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Jazz Improvisation: 100 resources to build a personal solo
Elements of jazz improvisation included in the Jazz Improvisation Workbook Updated 2023 Approaches to jazz improvisation Some approaches the improviser can use while soloing: Melodic approach: scales, chords, melodic patterns, embellishments, quotes, clichés, silence. Harmonic approach: textures, different types of chords, chromaticism. Rhythmic approach: syncopated rhythmic patterns, rhythmic displacement, odd meters. Expressive approach: dynamics, articulations, ghost notes, effects, interpretation in relation to the beat, swing. Voice, Tone and Mood Voice is a unique trait of the improviser. Voice is a combination of an artist´s characteristics, it´s not a planned elaboration. Tone is the musician´s attitude expressed with the interpretation. Read more…
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Introduction to Jazz Harmony
Updated 2023 “All The Things You Are”: Harmonic Analysis Jazz Scales: A Roadmap for Beginners Jazz Scales for Saxophone: A Roadmap for Beginners Share this:TwitterFacebookPinterestPrintEmail Read more…
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“So What” (Miles Davis): Analysis
Harmonic analysis, improvisation resources and recordings of the jazz standard composed by Miles Davis Updated 2024 “So What” is a jazz standard composed by Miles Davis. It´s the first track on the 1959 album Kind of Blue (1959). The style of “So What” is modal jazz, swing rhythm and A8-A8-B8-A8 form. The key of “So What” is D dorian minor with a modulation to Eb dorian minor on the B section (bridge). Scale and mode are equivalent terms, scale is used in a tonal context and mode is used in a modal context. Read more…
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Jazz Language: Play-A-Longs
Updated 2023 Jazz Play-A-Longs or backing tracks is a system created by saxophonist Jamey Aebersold in the seventies. They allow the student to play over a recording made by a rhythm section of well-known jazz musicians. The most used series are those of Jamey Aebersold and Hal Leonard. 1 Jamey Aebersold Jamey Aebersold´s Jazz Play-A-Long series are recorded by jazz musicians but they don´t play the melody of the jazz standard, just the harmony and rhythm. The piano or the bass can be silenced with the sound balance. The series can be found at: www.jazzbooks.com Jamey Aebersold. Introduction. Read more…
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“All The Things You Are” (Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II) (1939): Harmonic Analysis
How to simplify the harmonic analysis of “All The Things You Are” turning the 36 chords of the harmonic progression into 5 major modulations. Updated 2023 “All The Things You Are” is a jazz standard composed in 1939 by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, for the musical Very Warm For May (1939). “All The Things You Are” is in the key of Ab major, the form is ABCD and it has a characteristic intro-coda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty-9G2LVFqQ “All The Things You Are”: Recording Analysis Jazz, like classical music, is an intelectual music requiring concentration to play and concentration to listen. Read more…