All successful jazz players know the language.  What we choose to play is the grammar, and syntax, and how we play it is our accent.  Or, as Miles Davis says:  

The symmetrical diminished or octa-tonic scale consists of a series of half-steps and whole-steps (or whole and half, depending on when it is started). This organization also generates sets of triads, each a minor third apart. In addition, those triads may be either major or minor. Many jazz phrases utilize a symmetrical relationship of these […]

Today I concentrated my practice on superimposing the Major Triad based on the Flat Seven scale degree on Minor Seven and Half-Diminished Seven chords. This is a particularly interesting sound on the half-diminished and the Wayne Shorter Aebersold play-along provides many opportunities at a variety of tempi to work out these ideas.

I’ve been trying to formulate concepts for balancing aspects of rhythmic simplicity/complexity with those of harmonic simplicity/complexity. At first blush it seemed there should be a rather straight-forward relationship between the two. You know, like “if the harmonic motion is very rapid (few pulses for each chord) then the rhythmic complexity needs to be simple.” […]

Here’s a great article on practicing shared from a friend Aakash Mittal. I’ve always held that dedicated practice time was the most important and demanding things you’ll do each day and I really enjoy the emphasis in this article on those and related subjects. What do you think? How Many Hours a Day Should You […]

We will hold conversations and share information about the 2012 Colorado All State Jazz Bands here. First, you can get pdf copies of the changes for your instrument by copying these links into your browser: http://www.lynnbakerjazz.com/ASJSoloChanges_Alto.pdf http://www.lynnbakerjazz.com/ASJSoloChanges_Tenor.pdf http://www.lynnbakerjazz.com/ASJSoloChanges_Trombone.pdf http://www.lynnbakerjazz.com/ASJSoloChanges_Trumpet.pdf Check out the Basie band performance of Shiny Stockings (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3SF4BbBcpA) and notice how, in the in-chorus, […]

This is a continuation of one part of a set of blogs about practicing jazz.  The first part has three hundred comments and was getting a little out of control so this continuation was started. Below I present some ideas about what I’ve been practicing and in a companion blog What Are You Practicing? I […]

What do you think?

Introduction Recently, I’ve been studying some of Steve Coleman’s thoughts about music.  I’ve been aware of his ideas for years, but never looked into the concepts in detail.  Now, I’m spending some time with them and find some interesting.  I haven’t halted my exploration of his ideas, but have decided to spend some time with […]

These are three excerpts of an interview I held with Dr. Billy Taylor in April, 1987 at Carleton College when Dr. Taylor was the Ward Lucas Lecturer.  The video was originally produced by Northfield Public Access Television. The first video focuses on Dr. Taylor speaking about the place of Jazz in culture and society and […]