Jamey Aebersold-Vol. 42-F Blues (Concert Eb)

[Jam_Man_Tpt]

I have to improvise on this one for all-state jazz band audition. Does anyone have any suggestions?
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Ben Love
Trumpet: Bach Strad Model 25
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Marcinkiewicz E12.4 Ingram

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
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"Once a Sinfonian, Always a Sinfonian, Long Live Sinfonia!!!"

[Emb_Enh]

Try playin' G minor/Bb major/F minor over it all...

Roddy o-iii<O
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[Self Analysis and Diagnostic Trumpet Method]

[Vessehune]

Go with Roddy's suggestions, and also work in the F Blues scale. Don't rely on the Blues scale itself for your entire solo, but if it is a "Blues" you should alude to it. Try and tell a story. And remember the key to any good solo. SPACE!

[jazz_trpt]

Check out recordings of "Sandu", it's a medium-tempo Eb concert blues. (Clifford Brown originally recorded it, and I believe there's a version on one of the Woody Shaw/Freddie Hubbard albums.)

Do yourself a favor and listen to some real blues singers *sing* the blues, and imitate some of that, too.

Good luck!
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Jeff Helgesen
Free jazz solo transcriptions!

[jonnydb]

Try and use the blues scale as little as possible. That scale should be left to the masters. I would make sure you know the guide tones real well, ie. 3-7 of each chord and also the ninth.

Practice arpeggiating the chords up to the ninth, F A C Eb G, Bb D F Ab C etc.

The best solo is one that does not need a background to tell the harmonic scheme. One should be able to tell by the soloist's choice of notes.

The most important thing that you can do is listen to some of the greats playing on the blues. You also don't just have to listen to trumpet players. I listen to a lot of Charlie Parker and Cannonball Adderley. But it is also important to listen to great trumpeters. I would start with guys like Clifford Brown, Miles, Lee Morgan, Blue Mitchell, Art Farmer, Kenny Dorham and many, many others. I hope that you continue your jazz education past your audition.

Good luck,
Jon
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The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.

[BeboppinFool]

Try writing out one chorus. Play it with your rhythm track, and record yourself doing it.

If you find something in there that you like, practice it many times. Memorize it and maybe play it in a couple other keys for now.

Try writing without the horn in your hand . . . look at the chords and think about which notes ought to sound right, and write passages based on those notes.

When we try to clean up our trumpet technique, the most reliable method is to slow down the metronome. Well, writing out a chorus is how to slow down the metronome to clean up our improvisation technique. After all, improvising is spontaneous composition, so getting some composing chops together is always beneficial.

When you play what you've written with your rhythm track, be sure to record yourself playing. Try playing one written chorus, then improvising one chorus . . . and listen to that. What works? What sucks? Then try writing another chorus, keeping some of that which works, and discarding that which sucks. Then try recording that new written solo with your rhythm track followed by another improvised chorus.

You can't help but get better if you work on it this way. This is based on something Rich Matteson taught me, so don't worry, it's tried and proven.

Keep us posted on your progress!

Rich
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Puttin’ On The Ritz

[Larry Smithee]

[jazz_trpt]

Allow me to reinforce what Larry and Rich are covering here.

One of the most valuable exercises I did when I was making alot of "AHA"s as an ear player was to play along with recordings of players I wanted to sound like, but also TAPE myself doing it, so I could hear what I was doing right and wrong.

Sometimes it would lead me back to correct a problem...other times it would help me internalize a lick or method I played spontaneously -- "That sounded pretty good, it would have sounded even better if I hadn't played this one note here...what could I have played that would have made it sound better?"

Also, I got alot out of doing solo transcriptions of LOTS of different players.

Composing a solo over changes you're learning is supposed to be a good method, one that I've never really adopted (but should).

(Chip McNeill suggested something to me that he recommends to beginning students that I'd never thought about before -- learning to play over chords by simply approaching the chord tones by half steps above and below. (e.g., for Dminor7, approaching from the bottom, C#-D E-F G#-A B-C, or from above, Eb-D Db-C Bb-A Gb-F, or mix-and-match, C#-D Gb-F G#-A Db-C, etc.) This gets you into doing basic chromatic voiceleading without thinking about scales. Interesting idea....)
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Jeff Helgesen
Free jazz solo transcriptions!

[phantom_phrenzy]

Ben, you queer. Why don't you just ask me. I do take from the master, don't I?
Wait....don't ask me. Lets see how it will shape up heeeeeeeeeeheeeeeeee

[drunkiq]

I hate to say it, but if all else fails - write out a solo that shows off you abilites - you should have copy of the song by now...

years back in high school it seemed that the best soloist moved on at a district level, and I swore by some of solos I heard that they where well written and memorized due to the fact that I knew quite a few of the people and knew they could not adlib to save their life... After districts it seemed differnt, the judges seemed to be able to tell who was doing it on the fly and who was playhing a memorized solo...

so lets get some opions, casue I know a good judge will know the difference, I myself did the adlib thing, but of course learned some good licks to add in... working on some good licks well really help out...

-marc

[Fleebat]

Ben:

Couple of things that you might find helpful...

First, you can separate yourself from the majority of high school improvisors by the use of space. Most who are just getting started feel a need to "fill up" every beat, every measure. This is especially common when the focus is on scales. Ends up as a string of "deeduldeeduldeedul" eighth notes that just kind of meander along and don't make much of an impact. Step back from the page (mentally) for a minute, and notice that a twelve-bar blues divides nicely into three parts, four bars each. You can think of it as "question, re-statement, answer." This is really easy to hear in older, simpler blues styles with vocals (like Delta, Chicago, New Orleans). A singer would sing a line over the first four bars ("Lost my baby, Lord I feel so bad") HEY--DON'T LAUGH YOU GUYS! THIS IS A VIABLE FIRST STEP TOWARD BETTER PHRASING! HONEST! Anyway, Ben, then the singer would repeat--maybe with really SLIGHT alterations to the melody, the phrase over the second four bars in the tonality of the IV chord (in your case, that'd be Bb). "I said I lost my baby, Lord I feel so sad." (Note: This is only an example. Losing one's baby does not neccessarily make one feel sad. Trust me here.) And then a "tag" or answer would be sung: "You know she had more girth than any woman I ever had." In jazz-type blues, the kind of progression on your Aebersold record, the chords are a tad more sophisticated, but the division still holds. Examples would include "Stormy Monday" and "Kansas City." Find good-sounding mini-phrases that work on the first four bars. Leave some space--you'll run out of vocabulary real quickly if you try to squeeze in a million notes. Now work those phrases into the second four bars. You may have to alter a note here or there to make it sound good: use chord tones and lead into them by half-steps. (Some of these will be drawn from substitute or altered scales, but you needn't think of the whole scale. After all, it's just a listing of notes that you can use.) The ii/V/I in the last four bars will give you a place to do some noodling as the chords move toward resolution. Keep your eye/ear open for chord tones here, and make it "answer" your first two phrases. Do this again and again (that's what the Aebersold records are designed for). You'll eventually feel comfortable in the key of F, and will come up with new phrases on the spot from the vocabulary you're building. It's very satisfying to feel this start to happen.

Secondly, you'll impress the judges if you make the first note of each change a chord tone. Even if it's short, you'll show them that you're aware of what's going on harmonically at some level, and that you're not just blathering scales at them. This takes lots of practice; WRITE OUT THE CHORD TONES on a staff, and really get them in your head. The more automatic it is, the more you can focus on sound, phrasing, and other MUSICAL things when the chord comes up.

I cannot support the idea of writing and memorizing a solo. Improvising is about reflecting your feelings/ideas at the moment you're playing. If they wanted to hear you recite something you COMPOSED, they'd ask for that. Others obviously feel differently about this, and I know that high school music is often (unfortunately) organized in a competitive way like basketball or football. (Yuck. More outcome-based education. Never mind if the student is actually getting it, so long as it SOUNDS like he's getting it.) But are you sure you WANT to win a certain spot or chair by "sneaking" into it? I wouldn't. Sure, keep a lick or two up your sleeve, something hip that you can slip in. That's vocabulary. But a written-out solo is, at best, PRACTICING to improvise.

Good luck.
Rusty Russell

[BeboppinFool]

[Fleebat]

Rich:

Your point wasn't missed; I couldn't agree more, in fact. During my couple months of lurking before I signed up and started sticking my nose into things, your posts were among those that convinced me that this was a good place to hang around. I disagree heartily with drunkiq, though, who suggested playing a solo for the audition that's written out and memorized. This is what I was referring to.
Still hard to name anyone who can get around on a horn like Rich Matteson could, huh, Rich? He found so much joy in helping young people unlock the mysteries, too.
Rusty Russell

[Fleebat]

Mo stuff...

Rich, Ben, et al:

Lunging back in to recommend that Ben read and re-read Rich's original post, and take it to the bank. I've always had improv students write solos out DURING the lesson. We kind of write them out together according to what we've been discussing/playing. Talk it through, write some, talk it through, etc. As I said in my original post, writing out a solo is PRACTICING improv. Without the constraints of tempo and horn technique, you can think through a concept on paper. I believe that's a great first step. From there, you get to where you can think through it on the fly with your horn. Slow it way, WAY down and challenge yourself to play it in all 12 keys, mistake free (even if you have to play it in whole notes at 30 bpm!). In time, you'll have all those concepts you've worked on in your mind/ear/chops/fingers, and won't have to consciously focus on them so much anymore. THIS is what is meant by the oft-quoted admonition, "learn-such-and-such, then forget it."
Rusty Russell

[BeboppinFool]

Duh! My mistake . . . I had neglected to review all the posts and see what drunkiq had said . . . you're right, Rusty. And thanks, by the way, for writing such a nice post when you could have (and others probably would have) seized the opportunity to admonish me for making this mistake in regard to your post.

Great having you around here, Rusty, and you're proof that things really are getting better on this forum!

Rich
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Puttin’ On The Ritz

[Fleebat]

Thanks, Rich. Having gone through the "gunslinger" thing as a touring & session guitarist in Nashville (no big sessions; don't ask!) for a long time, I don't have much tolerence for the flame thing or time-wasting acrimony, so unless someone really insults me for no good reason I don't expect to issue the kind of post you're talking about. I haven't taught trumpet or improv for a living in years, and it's really satisfying to feel like I might be offering a useful kernel to someone who's trying to get it together.

Hey, Being a Doc follower, do you know Paul Garrett? He's on here sometimes I think. We go back to high school (dark ages... lots of wood and bronze, people rode horses). He stayed with us on his way through town last month, and is playing great. Lives in Atlanta. Heart of gold, chops of steel. I cower!
Rusty Russell

[BeboppinFool]

Yep, I know Paul. We both cower, man.

I want to know if you know Steve Herrmann there in Nashville . . . played trumpet for years with Delbert McClinton and was on Waylon Jennings' band (until recently, know what I mean?) . . . he and I were pals back at NTSU in the late 70's & early 80's and I've only recently sorta lost touch with him. Great trumpet player & improvisor (hey, that's on topic!) and a great guy, too.

You need to send me a private email so we can correspond without wasting Ben's time, here, know what I mean?

Rich
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Puttin’ On The Ritz