetitive tune; perfect for developing rhythmic ideas around the kit. Roy masterfully orchestrates the slight variations along the way, and provides a valuable lesson in the power of simplicity.

The second chorus opens up into more traditional bebop drum vocabulary. There are plenty of wonderful ideas played here, from the thoughtful use of buzzes, stick-on-stick passages, and rimshots to create sonic variety, to the introduction of triplets and sixteenth notes as the chorus develops as a means of increasing tension.

Lastly, Roy maintains his usual sense of swagger. That is to say, nothing is played in a careless, boring way. Every musical phrase has a sense of urgency behind it!

Patterns: Part 2 – Endless Possibilities

Maybe I’m just a math geek, but I love exploring patterns on my horn. A plethora of jazz literature is available on scalar/pattern studies (Jerry Coker, Oliver Nelson, David Baker, Slonimsky, etc.), each offering a veritable buffet of patterns for you to get under your fingers and have in your back pocket. You COULD just open one of these books, flip to any page, read the lick, and transpose into all 12 keys, and repeat. But for me, these books just collect dust on my shelves. Meanwhile I’m practicing patterns almost every day.

In my last post I explored why patterns, when used thoughtfully and judiciously, are essential for the improvising musician. …

But how can you form your own patterns? Here’s a framework.

Patterns are composed of cells, or small, mathematically constructed groups of notes.

Coltrane was famous for his exploration and application of various cells.

Bebop Solos for Drumset

Bebop Drum Solos

One of the challenges in teaching jazz drumset to younger musicians is connecting the dots between their existing physical technique and a stylistic concept of what it means to play jazz/bebop vocabulary. John Riley has authored three incredible books: The Art of Bop Drumming, Beyond Bop Drumming, and The Jazz Drummer’s Workshop; all of which prove helpful to students over the course of their development.

It also goes without saying that listening to jazz music (or any style of music one is attempting to master) is first and foremost the most vital learning tool. A particular strategy that I have utilized more often in recent years is composing short exercises to introduce classic bebop drum vocabulary. Many of these phrases are common, and are reminiscent of Max Roach or Roy Haynes. That being said, they feel fresh and exciting for a young drummer only beginning to build a toolkit of jazz phrasing/vocabulary. ...read more

Patterns: Part 1 – Why Practice Patterns?

Let’s start by eliminating what patterns are NOT:

Most patterns are NOT solo material. Plug in your David Baker diminished pattern lick over the first altered dominant chord you can find at your next gig, and your solo will be about as tasty as soggy, cold French fries. Yes, they are still French fries, and technically they qualify as food, but would you ever walk into B.K. and ask for “extra cold and soggy fries, please”? Don’t serve your audience cold fries.

Bottom line: don’t practice a pattern just so you can have some cool crap to plug into your solo. It’s typically lazy and unimaginative. You should PRACTICE plugging patterns into tunes to get their sound in your ear and notes under your fingers, but please don’t allow that to become your ultimate artistic statement. In my next post, however, I will explore some creative pattern construction techniques that I use to come up with fresh, pattern-based lines. I often find them sneaking into my solos. I am not ashamed of this, as they can be extremely effective vehicles for implying complex harmony, adding the perfect amount of tension or release at the right time. But I think pattern application of this variety is the exception, rather than the rule. ...read more