It’s been a while since my last update, so I thought I’d share some recent events…
TRUMPET REPAIRS
If you’ve seen pictures of my trumpet, you know it isn’t exactly in tip-top condition. There’s a sizable dent on the bell near the front brace and there’s a random assortment of smaller dings and dents scattered around the horn. The dents and the tarnished appearance don’t bother me, though. If anything, I think they give my trumpet some character. The only thing I’ve really wanted to fix on my horn is the valve action, since I have to oil them every couple of days or they’ll start to stick.
A couple of months ago, while taking my horn out of its case during my regular Thursday night jam session, I noticed that the front brace which connects the lead pipe to the bell had broken off. I think that was my trumpet’s way of telling me enough is enough -- fix me! Since it’s been a loyal companion to me for 21 years, and it only mildly punished me for leaving it in its case for 7 of those years, I decided it was time to do the right thing for my beloved trumpet. I’d have it repaired and restored to its former glory! So, I immediately procrastinated for a couple of months and then I brought it to one of the finest brass repair shops in the Southeast: Rich Ita’s Brass Instrument Workshop. All of the dents will be removed, the valves will be realigned, and it will have it’s first chemical cleaning since… well, ever.
My trumpet should be should be ready this coming Saturday. Until then, I’m playing one of Joe Gransden’s trumpets. It’s a great 1961 Conn Connstellation 38B that’s in fantastic condition thanks to Rich Ita. Joe plans on selling the Connstellation soon, so this is my opportunity to try it out and see if I want it as a backup horn. If I don’t buy it, you can expect to see it on eBay in the near future. Joe’s also going to be selling a pristine Mt. Vernon Bach, but that one’s going to be a little out of my price range. If you’re interested in either of these horns, let me know and I’ll tell you if/when they go on eBay.
I MADE THE MAC SWITCH
I’ve owned an underpowered MacBook for a couple of years now, but I didn’t do much on it aside from testing websites and other software. A week ago, however, my employer sent me a brand new MacBook Pro and I decided it was finally time to make the switch from PC to Mac. What does this have to do with jazz or ear training? Nothing at all. But, it does help to explain why I haven’t updated this site lately (that and my job has kept me very busy). It’s taken quite a bit of time to get everything setup on the new Mac (thank goodness for Parallels), and I still haven’t had time to figure out how I’m going to record new audio clips with the Mac.
The Mac is also relevant to this site because it’s forced me to pay more attention to how my free online ear training program works on a Mac. On my Windows PC, the ear trainer sounds awfully close to a real piano. On a Mac, it just sounds awful. Each note has an electric buzzing sound and the cymbals sound pathetic. While I’ve always known the ear trainer sounded better on my PC, it wasn’t until now that I’ve felt compelled to deal with it. I fear that I won’t be able to find a Java solution to the problem. If that’s the case, I definitely haven’t ruled out the idea of creating a Mac-specific version of the ear training tool. But that’s not exactly how I’d like to spend my free time…
ATLANTA JAZZ SCENE – TWAIN’S
I know most of my readers don’t live in the Atlanta area, but I want to mention how fantastic the Tuesday night jazz jam sessions have been at Twain’s Billiards and Tap. The house band features some of Atlanta’s finest jazz musicians, with Joe Gransden on trumpet, Tyrone Jackson on piano, Craig Shaw on bass, and Chris Burroughs on drums. Each week the turnout has been incredible. By 10 or 11pm, the place is packed. One of the coolest things, to me at least, is the mix of people in the audience. The audience spans all ages with lots of college kids (definitely rare for jazz shows in Atlanta) and even entire families. If you live in the Atlanta area, do yourself a favor and check out the Tuesday night jazz jam session at Twain’s. Just be sure to stay past 10pm because you never know who will drop by as the night goes on.
Here’s what happened last week when Marcus Printup and Russell Gunn joined Joe Gransden on stage:
Last year, I saw an announcement from Dave Douglas, mentioning some of the classes he was going to teach at the 2007 Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music. One of the classes, "Ear Training for Improvisers" really piqued my interest. Not only was it an ear training class specifically geared toward improvisation, but it was also being taught by one of my favorite jazz musicians on the scene today.
Real quick… for those who are less familiar with Dave Douglas, here's a (very) brief bio: Dave Douglas is a two-time grammy-nominated jazz trumpet player, composer, and educator who has recorded over twenty-five albums as a leader and he's appeared on over one hundred recordings as a sideman. In addition to leading his own band, Dave Douglas is well known for his work with John Zorn's Masada group and more recently as a member of the SFJazz Collective. Dave Douglas also started his own independent record label, Greenleaf Music. Here's an even shorter bio: Dave Douglas is a bad ass! For more information, read Dave Douglas' official bio.
Since I knew I couldn't attend Dave Douglas' ear training class in person, I sent him an email hoping to learn more about the class and possibly his thoughts about ear training in general. We exchanged a couple of messages after my initial inquiry, and Dave graciously agreed to write an article about ear training for his GreenleafMusic.com blog. He did warn me, however, that it would probably take several months due to his busy playing and touring schedule. And boy has he been busy… since that first email Dave Douglas toured around the world with the SFJazz Collective and separately with his own band, he composed a 75-minute suite for big band and quartet, and he recorded and released a new live album with his Keystone band. Oh, and don't forget all the other requests he has to contend with from demanding fans like me…
Given Dave Douglas' hectic schedule, I wasn't expecting him to send me anything more than a few paragraphs about ear training. And honestly, I would have been thrilled just to get that. So, you can imagine my surprise and delight when Dave recently sent me six pages worth of ear training exercises and valuable insight!
Below, I'll highlight a few sections of Dave Douglas' ear training article. I encourage you to read the entire article at the GreenleafMusic.com blog.
IS EAR TRAINING IMPORTANT?
If you've read any of my ear training articles, you already know my answer to the above question (hint: my answer rhymes with "Wes"). While I'm absolutely confident in my beliefs about ear training, it certainly helps to have some supporting evidence about the importance of ear training, especially when that evidence comes from professional musicians.
I think the following paragraph from Dave Douglas says it all:
Ear training is the most valuable training for any musician, and maybe most of all for an improviser. Improvisation puts a musician on the spot in unpredictable ways -- you have only your ears to help you learn what's going on and decide how to respond to events or initiate them. Basically ear training underlies anything a musician does: melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, form, density, community (who you are playing with), legacy (how you choose to deal, or not deal, with the traditions of music). You name it -- to be handled fully it has got to be heard deeply and accurately.
IS EAR TRAINING QUICK AND EASY?
If you've searched around for ear training materials, you've probably seen at least one of those ear training programs boasting super fast results. Some even go so far as to suggest that you can develop perfect pitch within a few weeks. I fell for one of these programs myself, many years ago (it was a waste of money). Unfortunately, I've yet to find a "silver bullet" for ear training. It's much more realistic to say that while most methods of ear training will improve your aural skills, the results come slowly, and only through practice and perseverance. Ear training can also be very humbling to realize you can't play simple things accurately by ear. Dave Douglas echoes these sentiments in the following statement:
Ear training takes a lot of time to master, and it seems like the more you work on it the more you see your own shortcomings. It's slow going…
I don't know about you, but I certainly feel a lot better about my own progress with ear training now that I know a fantastic jazz musician like Dave Douglas can relate to the slow (and frustrating) process of ear training.
EAR TRAINING EXERCISES
In his ear training article, Dave Douglas describes several exercises which became part of his practice routine at one time or another. There's a lot of great detail in this section, so be sure to check out the original article for more information. Following are some highlights from Dave Douglas' ear training exercises:
Practice With A Metronome
Dave Douglas illustrates several different ways to practice with a metronome, including everything from playing along to clicks on 2 and 4, to subdividing individual beats so each metronome click represents dotted quarter and dotted half notes. He even goes on to explain how you can use the metronome to practice over tricky meters like 7/8 and 9/8. As Dave states, "These exercises are about developing a solid time feel. Part of my motivation stems from the philosophy that each musician in an ensemble should be equally responsible for the time."
I occasionally practice with a metronome on 2 and 4, but I hadn't even thought about some of these more advanced ideas. I'll definitely give some of them a try, but I probably won't spend too much time with the 7/8 and 9/8 stuff. I'll leave that to the pro's ;-).
Seeing Structures
Dave Douglas' structure exercises involve taking a section, or cell, of music and using that section as source material for improvisation. The improvised material should be the same length as the source material, should sound at least somewhat similar, and should be followed by a repetition of the original source material. For example, let's say you begin with a melody that's two measures long. You'd start out by playing that two-measure melody at a steady tempo (this is a good time to use that metronome). After playing the original melody, you'd improvise for two measures, keeping your improvisation faithful to the original melody. You might stick to the same notes, the same rhythms, the same dynamics, the same general form, whatever. The main point is that the improvised section should be derivative of the original melody and it should be two measures long. After those two improvised measures you'd replay the original two-measure section followed by another two measures of improvisation and so on.
I currently practice a variation of Dave's structure exercises when practicing licks from jazz transcriptions. I'll pick a measure or two that I really like from a transcription and I'll use that lick as the inspiration for my improvisation, occasionally returning to the original lick. If the lick has lot of interval leaps, I'll have a lot of leaps in my solo. If it's bluesy, I'll also try to play bluesy. You get the idea. I don't, however, obey such a regimented structure where I improvise for the same length of the original lick nor do I repeat the original lick after each improvised section. I'm definitely going to spend some quality time doing this exercise as Dave Douglas describes to see where it leads me.
Playing In All Keys
Dave Douglas' final ear training recommendation involves playing music without written materials, in every key. As Dave states, "It should be obvious that this skill is important in improvisation because it entails, essentially, the removal of barriers between the musical imagination and the musical instrument." In other words, the ability to play equally well in any key, and actually without even thinking about key, frees you to play any musical idea that pops into your mind. Dave recommends taking a familiar tune and playing it without written material in each of the twelve keys. You'll only use your ears to guide you from one note to the next.
If you've tried either of my ear training tools, you know that I've got several different exercises to help you play melodies by ear in every key. My simple song randomizer will give you random tune names and starting notes and my ear training applet has random melodies, simple songs, and jazz licks, all of which can be sequenced and modulated. You can even modulate the melodies over the complete cycle of 5th (and 4ths).
A side note… As you probably noticed, Dave Douglas doesn't like to use the term "playing by ear" to specifically mean playing without written materials. In his mind, all music is played "by ear" even when reading from written music, since we're always using our ears to guide us on some level. For instance, even if you're reading from written music, your ears are still able to tell you whether or not you hit a wrong note or whether or not you're out of tune. So, to Dave, there's always a "by ear" element to playing music. I definitely see where Dave is coming from on this and he obviously sees where I, and others, are coming from when we talk about playing (exclusively) by ear. We simply have a different default definition of the phrase "playing by ear". Just thought I'd address that in case anyone was confused, since I use the phrase "playing by ear" throughout this site.
THANK YOU DAVE DOUGLAS!
Dave posted his ear training article to his GreenleafMusic.com blog a few days ago and I've already seen it re-posted on a couple of jazz message boards (TrumpetMaster, TalkBass). No doubt, his article will inspire and motivate more people to spend time with ear training in their daily practice routines. I, for one, am extremely grateful to him for taking the time to share his thoughts about ear training.
If you haven't heard much of Dave Douglas' music, I'd recommend starting with his "Live at the Jazz Standard" recording, which was released in 2007. The interplay between Dave and Donny McCaslin (saxophone) is crazy good. It's an excellent example of what you can do with strong aural skills!
This page contains my improvisation recordings from 2008. As you'll hear below, the recordings feature such highlights as cracked notes, poor note choice, unsteady rhythm, and meandering phrases! And that's why recording myself is so important. It's the best way to evaluate my playing and to chart my progress over time. I don't expect that I'll ever be a great jazz trumpet player, but I am anxious to hear how much better I can get with practice. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.
Unless I overlooked a recording, it's been about four years since the last time I posted a ballad recording ( My Funny Valentine from 2004). Hoping to meet my unofficial ballad quota of one every four years, I gave "My Foolish Heart" a try tonight. This was my first time improvising over the tune. I don't think it sounds too bad, especially considering the fact that I didn't look at the changes. And for the sake of consistency, I even threw in one of my trademark cracked notes near the end!
APRIL 19, 2008
Aebersold #116, Trane's Ride
I recently purchased the "Miles Of Modes" Aebersold recording. As you might guess from the title, it has a lot of modal exercises and tunes. It also has a pretty energetic rhythm section, at least on some of the tracks. This clip features one of my favorite tracks from the play-a-long, "Trane's Ride" (written by Jamey Aebersold). If you've listed to several of my recordings, you know cracked/missed notes are par for the course. Heck, my recordings would probably be unrecognizable without them! Well, let's just say this recording doesn't disappoint. Near the end of the recording are two notes in a row which I totally miss. They're just tiny squeaks of air...
MARCH 9, 2008
Aebersold #104, Drone in E
As I often do when recording, tonight I set my Aebersold tracks to shuffle and tried playing with whatever was randomly selected. I was really in the mood to play something fast and hard-hitting, so when this track from the Kenny Werner - Free Play play-a-long began, I was tempted to hit the "next" button. I decided to give it a try, however, when I saw the title of the track, "Drone in E". Since that's the key of F# on the trumpet, I figured this would be a good chance to challenge myself to play in one of my less familiar keys. This is my first time playing with this Aebersold track, and it's the first time I've shared a clip quite like this, but I thought it came out good enough to share. Just pretend I actually hit those two notes at the end :-)
FEBRUARY 16, 2008
Clip #1 - Aebersold #56 - "I Mean You" by Thelonious Monk.
Clip #2 - Aebersold #56 - "I Mean You" by Thelonious Monk.
I first recorded with this "I Mean You" play-a-long track back in 2004 (). I've improvised with the track a few times over the years but I hadn't had the inclination to make any new recordings until last weekend. Above you'll find a clip from last weekend (Clip #2) as well as a clip from this weekend (Clip #1). As you'll hear, Clip #1 is similar in style to most of my other jazz recordings while Clip #2 is a little more adventurous (at least in parts).
When practicing jazz improvisation, I try to approach my solos with a variety of styles. I'll play a few choruses in a straight-ahead hard/bop style, then I might try something really sparse, or maybe I'll play in an angular or avant-garde style. These varied approaches aren't always successful, but they do help open new avenues of creativity that I might otherwise miss by playing everything the same way all the time. Variety... it really is the spice of life!
As I wrote in my review of the 2007 Atlanta Jazz Festival, last year's Atlanta Jazz Festival was fantastic. The 2007 festival featured some of today's great young musicians such as Vijay Iyer and The Bad Plus and living legends like Charles Tolliver, Bobby Hutcherson, and Herbie Hancock. Ever since the 2007 Atlanta Jazz Festival ended, I've been anxiously awaiting news about the 2008 festival. Who would headline this year? Would there be any great trumpet players? I even started searching the Web a little earlier than normal, as I scoured jazz musician websites hoping to see "Atlanta Jazz Festival" in their schedules. I just knew the 2008 Atlanta Jazz Festival would be one to remember! Turns out I was right…
THE GEORGIA DROUGHT TAKES ITS TOLL
Earlier this year, Piedmont Park officials announced the cancellation of all large festivals due to the Georgia drought. Apparently the ground was so dry that large crowds would have killed all the grass. While this may have been a prudent decision for Piedmont Park, it left Atlanta's largest festivals, including the Atlanta Jazz Festival, scrambling to find a venue. You can imagine how disappointed I was to hear this news. Even worse, when the news first broke, I heard rumors that there might not even be a jazz festival at all this year.
NEW FESTIVAL LOCATION
After a month or so of an uncertain future, it was announced that the 2008 Atlanta Jazz Festival would take place as scheduled, but at a new location: Woodruff Park. While it was great to hear that the Atlanta Jazz Festival found a new home, the new location brought some unfortunate compromises. For starters, Woodruff Park is much smaller than Piedmont Park. Located on just a couple of blocks in downtown Atlanta, Woodruff Park occupies just 3.3 acres of land and has a maximum capacity of less than 50,000 people. Frankly, I don't see how it can hold more than 20,000 people comfortably. By comparison, Piedmont Park is 190 acres and the main concert area can accommodate over 100,000 people. The following image should give you an idea of the different venue sizes:
Due to Woodruff Park's smaller size, the jazz festival couldn't accommodate the types of crowds that you'd expect with big-name acts like Herbie Hancock. Thus the next major compromise would be the decision to feature only Atlanta-based musicians at this year's Atlanta Jazz Festival. That's right, one of the largest metropolitan areas of the southeast was going to have a jazz festival without a single national touring artist. Heck, even Jacksonville had marquee artists like Terrance Blanchard, Casandra Wilson, and Pancho Sanchez at their jazz festival this year (not to pick on Jacksonville, but it only has a metro population of 1.3 million compared to Atlanta's 5.2 million).
Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that Atlanta's jazz musicians had the opportunity to showcase their music and reach a larger audience at this year's jazz festival, especially since they haven't had much of a main-stage presence in the recent festivals. But I think the Atlanta Jazz Festival works best when both local and touring musicians are featured. To me, the absence of big-name touring acts at the jazz festival gives the impression that Atlanta doesn't take jazz seriously. I know this wasn't the intention, but I'm stating this primarily because I'd hate for the city to think a scaled-back jazz festival is sufficient in years to come. While I'm at it, I'd also like to suggest that future Atlanta jazz festivals should feature local Atlanta jazz musicians on the main stage and in a good time slot (between big-name acts). Since main-stage timeslots are in short supply, perhaps there could be an "Atlanta Jazz Showcase" event where several Atlanta musicians/groups share a set. While it's great that Atlanta jazz musicians have had the second stage in recent years at Piedmont Park, they really deserve a premium billing on the main stage. But I digress…
THE MUSIC THIS YEAR
As mentioned, this year's Atlanta Jazz Festival featured only Atlanta jazz musicians. Actually, they did manage to get smooth jazz artist, Mike Phillips, to play on the final night. I don't follow smooth jazz but I believe he's pretty well known in that world. The rest of the lineup included all six winners of our local Future Of Jazz Competition. Only two of these six acts were straight-ahead jazz. The rest were primarily smooth/contemporary jazz musicians. And depending upon how you classify things, only 3 or 4 of the remaining 9 timeslots at this years jazz festival featured straight-ahead jazz musicians. Consequently, to me it really felt like this was a smooth jazz festival with a little straight-ahead thrown in for good measure. And since I'm not a fan of smooth jazz, I wasn't digging a lot of it (here's the full schedule). I did catch one of the smooth jazz performances, though, and the audience certainly seemed to enjoy themselves. In fact, based on their enthusiastic reaction, I'd say Atlanta could definitely support a separate smooth jazz festival. It would be nice, though, if the real "Atlanta Jazz Festival" was mostly straight-ahead.
Following are some pictures and notes from three of my favorite performances at this year's jazz festival:
KEMBA COFIELD
Kemba Cofield was the winner of this year's Future of Jazz Competition for the "Straight-Ahead Vocals" category. She's also one my favorite Atlanta Jazz Vocalists. Kemba always brings a lot of energy to her performances and she has a natural rapport with her audiences. She's one of those people who you really want to succeed as a musician and she definitely did succeed in singing a great set at this year's jazz festival.
GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY JAZZTET
The Georgia State University Jazztet included various members of Georgia State University's jazz faculty, including Gordon Vernick on trumpet, Mace Hibbard on saxophone, Kevin Bales on piano, Dave Frackenpohl on guitar, Robert Dickson on bass, and Justin Varnes on drums. I've heard all of these guys play and in various groups over the years so it was a real treat to hear them all on the stage at once.
MACE HIBBARD
Mace Hibbard won this year's Future of Jazz Competition's "Straight-Ahead Instrumental" category (here's a photo of Mace receiving his award). Mace Hibbard is a fantastic musician and I've seen him play many times around town. If you haven't seen him play yet, you're really missing out. Mace Hibbard is definitely on my short list of must-see Atlanta jazz musicians.
FESTIVAL ATTENDANCE
Even with the smaller venue and lack of national touring acts the 2008 Atlanta Jazz Festival still managed a pretty good turnout, at least for the size of the venue. While there were still several empty pockets around 4pm on Sunday and Monday (the two days I was at the festival), most of those areas were filled in by 6pm. That's fairly consistent with the Piedmont Park venue as well. At both locations it seems like a lot of people wait for the sun to die down a bit before heading out to the festival. Of course, Piedmont Park's "full" is around 100,000 people while the "full" crowd I saw at Woodruff Park was estimated at only 10,000 people or so. But at least Woodruff Park appeared well attended. The following picture shows the Woodruff Park audience on Sunday around 6pm.
LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT YEAR'S JAZZ FESTIVAL
As of now, it's uncertain when (or if) large festivals will return to Piedmont Park. If the Atlanta Jazz Festival is forced to find another location next year, I certainly hope they don't return to Woodruff Park. I can't really think of a delicate way to say this, so I'll just tell it like it is: Woodruff Park is not a good location for the Atlanta Jazz Festival. I know it was one of the original locations many years ago, but the festival has come a long way since then and they've had much better venues.
The first problem with Woodruff Park is that it isn't very park-like. The best viewing area at this year's festival was on Auburn Avenue, in the middle of a street (traffic was blocked off). Directly behind the street was a plaza covered in granite tile. Both the street and plaza area got VERY hot under the direct sun and the hard surfaces were totally uninviting compared to the grassy field of Piedmont Park, or any real park for that matter. There actually is a grassy section in Woodruff Park, but the way the stage was setup (and the way people were sitting and standing) you could barely see or hear the musicians from the grass so it may as well have not existed. I'm sure some people didn't mind sitting in the road or on the plaza, but I really missed Piedmont Park.
The other major problem with Woodruff Park was the high concentration of vagrants, panhandlers, and other street characters. There is certainly some of this in Piedmont Park, but they usually don't make their way into the festival audience and definitely not in such a heavy concentration. At Woodruff Park, I witnessed several instances where people were forced to move because they were being harassed in one way or another. My wife and I were forced to move at one point because some guy sat down near us and kept yelling unintelligible stuff about the Bee Gees and Michael Jackson. Then he started arguing with another street person who pulled up in a wheel chair (an hour later the wheel chair guy got up and danced… a jazz miracle!). Frankly, I feel a little silly complaining about all the street people at Woodruff Park. After all, Woodruff Park is one of their normal hangouts. If anything, the jazz festival audience was intruding on their turf. Let's do them all a favor and not bother them again next year!
If Piedmont Park isn't available next year, there are definitely better venues than Woodruff Park. The old home of the jazz festival, Grant Park, seems like a great alternative. I'd also suggest Candler Park. At 55 acres, Candler Park is much bigger than Woodruff Park and it just so happens to be within walking distance of my house :-)
SPECIAL THANKS TO FESTIVAL ORGANIZERS
While this year's Atlanta Jazz Festival certainly wasn't ideal by any stretch, I do give a lot of credit to the festival organizers for making the best of an unfortunate situation. I know the change in venue wasn't their idea and I'm sure they would have wanted to book some big-name touring acts. But, things happen and, as they say, the show must go on. Given the circumstances, I'd say the event went really well. Kudos to the Atlanta Jazz Festival coordinators for pulling it all together!
ATLANTA JAZZ FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
For reference purposes, here's the schedule for the 31st (2008) Atlanta Jazz Festival:
May 24, 2008 - 2pm - Youth band competition, 3rd place
May 24, 2008 - 3pm - Future of Jazz Winner: Genetic Drift (Fusion)
May 24, 2008 - 4pm - Future of Jazz Winner: Heather Johnson (Contemporary Vocals)
May 24, 2008 - 5pm - Rua 6
May 24, 2008 - 6:30pm - Bernard Linnette, featuring vocalist Charito
May 24, 2008 - 8pm - Serenata Band
May 25, 2008 - 2pm - Youth band competition, 2nd place
May 25, 2008 - 3pm - Future of Jazz Winner: Bradford (Nu Jazz)
May 25, 2008 - 4pm - Future of Jazz Winner: Kemba Cofield (Straight-ahead Vocals) w/ Melvin Jones on trumpet
May 25, 2008 - 5pm - Gordon Vernick and the GSU Jazztet
May 25, 2008 - 6:30pm - Joe Jennings and Howard Nicholson's Lifeforce
May 25, 2008 - 8pm - The Ojeda Penn Experience
May 26, 2008 - 2pm - Youth band competition, 1st place
May 26, 2008 - 3pm - Future of Jazz Winner: Zon 3 (Contemporary Instrumental)
May 26, 2008 - 4pm - Future of Jazz Winner: Mace Hibbard (Straight-ahead Instrumental)
A few months ago I was introduced to the director of jazz studies at one of the local Atlanta universities. For the sake of anonymity, let's call him Joshua. The person making the introduction told Joshua that I have a website featuring Atlanta jazz musicians, Atlanta jazz clubs, and Atlanta jazz concerts. Joshua asked me for the name of my site, but when I told him the name he didn't recognize it. I then told him that I had written about several jazz events at his school and that he's probably seen my site when he does online searches for "Atlanta Jazz" topics. Once again, he said he wasn't familiar with my site. I certainly wasn't offended that Joshua didn't know about my site, after all there are lots of jazz-related sites out there and I don't expect everyone to know about mine. In fact, I probably wouldn't have given any more thought to our conversation until Joshua said, "You know, I never do any searches for jazz on the Web."
The more I think about Joshua's comment, the more it concerns me. As the director of a university jazz studies program, it's Joshua's duty to prepare his students for a career as jazz musicians. That responsibility shouldn't be limited to teaching them how to play music. For his students to succeed as professional musicians, they need to learn as much as possible about their local jazz scene, including the local musicians, clubs, and events. And most importantly, they need to learn how to promote themselves and their music. In today's world, the Web is unquestionably the most effective medium for accomplishing these goals. And certainly, it's becoming more important every day. I can't help but think that if Joshua isn't actively using the Web to find and disseminate information about jazz, there's a good chance his students aren't either.
I can't speak for other cities, but in Atlanta there aren't any printed publications that cover all of the local jazz musicians, clubs, and concerts. At best, newspapers simply announce national touring acts and a few local events. To truly know what's happening in the Atlanta jazz scene, you have to go online. And even there, you can't simply rely on a single website to tell you all there is to know. You have to continually search for information. Since Joshua isn't searching for jazz online, he and his students are probably out of touch with what's happening in the local jazz community.
Sure, some students will turn to the Web for information on their own, but I don't think their initiative should be taken for granted. As with all of the other important aspects of the jazz curriculum, jazz educators should take the lead when it comes to teaching students about the local jazz scene. Educators should give students a list of websites that feature local musicians, clubs, and events and they should continually search for new online resources so that list doesn't become stale. If you leave it to the students to find this information on their own, there's always the possibility that they'll miss some valuable piece of information and/or fail to make a connection that can help them in their careers.
A major part of your success or failure as a jazz musician stems from your ability to promote yourself and your music. I don't know what Joshua covers on the subject of promotion, but I'm fairly certain there's little discussion of online promotion. I base this on the fact that several of his graduates don't have any web presence at all (not even MySpace pages). Even though I see them play around town, I can't find any information about them online so I don't know where or when they'll be playing next. Consequently, there's a good chance I'll miss their next gig. Their lack of Web presence is odd to me since all of these graduates are young, having grown up in the Internet age. You'd think it would be natural for them to get online and at least create a MySpace page. But in most cases there's nothing. I can't help but think this is because Joshua and the other educators at his school never mentioned anything about online promotion. BTW, for more ideas on jazz promotion, check out my Atlanta jazz - promotion ideas article.
I know there are several music school students who read my jazz blog and use my ear training tools. Perhaps you could shed some light on this subject. What role does the Web have in your jazz education? Do your teachers refer to the Web as a place to learn about jazz in your community? Do they give you lists of musicians, clubs, and event-tracking websites? Is online promotion included in our jazz curriculum? If somehow the Web isn't a integral part of your jazz education, I encourage you to start a dialog with your teachers on this subject. Maybe you can school them for a change!
ONE MORE THING
This is a bit of digression, but somewhat related... Jazz students should regularly attend local jazz concerts (not simply national acts). I'd go so far as to say it should be a REQUIRED part of your jazz studies. I attend at least one or two Atlanta jazz concerts each week that feature local Atlanta jazz musicians and I rarely see students at these events. When I was their age I also didn't attend many local jazz concerts. It didn't seem that important to me at the time so I didn't bother. Looking back, I can see how foolish that mentality was. Attending local jazz concerts is a fantastic way to see what life will be like as a working jazz musician and it's a great opportunity to start networking with local musicians. Any one of them might be the source of future gigs and likewise you may need to call upon those local musicians someday to play at one of your gigs. Start learning about your local jazz scene today. See live jazz!
Emilio Solla, a jazz pianist from Argentina who currently resides in Brooklyn, was in Atlanta recently for a concert with the Emory University Big Band. While in town, Emilio joined Gary Motley, Emory's director of jazz studies, to host a jazz improvisation master class at Emory University.
I've attended a dozen or so master classes during the past few years, and while I've enjoyed all of them, most aren't especially educational. The guest artists typically answer audience questions, and they might make a few suggestions to the students about their playing (assuming the students play something), but there typically isn't a lot of actual teaching in these "classes."
On one level, I don't really care if there's any educational merit to master classes. The opportunity to hear master musicians play jazz in an intimate setting is enough of a draw for me. Throw in some interesting stories the golden years of jazz (e.g. Benny Golson's master class) and I'm thrilled just to be there. Obviously, though, the students at these master classes can really benefit from the educational aspect. Ideally, they'd come away from a master class with a new exercise, a new method of playing, or a new approach to music that propels them to a higher level in their own playing.
From an educational standpoint, I'd have to say that Emilio Solla's master class was one of the best master classes I've attended thus far. It was not only rich in content, but he really gave the students a workout that forced them to confront their own limitations. Here are some of the key points from Emlio Solla's master class:
THE MOST IMPORTANT SKILL FOR JAZZ IMPROVISATION
Early on, Emilio Solla asked the students to tell him the single most important skill they need in order to improvise. The students responded with predictable answers like "know your scales" and "learn the chord progressions." But none of these responses were what Emilio was looking for. In fairness to the students, this is a tricky question with a variety of answers. In fact, I was at a master class no too long ago where the guest artist asked a similar question and "know your scales" was the "correct" response.
When the students failed to provide Emilio's intended answer, Emilio told them that the most important skill for jazz improvisation is the ability to hear. Specifically, you need to be able to hear and identify what those around you are playing (if you're improvising with a group), and you need to be able to hear what you're going to play before you play it. In other words, you need strong aural skills. While the importance of strong aural skills is regularly discussed on this website, this was the first master class that I've attended where the message was really driven home. Ideally, every master class would have a discussion about ear training.
HEAR FIRST, THEN PLAY
Emilio Solla continued his discussion about the importance of aural skills by saying you need to hear first, then play. In other words, anything that you play should first be heard in your head so you know what it will sound like before you play it. Emilio went on to describe how most educational programs produce students who have this order reversed. They play first and then they hear. When I was a music student in college, I was one of these students myself. I was just rambling through pre-learned licks and so-called "safe" notes. I didn't even know what those notes would sound like until they came out of my horn. To truly make music, however, I needed to be able to hear the ideas in my head and I needed the ability to play those ideas by ear on my instrument. Again, strong aural skills are the key.
SINGING CHORD CHANGES
After the discussion about hearing, Emilio Solla put the students through their paces by having them sing through the chord changes to "What Is This Thing Called Love," a tune which the students had already been working on. They began by singing the root note to each chord change. It was pretty obvious that the students hadn't tried this before because they had a hard time moving from one pitch to another. As if singing the roots wasn't hard enough on the students, Emilio next asked them take turns singing the chord tones (1,3,5,7) for each chord.
Singing through the chords like this has (at least) two important benefits. First, it's great ear training practice. By training yourself to hear and sing the sounds of each interval and chord, you're internalizing the pitches and the sounds of jazz. This familiarity will improve your ability to hear and play the ideas in your head. Incidentally, my ear training tool has a "Sing: No Play" mode which allows you to sight sing all of the exercises.
The second important benefit of singing through chord changes is the familiarity you'll develop with a tune. When learning a new tune, Emilio Solla always starts by singing through each of the chord changes. Next he sings the melody. By the time he's finished, he has a much deeper connection with the tune than if he simply sat down and read through the changes. This deeper connection may very well be the difference between playing a boring solo and creating spectacular music.
NOTE-LIMITING SOLOS
After the students sang through the chord changes, Emlio Solla asked them to play solos using just the chord tones (1,3,5,7). Note limiting exercises like this can be very liberating and challenging at the same time. The liberating part comes from the fact that you don't have to worry about selecting from all 12 notes. With only 4 notes to choose from (over each chord change) you can focus more on making music and less about note choice. This can be rather challenging for some people, though, especially if you normally play a lot of pre-learned licks and patterns in your solos. You'll actually have to come up with some new ideas for once!
RESIST THE URGE TO SHOW OFF
Throughout the master class, Emilio Solla stressed the importance of creating music in our solos. He's very critical of players who show up to gigs with an arsenal of pre-learned licks and patterns. While these players might sound impressive to some, they're rarely saying anything worthwhile in their solos. To caution us from becoming one of these jazz robots, Emilio made the interesting suggestion of using restraint over our "easy" chords. For example, if you're really strong in the key of C Major and you see that chord change coming up, don't view it as an opportunity to show off. Most likely, that showoff portion of your solo won't fit in with the rest of your solo and you'll end up with an incoherent mess. Instead, make sure that whatever you play augments the rest of your solo, elevating the overall musicality. And remember, sometimes the best thing to play is nothing at all.
PIANO DUET
At the end of the master class, Emilio Solla and Atlanta jazz pianist, Gary Motley, treated us to a wonderful mini-concert. Here's a video clip of them performing "Stella By Starlight." Enjoy!
A couple of days ago, I watched the HBO documentary, "The Leopards Take Manhattan: The Little Band That Roared." The documentary follows the Louisville Leopard Percussionists from their rehearsals in Louisville, Kentucky, to their performance at the 2006 International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) conference in New York, where they opened for Chick Corea, Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJohnette. Opening for Chick Corea at the IAJE conference would be an outstanding accomplishment for anyone, but it's even more remarkable when you consider that the Leopards are all children, ages 7-12!
Led by the award-winning elementary school teacher Diane Downs, the Louisville Leopard Percussionists group is comprised of about 45 children who perform jazz tunes on a variety of instruments including the marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, drum set, timbale, conga, bongo and piano. Before you read any further, listen to this audio clip of the Leopards playing Caravan . Pretty good, eh? You might be thinking this is a super group of especially gifted children, but it isn't. They're just average kids with normal backgrounds, yet they've come together to create exceptional music thanks to the superb tutelage of Diane Downs.
The most fascinating part of the documentary, for me at least, wasn't what these children could play, but rather how they learned to play it. Following are some key points:
LISTEN FIRST
In the documentary, we watch as the students learn the swing classic, "Sing, Sing, Sing." Before doing anything, they sat down together and listened to a recording of the tune. This might not sound like a big deal to some of my readers, but it's definitely a big deal to me. In the eight years that I spent in middle school, high school, and college bands, I don't recall ever listening to a recording of a tune before trying to play it. And if it did happen, it certainly didn't happen more than once or twice.
Why is listening to a recording so important? It's simple: you can't capture music on paper. Take a swing rhythm, for example. Think of all the complex phrasing, accents, inflections, and other stylistic elements that go into a swing rhythm. You could try to squeeze all of that stuff onto a piece of paper, but if the person reading it hasn't ever heard a swing rhythm it won't sound right at all.
Since the Leopards always listen before trying to play music, they begin with a firm understanding of how the music should sound.
LEARNING BY EAR
The Louisville Leopard Percussionists don't use any written music. That's right, all of the music they play is learned by ear. In the documentary, Diane Downs echoes Suzuki's argument for learning by ear. The saying goes: just as people learn to talk before they learn to read, they should learn to play music (by ear) before they learn to read music. I certainly agree with this statement. I also believe that mainstream music education is teaching people how to read INSTEAD of teaching them how to play music, since most music students can't play anything unless it's written down. I don't want to get too carried away on that subject (read this ear training article for more), but I did find it refreshing to hear that the Leopards are learning music by ear. I think the result of that training speaks for itself.
EMPHASIS ON RHYTHM AND PHRASING
In my Learning to Improvise series, I discuss the importance of rhythm and phrasing in jazz improvisation. In short, without good rhythm and phrasing, any group of notes will sound boring and lifeless. While it might seem natural that a percussion group would have a better grasp on rhythm than your average middle or high school band, I believe the Leopards have a leg up due to the way that they learn rhythms. When learning rhythms, the Leopards sing their rhythms aloud, adding words to the rhythms so they internalize both the rhythm and the phrasing of those rhythms. Since they've all practiced the same rhythm and phrasing, they are more cohesive when it comes to group performance. Their emphasis on rhythm and phrasing also carries over to their improvised jazz solos. These young children have a better grasp on rhythm and phrasing than many of the students I've heard in college jazz programs!
PRIDE OF OWNERSHIP AND TEAMWORK
As stated on Diane's page of their website, Diane lets the children experiment and come up with their own parts. This gives them ownership of the music, which in turn helps them to care more about the program and each other. For instance, if one child is having trouble learning something, another will gladly help them to learn the part, offering positive reinforcement along the way. The children know that as a band, they're all in it together and every member is as important as the next. Clearly these children aren't just learning about music, they're also learning tremendously valuable lessons that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
I definitely encourage you to watch this documentary the next time it's aired, especially if you're involved in music education. With music programs shutting down left and right, it's inspiring to see what can still be done.
VIDEO CLIPS
These clips aren't from the documentary, but they do give you some greater insight into the program.
The above clip is a promotional video for the Louisville Leopard Percussionists group.
This clip was shot by one of the Leopards' parents during their 2006 IAJE performance.
This page contains my improvisation recordings from 2008. As you'll hear below, the recordings feature such highlights as cracked notes, poor note choice, unsteady rhythm, and meandering phrases! And that's why recording myself is so important. It's the best way to evaluate my playing and to chart my progress over time. I don't expect that I'll ever be a great jazz trumpet player, but I am anxious to hear how much better I can get with practice. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.
A few months ago I was introduced to the director of jazz studies at one of the local Atlanta universities. For the sake of anonymity, let's call him Joshua. The person making the introduction told Joshua that I have a website featuring Atlanta jazz musicians, Atlanta jazz clubs, and Atlanta jazz concerts. Joshua asked me for the name of my site, but when I told him the name he didn't recognize it. I then told him that I had written about several jazz events at his school and that he's probably seen my site when he does online searches for "Atlanta Jazz" topics. Once again, he said he wasn't familiar with my site. I certainly wasn't offended that Joshua didn't know about my site, after all there are lots of jazz-related sites out there and I don't expect everyone to know about mine. In fact, I probably wouldn't have given any more thought to our conversation until Joshua said, "You know, I never do any searches for jazz on the Web."
A couple of days ago, I watched the HBO documentary, "The Leopards Take Manhattan: The Little Band That Roared." The documentary follows the Louisville Leopard Percussionists from their rehearsals in Louisville, Kentucky, to their performance at the 2006 International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) conference in New York, where they opened for Chick Corea, Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJohnette. Opening for Chick Corea at the IAJE conference would be an outstanding accomplishment for anyone, but it's even more remarkable when you consider that the Leopards are all children, ages 7-12!
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