July 25 - #3

Hello All, 

Time to add some more fertilizer (go see live jazz and/or listen with friends).

May also need to do some weeding - what is distracting you?  Try removing it from your practice space or your calendar?

Jams continue every Wednesday and Friday at the Port of Edmonds. Hope to see you.

Mr. B

Hothouse Combo - Kimani/Perez (sub for Glynn)

First the combo got set up to work on some new songs. We had Fried Bananas by Dexter Gordon. I counted the song very slowly and we practiced just playing the melody. We talked about properly articulating the eight notes using jazz articulation. Then we talked about improvisation over the song. The song is in Eb major so using notes from the Eb major scale will work great. Also using notes from the Eb major pentatonic scale and blues scale. We also talked about using chord tones to improvise and playing each chord change. We did an exercise in which one horn player would solo while the other four just played the melody and the person soloing would switch. We talked about being supportive to the other players in the group while they are soloing and being respectful by not talking. 

Next we worked on Cedar’s Blues and improvising on the blues. We talked about playing with a big sound with lots of air and confidence. Especially when soloing. For the saxophone masterclass, Joel, Liam, Max and I talked specifically about tone for saxophone players. In order to play with a good tone your mouth should make the “haw” position. This will open up your throat and make playing the whole range of your saxophone much easier. We also talked about practicing overtones and matching the sound of the normal fingering with the overtone. Answer talked about playing crescendos on long tones. 

In our last segment we played through Lotus Blossom. We had everyone trade 8 bar segments to get a feel for soloing on the song. We focused on playing with emotion and feeling and not playing the music straight off the page but improvising a little. 

- Talli

Little Sunflower Combo - Eisenmenger/Salas

Today, we did a lot more work on arranging and being intentional with our improvising. We did a lot of playing on Bb blues. Specifically, we worked on learning Sonnymoon for Two in F, having half the players play in Bb and the other half play in F the first time, and then those two groups would switch the second time around. 

We discussed more voice leading, getting into how you can find color notes for the proceeding chords that are nearby a note you are already playing. Additionally, we decided to have the participants scat a solo, and we discussed why it is important to be able to hear the melodic idea and to be able to sing it.

After the break, we transitioned to playing Little Sunflower, where we did more improvising over the chord changes. We also discussed the importance of playing in tune on long tunes with extended notes that are held for long periods. We spent some time learning the chord tones for the chords to Little Sunflower. 

Homework: Learn the changes and melody to Little Sunflower - Liam Salas

7/25 - Bergevin, Alex Weber (Fox was absent)

Only four of us this week ... Jon and Oren too.

We started off playing Joe Avery's blues and had fun improvising over it. We passed the tambourine around to focus on SPIRIT, starting to lock in together! Hit the shed at home on this tune to gain confidence and STAND OUT during your solo. Don't let the harmony/rhythm section be the center of attention during your choruses of fame! This tune stays on the 5 in the last 4 bars (no 5 4 or 2 5). Stride piano playing is a "thing," just like knowing how to play with a singer/Latin playing/big band piano playing will get you more gigs. Check out Emmet Cohen?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzl3e0SsQyc&t=29s

Next, we spent some discussion time on Dig and how we can use Sweet Georgia Brown as a jumping off point for improvising over it. Since Dig is a difficult tune to transcribe, we started by learning the head/changes to Sweet Georgia Brown. It's okay to need iReal at the start! 

(Sectionals break— brass had a great chat with Ms. E about having a practice routine!) 

Spent a little more time feeling the groove on Sweet Georgia Brown. Went over the Major

Bebop scale for blowing, also switching to This I Dig of You. Listened to Mobley's recording many times for unification of rhythm and style (legato in piano). It's cool to play downbeats only, you often don't need more than that. Went over the importance of persistence when transcribing, even when the small details are hard to lock down.

Solo circle + traded 4's to learn the changes and practice playing the same riff/lick until it feels good. Don't throw out your good ideas, even if they don't sound good at first. Practice incorporating the chords into your solos, particularly the roots as a starting point.

To work on at home: Polish/work on blowing on this I dig of you/Sweet Georgia Brown/Joe Avery. Transcribe solos (and voicings) from the recordings for ideas? Use the recording (or your own recording if you play piano/bass) to improvise over. Definitely use a metronome if not. Begin learning Dig (Miles Davis). Don't forget about straight, no chaser?

(AW)

This I Dig of You Combo (Bergevin notes),

Plenty of fun work to do.  I recommend spending some time trying to lift this by ear before you use the cheat sheet. There are no shortcuts if you'd like to get good.

Dig - Miles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUcj_vPwkEI

Every song (and every moment) has something to teach us. Great slammin' loud hi-hat here. Simple but effective piano comping.  Remember that this tune is built on Sweet Georgia Brown.

Alex W had a good question yesterday, which recording might be good to listen to in order to learn Sweet Georgia Brown?  I wasn't sure.  Here's what I found.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkxrCttCcHg

Buttery clarinet from Louis Armstrong group.

Especially cool slap tonguing demonstration. Also some cool melodic comping from pianist.

Mr. B

Bloom Bossa - Tran/Bennett

To remember: transcription tools to add to blog summary: using audio playback function in YouTube video, using audacity or another free DAW, anytune app or amazing slow downer apps (have to own and downloaded the song on your device)

Hw: begin transcribing second chorus of Clifford browns solo (trumpet) on sandu. Continue to work on improvising over tunes. A good place to start is to know and be able to play chord tones on the various chords (1,3,5,7) of all the tunes. Think about playing melodies. Write blue boss’s contra fact (melody over the existing changes) if you haven’t already. Either write it down and play it for me or make a recording. (DT)

Honeysuckle Rose Combo - Steinke

For those who missed our third meeting, we have continued to rehearse our royal garden blues working on various rule-based systems for practicing soloing on the Bb blues. Because no one has yet to do any of the assignments from the last two weeks of the blog posts, the first half of your assignment this week is to catch up on undue work! It makes it difficult for us to work on the arrangement of the music if you have not learned your part! The second half of your assignment is to transcribe the head out and ending of our Royal Garden Blues. This begins at 4:40 in the recording. Please note there is a tag ending, so the ending phrase is repeated three times. Brass players will transcribe Edison’s line, reed players will transcribe Hodges’ line. 

 

Next week we will begin working on Green Chimneys with Stefan, so our focus will be shifting there. Do listen to the recording!

 

As always please reach out to me at joelsteinke@comcast.net with any questions. Happy practicing!