For me it was in a van.
Three years after I began playing the saxophone I was accepted to a performing arts high school.
You might think that school was responsible for me getting a jumpstart on the ocean of information that is the study of jazz and improvisation.
But it wasn’t.
Not exactly, anyway.
It was the people I met through that school, the students, who taught me the most.
In particular a saxophone player named Joe Cohen.
Joe was a grade ahead of me, a prodigiously talented alto player, and, more importantly, had a car.
Because he drove to school, and we were lucky enough to live near his house, my mom dropped me off every weekday morning to hitch a ride to school.
So instead of sitting on a bus, joking around with a bunch of teenagers, I was getting a world-class education in listening to music.
How it worked
Joe ran late every morning which meant I arrived to the sound of Joe singing in the shower, a messy room with clothes strewn everywhere, and a stereo blasting jazz albums I’d never heard.
I’d pick up the CD jewel case sitting on the stereo and read the liner notes while Joe finished getting ready. and we’d spend the 30 minute drive to school listening to more music.
This is where I learned how to play well.
Listening to the right stuff — and being shown exactly what to listen for — helped me more than any music class I ever attended.
With that, here’s a great recording of Miles’ band live in Stockholm in 1960. I won’t get into specifics, but if you’re hungry to get better you will. You’ll do your homework and find out who each musician is on this recording, why the rhythm section sounds particularly synchronized and why Sonny Stitt seems slightly out of place.
My purpose with this post is not to overwhelm you but to give you an easy “in” to one nugget that will inspire you to shed today.
That nugget is Stitt’s lick going into the IV chord @6:59. Classic Stitt. Get it. Own it. Apply it over everything possible for a week.
Remember this: Context is everything. While grabbing a lick here and another there is WAY better than reading a transcribed solo, it’s not enough. You need to understand all that happened in this song BEFORE Stitt played this lick. Where was he in the arc of his solo? How was the rhythm section comping behind him? Etc.
For best results, get the physical CD, put it in your car and listen exclusively for a week.
Happy shedding.
Photo Credit: moominsean via Compfight cc
