IAJE Handout  |  (PDF file)
The Ears Have It
Grading Improv
Learning Licks
Language-the expression of thought through a structured system
Jazz Trumpet Listening Material

This material was originally presented at the 1997 IAJE Conference in Chicago. I want to thank my collaborator for that presentation, Greg Erbeck, and his students from the Indiana School for the Blind for their inspiration and insights.

The Ears Have It!

Listen to older jazz musicians discussing younger players and you will consistently find certain criticisms. I'm not speaking of stylistic differences between generations ("These young kids play weird!"). Stylistic differences have existed between older and younger musicians at every point in the history of jazz. The observed weaknesses I am referring to are more fundamental. Criticisms I frequently hear include such things as:

  • "Young musicians don't know any tunes."
  • "Their noses are always buried in fakebooks."
  • "They don't know how to use their ears."
  • "It sounds so cold and unemotional."
  • "He (or she) has lots of technique but no soul."
  • "They sound like they are practicing on the gig."
  • "All the licks are there, but where's the personality."
...and so forth. For years I wrote such comments off, attributing them to cranky old folks whose time was past. But years of teaching, listening, playing and observing have led me to agree with many of these comments...even as they apply at times to my own playing.

I arrived at a basic conclusion. Students lack a genuine understanding of jazz history and tradition in their playing. One current school of thought seems to produce players who mimic the styles of older (even archaic) artists. This was certainly not the approach of great jazz musicians of the past (including the ones being mimicked), who endeavored to find new and personal ways to express a view of the contemporary world through improvisation and composition. These students attain a superficial resemblance to jazz but lose the process and motivation of the art's great masters. Another school of thought seems to approach jazz mostly as a mechanical and technical exercise resulting in facile but often uncommunicative work that pales with repeated listening. These players often think of the music visually or as data instead of as sound. Once again, an understanding of the process of making jazz seems lacking. Today (largely for economic and cultural reasons) most aspiring jazz musicians gain their initial exposure to jazz and most of their instruction in its craft in schools or academically oriented workshops. This is different, not only in environment but also in attitude and result, from the mode of learning for earlier generations.

To attack these problems in young players we must design (or resurrect) a different approach to learning the craft, vocabulary, repertoire and tradition of jazz. Think for a moment about the training of jazz musicians fifty or sixty years ago. Aspiring musicians learned their craft via an informal apprenticeship system that revolved around such virtually extinct institutions as the road band, the jam session, and the after hours club. Our culture and economy has changed dramatically over the last fifty years, all but eliminating the life-style and working conditions that were central to this apprenticeship system. Jazz students in our conservatories and universities learn to play in school ensembles, improvisation classes, etc. The history of the music is usually presented separately in an abstract, intellectual and academic fashion (not unlike the traditional presentation of European music history) rather than experiencing the tradition via doing. The culture and society of jazz is conveyed minimally and vicariously via exposure to videos, books, and mentorship from faculty (assuming that faculty have any first-hand experience with jazz culture...a bold assumption in the current jazz education scene).

There is also a troubling movement, conscious or not, to canonize certain artists and certain works as "great". It is extremely important that a developing musician learn to distinguish works of high artistic, expressive, and technical quality. However, the quasi-deification of certain music is problematic on a number of levels. Chief among these is that every attempt at canonization inevitably involves glaring sins of omission. The personal musical, economic, and political agenda of any canonizer exerts prejudice and bias on selection of Valhalla nominees. Most significantly, these self-anointed authorities have taken on the responsibility of telling others what is and isn't good jazz and what music should or shouldn't be studied. I contend that when young musicians all study the same music via similar methodology we will invariably find a superficiality and sameness in the resulting musical work of that generation. This attempt to legislate what is worthy of study denies students and teachers the freedom to choose which artists and works captivate them. It is essential that every student and teacher is led by his or her own taste; to fall in love with the music they choose to fall in love with (or that chooses them). The beginning step in the discovery of a unique musical style and personality is selection of one's role models. Canonization attempts to deny developing artists this fundamental right to artistic self-determinism.

The oral tradition and the academic tradition of learning each has strong and weak points. However, the oral tradition is central to jazz and is the major part of what has made jazz and its people different from other music and musicians of the world. Jazz musicians trained in academia often lack qualities that "street players" possess in a greater degree. I attribute these areas of weakness (ignorance of repertoire, lack of dramatic sense, etc.) to the method of their education. To re-introduce vitally important elements of jazz oral tradition into academic settings it is necessary to approach the music as a whole, reintegrating history, technique and performance practice. Group transcription practices, such as those invented out of necessity, employed and demonstrated today by Greg Erbeck and the Indiana School for the Blind Jazz Combo, are exactly such an integrative pedagogy.

Psychological theory contends that the left side of the brain is concerned with analytical functions and factual information while the right brain is more conceptual and deals with images and feelings. Efficient learning involves both the analytical and conceptual aspects-both sides of the brain. Traditionally our educational system has emphasized left-brain learning at the expense of the right brain. Traditional ways of teaching music in an academic setting (or via the printed page) often fail to communicate essential conceptual elements. We focus on the structure, technique, and constituent parts of music at the expense of broad and important concepts related to its sound! It is an educational axiom that students learn 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, and 70% of what they write or speak. Music educators could extend this to add that students learn 70% of what they play or sing, 90% of what they transcribe, and 100% of what they transcribe and subsequently learn to play from memory in several keys. Our educational system has traditionally encouraged passive learning. Professors lecture and students take notes. I advocate a more active approach to learning where students experience the music and formulate their own musical style and opinions subsequently as they develop hearing, performing and compositional skills. Active learning is more effective than passive learning (and, not incidentally, it is much more fun!). There must be a dual emphasis on critical analytical thinking and active experiential learning. However, for the jazz improviser the listening, transcribing and emulating experience must necessarily have higher priority than theoretical preparation for and analysis of that experience. Live and recorded music is the only true source for understanding the elements of musical style in the jazz tradition. All great artists of my acquaintance know dozens of jazz records intimately. I contend that they probably wouldn't be that great (and they probably wouldn't be jazz artists at all) if they didn't know the music so personally. Although this concept is in line with the philosophies and goals of the outstanding jazz educators of my acquaintance, it is often a footnote in our methodology. In keeping with the spirit and tradition of jazz, one learns through thoughtful and concentrated listening to and emulation of master artists. Only then does the process of personalization and artistic maturity begin. The most important and useful knowledge one can acquire is knowledge of the sound of the music. No amount of discussion about the construction of the music can replace the value of repeated listenings. No description of the music can do justice to the sound of the music. Music is sound. It is not just musical notation, words or technical information.

Listening is most beneficial when done actively. Listen so intently that you feel a part of the music's creation. For deep insights it is best to listen to a single piece of music repeatedly rather than hopping from one piece to the next. Musicians from earlier eras learned from 78 r.p.m. records. They became intimately familiar with two songs at a time and these songs were each roughly three minutes in length. It is better for a developing musician to know a few well-chosen pieces intimately than to know a great many pieces superficially. I suggest listening to each piece several times in a row, focusing each time on the playing of a different member of the group. Even when that player may be resting temporarily, actively listen to his/her absence and keep your ear tuned to his/her reentrance.

This process does not lend itself to an instant gratification mentality. Learn the chosen performance inside out. Learn the melody and chord changes and performance practices such as intros, endings, interludes, shout choruses, etc. Performance practices used on classic recordings have often been retained as the standard approach to these tunes. Learn these things from the recording through repeated listening, emulation and the time honored practice of trial and error (hunting and pecking). Never use fakebooks as primary sources! Use fakebooks as reference sources. Learn as much as you can by ear first. Then (and only when absolutely necessary) turn to fakebooks to confirm and formalize what you have learned and to assist in filling any remaining gaps. Do not trust fakebooks to be correct. Fakebooks are notorious for their inaccuracies. A jazz musician who must rely on fakebooks for standard repertoire is considered functionally illiterate in the professional jazz world.

We must put transcription activities in perspective with other jazz learning activities. When I discuss transcription in this context I am not talking about writing anything down! Once a solo is notated there is a great temptation to no longer think of it as sound but as musical arithmetic. The transcriber is aware of the entire sound of the solo: tone, articulation, the sound of the accompaniment, communication within the group, dramatic aspects of pacing and dynamics, etc. Practicing scales, intervals, ii- V7 patterns and the like is valuable for training the ear, developing relative pitch and kinesthesia, improving mental agility with transposition and manipulation of musical materials. However, these activities are often emphasized disproportionately and continued well past the point in a musician's development when he or she is ready to move on to the real important stuff of jazz learning. As soon as it is feasible the learner should attempt to play solos and tunes learned from recordings in the other eleven keys. This accomplishes the same things as practicing patterns, but at a higher musical level and with the added benefit of understanding the total performance and its context.

As you practice remember to let your ear guide your technique. Listen to the sound of the music in your imagination and do what it tells you. Engage your analytical mind only when your fingers go astray. As soon as you find the notes you were searching for, quit thinking analytically and listen to the music in your imagination once again. Do not allow the music to be reduced to mere arithmetic as you work with it. Transcribe everything of interest...not only melodies and solos, but also bass lines, piano comping, ride cymbal patterns, etc. There is no better way to memorize the sound of music (including aspects that are impossible to verbalize). Transcribing the music's different aspects can lead you to hear new relationships between these components and will reveal hidden details. Visualization and role-playing are other activities that have proven successful. Group transcription is a type of defacto role-playing. Psychologists believe that your mind cannot tell the difference between real experiences and imaginary ones if the imaginary experiences are vividly detailed. It is therefore possible to fill your memory with "musical experiences" that you can later draw on for both information and confidence. As you listen it can be helpful to imagine that you are playing on the recording. Close your eyes and imagine what the club, studio or concert hall looks like from the performer's vantage point. See the other musicians. Position yourself near the microphone. Take a breath and imagine what it feels like to make the sounds you hear on the record. Put yourself in a state of calm mental focus. See, hear and feel yourself playing in the masterful manner of the jazz great you are studying. Have the members of the group perform in the role of the artists under consideration. I don't mean merely playing their notes or imitating their style. They should mentally "become" that artist for a moment the way an actor experiences a oneness with his or her character. It will not be necessary to try to bring these experiences to the bandstand. The mind will automatically build on these "experiences".

In closing I would like to point out that group transcription is a learning activity! The goal is not to produce someone that sounds like Miles or Bird or plays their solos note for note on the gig. Many artists experience a kind of arrested development, becoming fixated on a learning phase, mistaking success for creativity or art. This happens with many artists who develop mechanical and intellectual facility with scales, chords and patterns into a performance approach that is showy and jazzlike yet emotionally sterile and superficial.

Copyright Pat Harbison 2001

Some Thoughts On Grading Jazz Improvisation Students

There are two factors that are impacting education at all levels. One is grade inflation and the resulting narrowing of the evaluative scale. At most American universities a grade of A is now an expectation for students who do the required work and a C is tantamount to failure. The second factor is the increasingly litigious nature of our society. Litigiousness is symptomatic of a victim mentality and failure to acknowledge personal responsibility. This is a tremendous hindrance to the educational process. Every great player I know is personally responsible for their own success due to initiative, goal-orientation, and perseverance. We must insulate ourselves against litigation by basing our grading only on empirically measurable factors.

I have mixed feelings about grading or measuring an art like jazz. The problem lies in the paradoxical and cross-cultural nature of jazz and its uncomfortable relationship with academia. This discomfort is not simply a matter of Eurocentric bias, as I once thought. From its beginnings jazz has been a music created from cultural conflict and adaptation.

Jazz is process oriented. Music is not simply product. It is life itself-or at least the footprint of one living that life. Our educational system is a product oriented one built on the industrial model. An educated person is "assembled" in a certain sequence according to a timetable that is imposed by "experts". I know of no jazz artist who developed in such an incremental and scheduled fashion.

In every improvisation class I have taught I have had to acknowledge the uniqueness of each student and accommodate differing backgrounds and learning styles. No one formula works for all and everyone must grow at their own pace. No one can teach someone to be an artist. That is a personal internal process. It is not a process that lends itself to absolute measurement. I think the only fair and practical thing we can do in jazz education is grade the measurable-the mastery of craft and the successful completion of assigned learning tasks and activities.

Some would say that this lessens the perceived value of creativity. Students should be inspired to pursue creativity by the examples of their mentors and exposure to the jazz tradition, not by pursuit of a grade. Students who are given tools and encouraged to explore will discover personal voices a greater percentage of time than students who are "taught to be creative." Much of the conformity I hear in jazz educated players today springs directly from the fact that artistic content was graded. Students are thus taught implicitly that the things the teacher prefers to hear are inherently better. I am convinced that Bird, Miles, Monk, and Ornette would have all received inferior grades from their elders under today's educational system. They were paradigm shifters. That is the jazz tradition.

Teaching and learning are very different than grading. I hope that no student takes my jazz improvisation class with the idea that the grade is the most important thing. Most of what we do in my classes is not part of the grading process except as an attendance and participation factor. These other things, however, are vital parts of the learning process. We must encourage and model a commitment to pursuit of the creative through being accessible, listening with them, and hanging out, and through modeling in our playing, practicing, attitude, and our total commitment to the music, our fellow players and our audience. Give students these things without judging and you will find a vastly greater degree of personality, individuality, and creativity results.

Learning Licks

Posted on Aebersold/Jazzbooks Website
Discussion Forum

Posted by: Terje ('Terje Larsson') Posted on: Tuesday, 6th March 2001

Message:
So I hear this good jazz lick on a record, or I find it in a book. It's not mine and I want to get it into my vocabulary. So I learn it well and then transpose it to all keys. Then I try to use it in some song. But this is where it all goes wrong cause it sounds strange with the rest of my playing (which isn't all that jazzy yet) and then I forget to use it. Now I'm thinking that maybe I should just learn the licks and not try to consciously use them in my playing. Any thoughts on this anyone?

Terje

Posted by: Pat Harbison ('Pat Harbison')
Posted on: Thursday, 15th March 2001

Message:
How are you thinking as you learn the licks?

In other words, are you thinking of the lick visually (how it looks in music notation in a pattern book or in a transcription), mechanically (as a sequence of fingerings or a path across the keyboard or guitar neck, etc.), theoretically ("up a minor 11th chord arpeggio then down chromatically to the 3rd of the V7 chord...), or in terms of how they sound? When you get to the point where you are executing the lick flawlessly and only thinking of how it sounds you really know it.

Different people learn best in different ways. However, everyone's goal is to eventually be able to think of their music 100% in terms of sound-not the theory that describes that sound, the mechanical technique that produces it, the notation that freezes it in shorthand for future reference by you or others, etc.

Everyone has a different way that is easiest to learn and understand the licks they learn. Whatever way is the easiest (visual, theoretical, mechanical, etc.) is how you should start the learning process. However, the process isn't completed until you find yourself able to stop worrying about what note comes next or how you make a sound technically and find yourself able to think totally about how it sounds, how your tone is, how you might phrase and articulate, how you are playing it in relationship to the time being laid down by the metronome or rhythm section... Only then do you really know the lick! Most of us stop working with material too soon, expecting gratification to come sooner. Persevere!

The suggestion (made by another poster) about applying melodic development concepts to the musical material contained in a lick is a very good one. At first I would try this out of tempo and outside the context of a tune. Try to make up a cadenza that uses the rhythms, pitch contour, intervals, etc. of the lick. Transpose these ideas to different keys. Then try it in the context of an easy and moderately paced tune. Listen to Sonny Rollins, Monk, J.J. and Horace Silver for ideas on how this can be done.

The other thing I would suggest is to learn a bigger chunk of the solo or melody that the lick came from. Learn the entire 8 or 12 measures that contained the lick in all 12 keys. Then you are not just learning that lick. You are learning the material that led up to it, the material that the lick resolved to, the rhythmic pacing that framed it (space & longer notes), etc. Now you know the phrase in its musical context.

When you learn licks you must think of them as melodic phrases or fragments. They don't usually make sense taken out of context. When we teach children languages we don't teach them 1000 nouns one year, 1000 verbs the next, 1000 adjectives the next, etc. We teach them the most basic words from all parts of speech, we teach them how to combine them to express various thoughts, and we have them listen and imitate speakers who have mastered the language so they will communicate and sound intelligible to others who also speak the language.

If you are having trouble putting your fragments into sentences you should memorize some sentences. Learn the 8 or 12 measures of the solo or melody that contains the lick you are working on. Then you will know not just the fragment, but how it was approached, how it was resolved, how it was contrasted by space, long notes, rhythmic variety, complementary phrases, etc. You'll know the complete idea that was the lick's context. This is very important. Learn the entire big chunk (8-12) measures) in all 12 keys.

Everyone's goal should be to live 100% in a world of sound the entire time they are playing. That means that your are thinking in sound (hearing pictures in your imagination). It doesn't mean that you are thinking of words that describe the sound, about the theory that analyzes the sound, about the physical activity (technique) that makes the sound, or anything else. There should be no verbal or visual activity going on in your mind when you are playing only listening intensely to real and imagined sounds.

When people are playing at a level of total mastery they are completely immersed in listening to everything that is going on around them and imagining the sound of the missing part.

Thinking about anything else-even aspects of the music-is a counter-productive distraction. There is no time to think about your breathing, your hand position, your embouchure, what notes fit an F#7+9, what is the next change, how does that lick I've been practicing go in this key, the bassist is sharp on that note, etc., etc. All of that keeps the flow out of your playing. What we are talking about is the actual experience of true concentration!

That is why we practice, so we can be free of that stuff and play "naturally". Behind every "natural" player there lies thousands of hours of work that led that player to a point where they can play with good technique and really know what they are doing at all times without having to think about it. It becomes like a reflex. Then your analytical mind and your physical body become transparent and subservient to the creative process.

Think about when you learned to drive. At first you had to be very conscious of your hand position, hit the brake, do this to the clutch, hit the turn signal now, etc. Now we do all of that without conscious thought while we fiddle with the radio and argue with our passengers. Freedom comes with endless repetition.

p.s. I am not talking about "Effortless Mastery", a book that I consider to be insidious & at least marginally evil. While "E.M." contains many kernels of truth, those truths are wrapped inextricably in total musical, psychological, and (most importantly) spiritual B.S. (Barbara Streisand). There is but one God & neither you nor I am Him!

Language-the expression of thought through a structured system.

St Augustine, 400 A.D.-"Grown up men did not teach me by presenting me with words in any orderly form of instructionIbut I (taught) myself, with that mind which you, my God, gave meI I pondered over this in memory: when they named a certain thing and, at that name, made a gesture at the object, I observed that object and inferred that it was called by the name they utteredI That they meant this was apparent by their bodily gestures, as it were by words natural to all men, which are made by change of countenance, nods, movements of the eyes and other bodily members, and sounds of the voiceI So little by little I inferred that the words set in their proper places in different sentences, that I hear frequently, were signs of things."

Tiger Okoshi-"Shakespeare didn't study Shakespeare & Clifford Brown didn't study Clifford Brown."

Suzuki was right! The best way to teach and learn to play music and improvise is the way we learned our mother tongue.
  1. Cultural immersion
  2. Listening/observation.
  3. Imitation.
  4. Trial and error/repetition.
  5. Correction through observation
  6. Analysis and expansion.
Cultural Immersion

Developing a literate understanding of a language comes from intimate knowledge of the thoughts, traditions, and culture of that language. This is acquired through direct exposure to people using the language to communicate, and is enhanced by study of the literature, history, and culture of a people and their language.

Listening & Observation

Lexicon-A mental dictionary of the phonological, syntactic, semantic, orthographic aspects of a language.

Like a language, learners absorb the sound first. Then they are ready for grammar and other rules governing vocabulary, syntax, etc. Finally, spelling and written notation is introduced after functional communication using the spoken language is possible.

Models from adult speech:
  1. Model of behavior-speaking is a way of communicating.
  2. demonstration of structure of language and vocabulary.
A model of communication between actual people is required for acquisition of language. Exposure to radio is not enough. Vocal communication between human beings arouses the learner's curiosity and desire to exchange feelings, needs, demands, and the desire to be included in a family or peer group. This is the necessary motivation.

Style, phrasing, articulation, etc. are all a matter of pronunciation. Jazz articulation and phrasing is all about pronouncing the music in a way that the meaning of the phrases makes sense to others who speak the language. People do not mispronounce words if they learn to speak via listening and imitation of good role models. The same is true of music style.

Imitation/ Trial and Error

The teacher must model. We must also use recordings as models, but it is essential that the learner see real people as both the senders and receivers of the musical communication.

Learning must occur in a setting where communication and feedback is present between peers (bandmates) and teacher/mentor. Learning to communicate can not be exclusively accomplished alone in a room with your instrument, a stereo, some CDs and some play-alongs.

Prosody-The expressive and quasi-musical sound aspects of speech, such as pacing, inflection, accent, intonation, articulation, etc.

In conversation, communication is dependent on delivery as well as content.

Speech learners establish concept of intonation, inflection, articulation, rhythm, pacing, etc. of speech first-before learning vocabulary (or even making conscious babbling experiments).

Babbling-Trial and error experimentation with the technique of making sounds and their expressive possibilities.

Development of an improviser's "conversation skills" and "social graces" will also be indispensable-creating a group interaction that is greater than the sum of the parts.

PLAY-Parents play with kids using wordsIbaby talk, etc.

The process must fun in order for the learner to persevere through the challenges and inevitable frustration.

Correction through Observation

The teacher (through modeling and offhand comments and observations) focuses the student's attention and observation in an uncritical way. This creates self-correction, discovery, and ownership of acquired material by the learner.

Feedback should not be negative or critical. This is how stutters develop in speakers. Improvisers can develop an analogous problem. If you must make instructive comments to students it is important to carefully choose vocabulary and set a tone that is positive. Do not tell them what they should avoid or tell them what they are doing wrong. Instead tell them what to doI"Why don't you do it more like this". Even then, a demonstration or focusing his or her powers of observation creates a quicker, more musical, and less self-conscious fix to the problem.

Analysis and Expansion

After a child learns to speak via aural modeling we begin to introduce writing, spelling, and vocabulary. The study of grammar helps the learner of language to assemble basic vocabulary in a coherent and idiomatic fashion in order to communicate ideas effectively.

In jazz improvisation this is analogous to learning chord and scale construction, nomenclature, symbology, and a basic vocabulary of phrases and gestures.

Once the imitative process is underway, encourage the students to think more analytically about what they are hearing. Teach theory and technique in the context of sound and active playing, rather than in the abstract world of paper, written notation, and harmonic arithmetic.

In addition to study of theory and technique, I recommend class discussion of listening examples, requiring a jazz listening journal, and assigning written concert and recording reviews.

Chords and scales are the phonics of our musical alphabet.

Licks and idiomatic melodic and rhythmic gestures are our words and phrases. The phonics of chords and scales are combined into groups of sounds that have distinct meanings and uses.

Melodies are our sentences and paragraphs. Fragmentary ideas and motives (like words and phrases) are combined into longer and more complex groups according to rules of grammar and syntax. More complex thoughts are communicated.

Diversity of Learning Styles

Each baby develops its own style of language acquisition. Exercise of choice interacts with native tendencies and environment to produce that diversity. This results in individual, yet communicative and functional style.

"What should I extract from what I hear?"
"What should I train my attention on?"
"What are the most important features of adult speech?"
"Which of them can I reproduce?"
"Which of them must I reproduce?"

The choices children make influence the style. Not all children notice the same aspects. Parental presentation can influence the developing style by focusing the attention. Some children are analytic (or referential) and some are expressive in style, while still others find mixed strategies.

The children are the ones who choose the style/strategy based on personality tendencies. Differing methods of presentation/teaching work more readily with different learning styles. Influences on style:
  1. Focus of interest (introvert/extrovert/etc)
  2. R & L brain
  3. Mother's style-modeling
  4. Language & culture of family
In jazz, it is not necessary to study the music chronologically.
  1. Learn what is easiest to hear first.
  2. Learn what is significant and essential to learn-cultural imperative.
  3. Learn what is most attractive and funIFollow your bliss!
Everyone has a different way that is easiest to learn and understand the music they are studying. Whatever way is the easiest (aural, kinetic, visual, theoretical, etc.) is how you should start the learning process.

Some students will experience greater initial success when thinking about scales and having those restrictions imposed on their early attempts at improvisation (not unlike Orff). Others will find it tremendously inhibiting at first. This depends partly on instrumental or vocal orientation and partly on a student's learning style.

Everyone's goal is to eventually be able to think of their music 100% in terms of sound-not the theory that describes that sound, the mechanical technique that produces it, the notation that freezes it in shorthand for future reference, etc. Remember that these activities are part of a learning process. Be sure the student is aware of the goal, which is transparency. Avoid arrested development at all costs.

Recommended reading-
Paul Berliner-Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation. David Sudnow-The Way of the Hand: The Organization of Improvised Conduct. Shinichi Suzuki-Nurtured by Love.

Jazz Trumpet Listening Material

Listening is the single most important thing anyone can do to develop as a jazz trumpet player. While I would never underestimate the importance of practice, I think that listening is even more crucial to your development. I also think that listening should be done with the same seriousness, concentration, and sense of adventure with which you enter a practice session.

The most difficult thing about assembling this list was to decide which players and which recordings would be left off. Needless to say, the 65 CDs included here are all works about which I feel very strongly. They are Òmust havesÓ in every case.

Louis Armstrong (born 1901-died 1971) Style: Early Jazz (New Orleans Style)
  • "The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven RecordingsÓ Recorded 1925-28. Columbia/Legacy 63527.
  • "Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. HandyÓ Recorded 1954. Columbia/Legacy 64925.
Chet Baker (born 1929-died 1988) Style: Cool Jazz
  • "Chet Baker in New YorkÓ Recorded 1958. Riverside 1119.
  • "The Touch of Your LipsÓ Recorded 1979. Steeplechase 31122.
Bix Beiderbecke (born 1903-died 1931) Style: Early Jazz (Chicago Style)
  • "Vol 1: Singin' The BluesÓ Recorded 1927. Columbia 45450.
Terrance Blanchard (born 1962) Style: Contemporary Jazz
  • "Wandering Moon" Recorded 2000. Columbia 89111.
Randy Brecker (born 1945) Style: Contemporary Jazz and Fusion
  • With Hal Galper "Children of the Night" Recorded 1978. Double-Time Jazz DTRCD-125.
Clifford Brown (born 1930-died 1956) Style: Bebop and Hard Bop With Max Roach
  • "Brown and Roach, Inc." Recorded 1954. PGD Special Markets 534392. With Sonny Rollins
  • "Sonny Rollins Plus Four" Recorded 1956. Prestige/OJC 243.
Buck Clayton (born 1911-died 1991) Style: Swing
  • "Buck and Buddy" Recorded 1960. Swingville/OJC 757.
Miles Davis (born 1926-died 1991) Style: Bebop (Ô40s), Cool Jazz (Ô40s), Hard Bop ('50s), Third Stream ('50s), Contemporary ('50s & '60s), and Fusion ('60s, '70s, & '80s).
  • "Birth of the Cool" Recorded 1949. Blue Note 30117.
  • "Walkin'" Recorded 1954. Prestige/OJC 213.
  • "Round About Midnight" Recorded 1955. Columbia Legacy 85201.
  • "Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet" Recorded 1956. Prestige 7129.
  • "Porgy and Bess" Recorded 1958. Columbia/Legacy 65141.
  • "Kind of Blue" Recorded 1959. Columbia/Legacy 64935.
  • "The Complete Concert: 1964-'My Funny Valentine' and 'Four and More'" Recorded 1964. Columbia C2K-48821.
  • "Miles Smiles" Recorded 1966. Columbia Legacy 65682.
  • "Nefertiti" Recorded 1967. Columbia/Legacy 65681.
  • "Bitches Brew" Recorded 1969. Columbia/Legacy 65774.
  • "Get Up With It" Recorded 1970-74. Columbia/Legacy 63970.
  • "Live Around The World" Recorded 1988-91. Warner Brothers 46032.
Kenny Dorham (born 1924-died 1972) Style: Bebop and Hard Bop
  • Art Blakey- "The Jazz Messengers Live at Café Bohemia, Vol. 1" Recorded 1955. Blue Note 32148.
  • "Quiet Kenny" Recorded 1959. New Jazz/OJC 250.
  • "Una Mas" Recorded 1963. Blue Note 21228.
Dave Douglas (born 1961) Style: Contemporary and World-beat.
  • "Soul On Soul" Recorded 2000. RCA Victor 63603.
  • "A Thousand Evenings" Recorded 2000. RCA 63698.
Harry "Sweets" Edison (born 1915-died 1999) Style: Swing.
  • "Edison's Lights" Recorded 1976. Pablo/OJC 804.
Roy Eldridge (born 1911-died 1989) Style: Swing
  • With Gene Krupa and Anita O'Day-"Uptown" Recorded 1941-49. Columbia 45448.
  • "Roy & Diz" Recorded 1954. Verve 521647.
Duke Ellington's Famous Jazz Orchestra (born 1899-died 1974) Style: Beyond Category
  • "Blanton/Webster Band" Recorded 1939-42. Bluebird/RCA 5659.
  • "Happy-Go-Lucky Local" Recorded 1947. Discovery 70052.
  • "And His Mother Called Him Bill" Recorded 1967. RCA 56287.
Art Farmer (born 1928-died 1999) Style: Hard Bop and Cool Jazz
  • "Modern Art" Recorded 1958. Blue Note 84459.
Dizzy Gillespie (born 1917-died 1993) Style: Bebop
  • "The Complete RCA Victor Recordings" Recorded 1937-49. Bluebird/RCA 66528.
  • Charlie Parker-"Bird and Diz" Recorded 1950. Polygram 521436.
  • "Sonny Side Up" Recorded 1957. Polygram 521426.
Tim Hagans (born 1954) Style: Contemporary
  • "Audible Architecture" Recorded 1994. Blue Note 7243-8-31808-2.
Roy Hargrove (born 1969) Style: Contemporary and Hard Bop
  • "With The Tenors Of Our Time" Recorded 1994. Verve 523019.
Tom Harrell (born 1946) Style: Contemporary
  • With John McNeil (born 1947)-"Look To The Sky" Recorded 1979. Steeplechase 31128.
  • "Art Of Rhythm" Recorded 1997. RCA 68924.
Eddie Henderson (born 1940) Style: Hard Bop and Fusion
  • With Herbie Hancock-"Mwandishi: The Complete Warner Brothers Recordings" Recorded 1969-72. Warner Brothers 45732.
  • "Inspiration" Recorded 1994. Milestone 9240.
Freddie Hubbard (born 1938) Style: Hard Bop and Fusion
  • With Art Blakey-"Caravan" Recorded 1962. Riverside 9438.
  • With Herbie Hancock-"Maiden Voyage" Recorded 1965. Blue Note 46339.
  • "Straight Life" Recorded 1970. Columbia 65125.
Ingrid Jensen (born 1967) Style: Contemporary
  • "Higher Ground" Recorded 1999. Enja 9353.
Thad Jones (born 1923-died 1986) Style: Hard Bop
  • With Thelonious Monk- "Five by Monk by Five" Recorded 1959. Riverside/OJC 362-2.
Booker Little (born 1938-died 1961) Style: Hard Bop and Contemporary
  • "Out Front" Recorded 1961. Candid CCD-79027.
Wynton Marsalis (born 1961) Style: Contemporary and Early Jazz Revival.
  • "Black Codes (From The Underground)" Recorded 1985. Columbia CK-40009.
Blue Mitchell (born 1930-died 1979) Style: Hard Bop
  • Horace Silver-"Blowin' The Blues Away" Recorded 1959. Blue Note 46526.
  • "Blue's Moods" Recorded 1960. Riverside/OJC 138.
Lee Morgan (born 1937-died 1972) Style: Hard Bop
  • "Candy" Recorded 1957. Blue Note 46508.
  • John Coltrane-"Blue Train" Recorded 1957. Blue Note 46095.
  • Art Blakey-"Moanin'" Recorded 1958. Blue Note 46516.
  • "Cornbread" Recorded 1965. Blue Note 84222.
Fats Navarro (born 1923-died 1950) Style: Bebop
  • With Tadd Dameron-"The Complete Blue Note and Capitol Recordings" Recorded 1947-49. Blue Note 33373.
Nicholas Payton (born 1973) Style: Contemporary, Hard Bop, and Early Jazz Revival.
  • "Gumbo Nouveau" Recorded 1995. Polygram 531199.
Woody Shaw (born 1944-died 1989) Style: Contemporary
  • "Two More Pieces of the Puzzle" Recorded 1976. 32 Jazz 32069.
  • Dexter Gordon-"Homecoming: Live at the Village Vanguard" Recorded 1976. Columbia 46824.
  • "Rosewood" Recorded 1977. Columbia/Legacy 65519.
Clark Terry (born 1920) Style: Bebop
  • Oscar Peterson-"Oscar Peterson Trio Plus One" Recorded 1964. Polygram 558075.
Kenny Wheeler (born 1930) Style: Contemporary
  • "Gnu High" Recorded 1975. ECM 825591.
  • "Widow In The Window" Recorded 1990. ECM 843198.
  • "Angel Song" Recorded 1996. ECM 533098.

Some guiding principles behind the William Adam approach:

  1. The imagination is the driving force behind music making. Hearing the desired result vividly in your imagination will activate whatever physical activity it takes to make that sound.

  2. Every day and every repetition causes a more dependable result. Inconsistency eventually vanishes as the body makes a habit out of the most efficient way it finds to get the imagined result.

  3. Most physical problems are air problems. When the air and the imagination are working, the embouchure, tongue, etc. can settle into balance. If the air never flows steadily the rest of your system will also be in a constant state of adjustment and compensation.

  4. Physical and psychological tension are the trumpeter's greatest foes.

  5. A trumpet player needs to be involved with every note they play in an energetic way...both physically and mentally. It takes a lot of energy to play well. It shouldn't take a lot of force. If it does you are fighting against yourself and/or the instrument.

  6. We don't want our body to fight the physics and acoustics of the trumpet. Those natural laws don't change. Therefore, we have to change our approach.

  7. Unnecessary tension comes when the body is working against itself. Isometric tension is created by opposing muscle groups that are at war.

  8. Start the day by playing on the leadpipe/mouthpiece combination. Use plenty of air and try to get the most steady and resonant sound you can. On most Bb trumpets the concert Eb is the natural resonant pitch of the leadpipe.

  9. After you have set up the airflow and warmed up the embouchure (without creating undue embouchure tension), transfer that approach to the trumpet.

  10. Start with long tones or slowly moving flow studies with smaller intervals. Every single thing you play all day is a tone study!

  11. Establish a relaxed but energized airflow and a rich, resonant tone on every note from the very first note.

  12. Start in the middle register and gradually expand up and down alternating higher/lower/higher/lower, etc.

  13. Carry the beauty of sound and the free flow of energized breath into all the other contexts: expand register, expand dynamics, go through all the various articulations, lyrical playing, etc.

  14. At all times remember to imagine a beautiful sound. Keep your attention on that sound. Keep your energy up but never tense. Move energized air through your sound. Stay calm and mentally focused...never anxious.

  15. Never get angry with yourself and never try to go so fast that anxiety is created. If you do you are actually practicing being anxious and upset when playing. Of course that is how you will feel emotionally when you play if that is how you have practiced. Relax. It is supposed to be fun. We don't work music. We play music.

This is from a post I made on the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Forum:

First, I will make a confession. The things I am about to describe to you are not actually how I think/play all the time. This is the PARAGON or ideal. This is how I think/play when I am playing at my very best and I am convinced that this is how all players who are truly great think when they are playing at their peak. The way most people think as they learn/practice is not the same as the way they think when they perform. Jamey talks about this in term of the left and right sides of your brain. The left side is calculating and learns technical and factual information. The right side is more creative/conceptual. Most people learn material (especially theory) largely through the left-brain. Then, by "over practicing" that material they internalize it so that it is available to the right brain during the act of creative performance.

Clear your mind and then read the following word silently:

BANANA!

What happens when you read that word? You see a series of letters and that stimulates a thought process that is very similar to how we should play. When I read that word I feel as if I say the sound of that word in my imagination. Try it again. It feels as if I am actually saying the sound of the word in the front of my mind.

You might also observe that as you say the sound in your imagination you can sense what it would feel like to say the word. You can feel the way your tongue, teeth, lips, etc. would form the word. You can feel how it would resonate in your chest, throat, sinuses, etc. The muscles are already "ready to go" into action! If you were to read the word aloud you would find that the very same things would happen, except that the body would actually spring into action and make the sounds.

All of this happens in an instant just from looking at the letters on the screen. Beginning with your infancy you have learned how these sounds are made and your muscles, nervous system, conscious and unconscious mind, etc. work together to learn and then remember how to make the sounds (which you associate with the written letters and the imagined sound of the word). You don't consciously think about what your body must do to say the word. You just know what to do because you have done it thousands of times over the years.

In the case of reading aloud the stimulus is seeing the written word. If we were conversing you would simply think of the idea you wish to convey. The unconscious mind would explore all of the information it has stored (vocabulary, grammar, syntax, prosody, etc.) and your conscious mind would think the words that convey the thought you wish to communicate. Virtually simultaneously your nervous system and muscles would spring into action and say what you are thinking WITHOUT CONSCIOUS THOUGHT other than what you desire to communicate.

When great musicians are involved, ALL MUSIC IS PLAYED "BY EAR"...even if it is being read from a page!!! Great playing is always driven by the vividly imagined image of the desired sound. The imagination controls the physical processes: activates the airflow, positions and adjusts the embouchure, controls the motion of the fingers, etc. It is the role of the conscious mind to listen to what's going on around you and to imagine the sound of the missing part. If you are reading music the dots tell you what sounds to imagine. If you are playing a memorized piece it is your memory that supplies the missing part. If you are improvising it is the unconscious creative mind that supplies the missing part. This is all that you should be consciously aware of while playing. Sing the sound of the missing part in your mind and trust your unconscious mind, nervous system, and muscles to do what you have ordered. Your unconscious mind will do the very best it can based on your present level of skill and experience. We practice fundamentals in order to store efficient ways to make all of the various sounds we might desire in our unconscious minds as kinesthetic memories.

Concentration for a musician means screening out all other thoughts (including theory, technical analysis, physical feel, etc.) and focusing 100% of your thinking in the world of sound. The visual and the tactile are distractions for the conscious mind when you are playing creatively.

Physically, we focus on sound and that activates our mind and our body to "self-correct" our technique. Of course, what actually happens is that the unconscious mind and the body will work together to correct mechanical problems through repetition. Then, during practice you (or your teacher/mentor) will evaluate your playing and prescribe simple studies that should be practiced repetitively until they are relegated to the level of reflex and are available to you on command without conscious thought of anything but how you want the music to sound.

Remember that certain activities are part of a learning process. Avoid arrested development at all costs. Many people think that having great chops, knowing 100s of patterns, being able to whip through all of your demolished scales in broken 4ths at m.m=400, etc. are the goals of your musical development. Au contraire! These are just tools you are trying to acquire. If I own thousands of tools it only means that I have an impressive workshop. It doesn't mean that I can necessarily build anything beautiful or useful. The goal of playing is to imagine the sound of the missing part and to make it audible to your audience and the other musicians.

So...what is all the emphasis on scales and chords about? It is about possibilities! When I sing the missing part in my imagination I have to trust my unconscious mind, neurological system, and muscles to remember how to make that sound. If I haven't practiced that sound (or at least dozens of sounds that are similar and related) then odds are very great that I won't find it in time and no one but me (in my mind) will hear the way I wanted the music to go. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that I play every note on my instrument, every interval, every scale, every arpeggio, hundreds of melodies, parts of solos I have learned from listening to the masters, etc. over and over and over. I don't just do this until I can do it without mistakes. I do this until I know that I can find these things and execute them reflexively, regardless of what else is going on around me.

Therefore, when I am playing a tune I know I am not thinking at all about scales, chords, what something is called, how it would be written, what the fingering is, how well or poorly I am doing, how it feels, etc. There is no time for that. All of that is distraction during the act of music making. If I can't trust those things to work it means I need to practice a lot more, transcribe more music, work on my piano voicings, work on my singing, etc.

Some Thoughts on The Carmine Caruso Method

The Myth: Caruso exercises are designed to improve your playing by making the muscles of the embouchure stronger.

The Truth: Caruso exercises are designed to improve your playing by improving the coordination of all the muscles involved in playing (not just the embouchure) and eliminate excess muscular activity and effort.

Caruso was a saxophonist and violinist who understood a few basic principles that could improve any musician, regardless of instrument. These principles included:

  1. All of music consists of intervals. If a musician improves their ability to negotiate all of the various intervals they will naturally improve their ability to execute any piece of music.

  2. On any instrument, a musician plays cleanly when all of the various moving parts (muscles) move simultaneously. Refining a musician's rhythmic sense will invariably improve their ability to play cleanly.

  3. Most bad playing habits result from imbalance of muscular activity. Some muscle overworks and/or other muscles are not active enough. Often this imbalance results when one group of muscles tries to compensate for another group of muscles. This results in tension and inefficiency. When the muscles are synchronized these compensatory muscular activities are minimized.

  4. You learn from frequent repetition. Don't consciously "fix" anything.

  5. The purpose of practice is to repeat a muscular activity until it is a habit. Consistency comes from repetition.

  6. Synchronization and timing are the main goals. All muscles in the chops, hands, breathing apparatus, etc. respond to musical and timing demands. Good timing solves all technical problems.

  7. When playing, we are dealing with too many body motions to even list. The synchronization of these motions gives the desired results. Timing is of the utmost importance. Accuracy is the result of subdivision of the beat. Subdivide the beat immediately prior to any pitch change or articulation into four sixteenth notes. All motion should happen after the fourth sixteenth. Even finer subdivisions (than the sixteenth) will eventually produce more refined timing.

  8. It isn't how fast you play, but rather how fast you change from note to note that produces clean technique.

  9. Feel the upbeat as clearly as the downbeat.

  10. Don't think of any particular physical aspect of playing. Just play! Practice the whole body, not specific parts.

  11. Steady blowing makes a musical sound. Inertia keeps the air and chops moving regularly.

  12. Breath intake and blow is a pendulum-like action. Don't hold the breath or hesitate. Like everything else, the breath responds to the time.

  13. Steady breath is not forced breath.

  14. The instrument is an extension of the body!

  15. Each note complements the next. Don't set for where you are going. Play the note you are playing right now.

  16. Relaxation is a product. Tension is a symptom. When the body works properly it will be relaxed. There is MINIMUM work effort for the desired result.

I recommend the book Musical Calisthenics for Brass by Carmine Caruso. I also recommend the Caruso Forum on the Trumpet Herald website

The following bullet points come from a letter I wrote to a student. I think that a lot of the ideas here can help almost anyone.

  • The driving force in everything we play is the tone quality. Get a great sound in the "easy" register at a full but comfortable volume and gradually carry that sound and that feeling of freedom into all the other registers, dynamics, articulations, intervals. We get that sound by a combination of mental imagery and flowing breath.

  • Don't go any faster than you can go. As soon as you start to panic...even mildly...you should slow down the tempo, take a deep breath, and calm your mind. There is no reason to practice panic. If you are like most people, you have already mastered panic. Practice in such a way that you learn to be still and calm, yet intensely focused on the sound of the music.

  • The ideal state is one where you don't "care" emotionally. I don't mean that you should be "careless". You should be "CAREFREE"! Worry and care are distractions.

  • When you play, 98% of your conscious thinking needs to be focused on vividly singing the sound of the "missing trumpet part" in your imagination (pitch and tone quality). The remaining 2% of your consciousness is focused on keeping the air energized and flowing freely through the sound you are imagining. If you hear it clearly enough, your unconscious mind will work with your body to make it so. You just keep your mind in the sound, keep the air accelerating through the sound, and repeat. Use the force.

  • If you have a clear concept of YOUR SOUND, then by all means imagine that sound when you play. If not, pick someone who has the kind of tone AND RANGE & FACILITY that you wish you had and model the sound in your mind on that sound. Some great sounds to consider emulating are Freddie Hubbard, Clifford Brown, or Booker Little. There is a definite link between the quality in their tones and their facility and range. Odds are that if you model your tonal concept on Don Cherry and Chet Baker (like I did as a kid) you will also develop a range and technique comparable to theirs. Anyway, eventually you won't be able to hear the music any way but your own way. Most people find that personal concept through a process of imitating the sounds of the players they love. Just the fact that you love them is a step toward your own personality.

  • If you get a funky sound or you miss notes (over OR under shooting), you should ignore how it feels (for now). Do not get angry. If you do you are attaching too much emotional value to the result of your playing rather than being swept away by the process. Concentrate intensely (like a laser) on hearing the sound you desire in your imagination. Your unconscious mind does the fixing through repetition. Your conscious mind just focuses on the bull's-eye and stays carefree.

  • When in doubt, put a little more energy behind the air (rather than less). Feel like you are blowing all of the tensions in your body right out on the air stream. The airflow is a cleansing and relaxing act.

  • Remember, we associate familiar with good and unfamiliar with bad. As things evolve there will be times when things feel "bad". Don't freak out. Trust the process.

  • Playing is all about balancing relaxation with energy, and mental focus with emotional freedom. Remember that this is fun. It is more fun the better you get. That is why we do this...to get to the point where the fun flows unimpeded!

From posts I made on http://www.trumpetherald.com

For me the key here is the way we focus on sound and how that activates our mind and our body to seemingly "self-correct". Of course, what actually happens is that the unconscious mind and the body work together to correct physical problems through repetition.

This sound orientation works on at least two different levels simultaneously. First and most importantly, the way we imagine the sound is the equivalent of a baseball player or tennis player keeping their eye on the ball. With a clear bead on the target the unconscious mind, the nervous system, and the muscular system collaborate to draw on stored experience to achieve the desired goal. It is the imagination that activates all of the necessary muscular activity in a kinesthetic response to the mental stimulus. Those same muscular activities could be activated and controlled by the conscious mind in a more kinetic way (thinking about the muscles), but that would be a far less efficient, far more self-conscious, and far less music conscious way to achieve our purpose.

Secondly, the actual sound coming from the instrument gives us a product to evaluate. The quality of sound is the best indicator of efficient playing. When the sound is great in all registers, at all dynamics, regardless of articulation, etc. then you will know that you are playing in a physically appropriate manner. The mind is the control panel. It doesn't really matter if the student (or the teacher) knows exactly how the instrument and the body work. It matters that they know how to work the controls!

Concentration for a musician means screening out everything else (including theory, technical analysis, feel, etc.) and focusing 100% of your thinking in the world of sound.

Contact Pat Harbison @ Indiana University School of Music, Bloomington, IN 47405.
812.855.1433 (IU office) or 812.339.7471 (home)

Pat Harbison is available for concerts and clinics as a soloist and also with his band, Conspiracy Theory.
His books and recordings are available online through his website.
Pat Harbison plays Bach instruments, & mouthpieces & Charles Davis mutes.

This material copyright by Pat Harbison 2004.