Sessions

November 8, 2014: James Brady

by

Thanks to James Brady for a philosophical session in which we covered

“Bye Bye Blackbird” by Ray Henderson
“Effortless Mastery” by Kenny Werner
“Don’t Stop the Carnival” by Sonny Rollins

After a brief group discussion on why we play jazz and improvise we played through “Bye Bye Blackbird”, but instead of improvising we just gave a good a rendition of the head as possible. The point of this was to show that it is not necessary to play lots of notes to maintain interest (and that probably we should all play less).

The book “Effortless Mastery” was discussed at some length. Key insights: “if you mess up an improvisation, no-one dies”, “great improvisers make it look easy, because it is easy (to them)” and “only play stuff you have mastered” rather than that new lick that you haven’t and will mess up.

We were given some work-sheets on enclosures and other decorations and this was discussed and examples given:
Cambridge Jazz Co-op 8 11 14 – Full Score Bb
Cambridge Jazz Co-op 8 11 14 – Full Score CONCERT
Cambridge Jazz Co-op 8 11 14 – Full Score Eb

At the end of the session, we speed learned “Don’t Stop the Carnival” and had a quick blast on that.

I think that we would probably have liked to have played a bit more, but it was a thought provoking session. Also, a reminder of how important enclosures are is always a good thing.

Many thanks to James Brady.

P.S. Below is a great Youtube video by Mike Titlebaum that shows how the embellishments can be applied to create complex bebop lines:

November 1, 2014: Mick Foster

by

Many thanks to Mick Foster for an unusual session in which we covered:

“(Won’t You Come Home) Bill Bailey” by Hughie Cannon.

Mick first taught us a chord sequence which was later identified as the “Bill Bailey,” which we were then given the lead sheet for.

The importance of being able to take head and interpret it and embellish it was discussed by use various techniques such as grace notes, delay, anticipation, changing note values, fills and enclosures  especially with reference to how a traditional jazz band might treat it.

The co-op members had a chance to try out a bit of interpretation before the roles of the instrumentation of a traditional jazz band was discussed. Particularly the role of the clarinet that would tend to take the role of obbligato tending to provide support melody/arpeggios for the main instrument.

The co-op group was split into smaller groups of three or four each of which took it in turn to give a performance of Bill Bailey in a traditional jazz style.

After the break, free group improvisation was discussed and various games were used to facilitate it. The first game was that everyone would play the shortest note possible on their instrument with the idea that you would play that note when there was space. This created an interesting interaction between everyone where a groove was trying to force its way through but couldn’t quite make it.

A second game was to play a single longest note possible, again playing it when you thought it was appropriate.

A third game was that only three people could play simultaneously using single short or long notes.

Finally, the co-op was split into trios or quartets, each of which performed a piece of free improvisation using any of the rules above. Each group had quite a different feel to them.

IMG_20141101_121531077[1]

Many thanks to Mick for a different kind of session.

October 25, 2014: Carl Orr

by

Many thanks to amazing guitarist Carl Orr for a lively session in which we covered:

“Yardbird Suite” by Charlie Parker
“Beauty and the Beast” by Wayne Shorter

After a quick analysis of the tune, and realising that perhaps it isn’t as straight forward as first thought, Carl lead the group through the chords, first by arpeggiating triads from the root and then up to the seventh. The chords were take sequentially without regard to bar lines so that all chords were treated similarly. A good way of getting the sequence under the fingers.

We then had a couple of plays through the tune at increasing tempos. Carl talked about the use of quotes to increase audience interest in a tune after spotting a quote from one of our members (Martin).  He then suggested we go through the tune an put some quotes in. Carl was particularly tickled when a member quoted the theme tune from “Steptoe and Son.”

After the break we revisited “Beauty and the Beast” which consists of a melodic section (beauty) and a funk section (the beast) based on a dominant chord. The solos take place over the funk section.

I particularly like Carl’s sessions because he keeps the rhythm section under control with only have a single guitar or piano playing at once.

Thanks again to Carl for a great session.

IMG_20141025_131148022[1]

October 18, 2014: Roger Beaujolais

by

Many thanks to Roger for an educational session in which we covered:

“So What” by Miles Davis
“Caravan” by Juan Tizol

In this session Roger wanted to talk about techniques that could be used to handle songs that remain on one chord for a long time. The composition “So What” is 32 bar AABA form with the A section being Dm and the B section Ebm.

The group played through the composition made a bit trickier than usual by the lack of a Bass player.

Roger pointed out an interesting idea of breaking the tune into 4 bar sections and adding tension in the 4th bar of each section by replacing it with the relative dominant 7, in this case A7 and Bb7. This is using the rule that just about any chord can be considered the I and be preceded by it’s V.

These chords raise the tension which is then resolved at the start of the next 4 bar section. The chords can then be altered to further increase the tension.

We could try turning the (say) A7 in to a ii V giving us | Em7 A7 | Dm7  |.  Consider the A7 as a b9 and use the Bb diminished scale.

In the end, you can play just about anything so long as it is melodic or has its own structure and resolves.

We had a few more goes using these techniques. It sounds a lot better when Roger does it.

After the break we had a go at “Caravan”.

Many thanks to Roger for a great session and some good tips.

 

 

October 4, 2014: Tommaso Starace

by

Many thanks to Tommaso for an educational session in which we covered the following tunes:

“Anthropology” by Charlie Parker
“Lullaby of Birdland” by George Shearing

Much of the session was investigating “Anthropology” by Charlie Parker which is a contrafact of Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm”. We spent some time covering the tricky head, ramping up the speed to a reasonable level.

Improvisation was discussed with particular emphasis on learning the chord tones, to which end we all played through using just the triads from the root, and then 7th chords from the root.

The bridge can be tackled in a similar fashion, but Tommaso introduced us to using the whole-tone scale, in particular creating patterns by alternating the augmented triads found within it. Another approach was to use a diminished scale, considering the original dominant chords a 7b9. Of course, these tools sounded great when in the hands of our tutor and showed that correct resolution is always required when using this sort of tool.

After the break “Lullaby of Birdland” was played through. Tommaso showed the importance of taking a head and making it your own using, delay, anticipation, leading/grace notes and improvisational fills. Several of the members were singled out to do similar with some very nice performances before everyone had a go at improvising over the form.

We returned to “Anthropology” and attempted to learn it by heart, phrase by phrase so that at the end most if not all of the members could play it by heart without reference to the sheet music.

Many thank to Tommaso for a great session.

IMG_20141004_131937167[1]

September 27, 2014: Pete Lemer

by

Many thanks to Pete Lemer for a session in which we covered:

“Cantarnos” by Andrew Hill
“Toccata” by Lalo Schifrin

“Cantarnos” taken from Andrew Hill’s “Black Fire” album and has a simple theme  performed in a modal setting. Pete discussed modal improvisation with particular emphasis of the Phrygian mode as used in this composition.

“Toccata” is a fun minor blues-ish composition with a challenging bass-line originally performed by a Dizzy Gillespie big band.

Many thanks to Pete Lemer for an entertaining session.

September 20, 2014: Frank Griffith

by

Many thanks to Frank Griffith in which we covered:

“Totem Poll” by Lee Morgan
“In Passing” by Oliver Nelson

We started the session by warming up with a Frank Griffith etude involving ii-V-I’s in every key.

“Totem Poll” is a great composition found on Lee Morgan’s “Sidewinder” album which was great fun to play through.

“In Passing” is a dreadful technical exercise which even the original found on Oliver Nelson’s “Soul Brothers” is joyless. Maybe you can spot that I found this particularly tricky, not the least because it changes key every two beats.

Many thanks to Frank Griffith for a challenging session.

 

September 13, 2014: Andrea Vicari

by

Many thanks to Andrea for an excellent session in which we covered:

“Ponta de Areia” by Milton Nascimiento

We performed the Esperanza Spalding version of this song with its fantastic bass-line and some tricky changes arranged by Andrea.

As always Andrea came well prepared with an excellent worksheet covering the scales that can be used to improvise over the various sections and chords of the composition. Maybe on day I’ll get the hang of the augmented scale.

Many thanks to Andrea for a great session.

IMG_20140913_131904527[1]

September 6, 2014: Alex Hutton

by

Many thanks to Alex Hutton for an educational session in which we covered:

“Mack the Knife” by Kurt Weill.

during the session we discussed the application of the diminished scale over dominant chords (7b9)

[full session report unavailable]

Alec Hutton