In recent months I’ve been checking out youtube videos of Hal Galper master classes. I invite you to check them out for yourself – I don’t necessarily agree with everything Hal says, but there are many wise words. Sometimes Hal’s comments are so salient they stick with me and I wind up coming back to them in my teaching. This blog entry is about one of those comments, to paraphrase, “You should listen to yourself less when you solo and much more to the band.”
I’ve said variations of this to several students recently in answer to questions ranging from “What do I play,” to “How can I accompany more effectively?” The reason I started using this concept is that I analyzed some recent recordings from The Lynn Baker Quartet and found the most exciting moments usually had to do with a group interaction that was elicited from aggressive and detailed listening to each other.
I’m going to go into detail on some examples to demonstrate the power of “Listening OUT.”
The first example is from the opening track of LectroCoustic, Troubled Penn. This section of the song is a BbAlt, open Soprano Saxophone solo. I’m in the middle of an aggressive “anchor phrase” that is creating a lot of rhythmic and textural tension. However, it doesn’t seem to be leading to a specific resolution. Then, suddenly Eric Gunnison (keyboard) and I settle on a held sonority at the same time and that allows for resolution and the beginning of a new idea. Check it out –
Troubled Penn
The reason we settled on that sonority is that Eric had left some space and listened to me play that aggressive phrase, then made a brief comment. After a few more moments, he expanded that comment into a descending sonority. I had been listening to his reaction to my phrase and when he moved the sound down, I brought my line down and settled with him. Did I make a conscious decision to do this while improvising? – of course not, but a decision WAS made because I was Listening OUT (as was Eric).
The next example is from a piece called PMDC Blues. In this example you’ll hear a chromatic, double-time line leading to a cadence.
PMDC, Ex. 1
This is a typical line for me to play on this tune, so nobody in the band was surprised. However, I was surprised when listening back in detail to the drum part. Paul Mullikin actually starts a double-time triplet phrase on the hi-hat just before I begin my double-time phrase. I’m not sure his hi-hat elicited my double-time line, or he was just anticipating my line because it is something I play – but the result is very exciting! It’s very hard to hear the relationship in regular time but listen to this half-speed version and you’ll clearly hear the hi-hat leading the way.
PMDC, Half Speed
In all meaningful ways, it doesn’t matter how we got there, but that moment was a result of the practice of Listening OUT.
The final example is one of my favorites. In Cocker we’ve just settled into a funky groove for the tenor solo and the drums and bass are holding down the new idea, leaving the keyboard and tenor free to relate. This part of the tune has gone many different places in the past and we didn’t know where it was going to go in the recording session. You can hear Eric and I tossing ideas back and forth – sometimes even stepping on the other player’s ideas! Then, suddenly at the beginning of a new phrase (20 seconds into the excerpt) we lock into a powerful groove that seems to come from nowhere. However, when you listen closely, you can tell the new inter-locking phrase was a direct result of the shapes we were experimenting with just a few measures earlier. Take a listen –
Cocker
There you have three examples of exciting musical moments made in ensemble that were a direct result of listening aggressively and in detail to what others were playing.
The next time you play, try focusing on others more than yourself and see if you don’t create some magical moments that can really only be accomplished by Listening OUT.
