Re: Learning Jazz
Listen, listen and listen! (you've got to get this music in your head. You will never learn it from a book.) Then transcribe, transcribe, transcribe! (and don't write it down right away. take your time and really get the solos in your head. don't rush to get a lot of solos transcribed. learning 1 solo fully and with all the nuance and phrasing is worth more than 100 solos learned poorly) All the while be working on your technique through classical studies like the ferling book and of course scales, long tones, overtones (Rashcer's top tones for saxophone is almost essential), etc. Use Aebersold's stuff in moderation, if at all. You get a lot more from playing with actual records than his canned rhythm sections, and spending too much time w/ them will make it hard for you to deal with actual rhythm sections. You can see the result of this in a lot of players out there today who just don't know how to play with rhythm sections and who think that the rhythm section is just there to back them up. Instead there should be a dialogue happening between the soloist and the other players. I've felt personally the negative affects of spending too much time w/ abersold records and with transcription books.
Overall just listen A LOT to all the greats (bird, coltrane, ellington, armstrong, sonny rollins, miles, monk, lester young, dizzy, ornette, coleman hawkins, elvin jones, etc...) and imitate and little by little you'll get a grasp on this music and your own sound will emerge. Just remember to let your ears lead you more than your eyes or mind. If you're not hearing it and instead just regurgitating from a book than it won't be genuine.
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