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In case anyone wondered...
For the past week I've returned to transcribing and simultaneously learning to play Charlie Christian's solo on 'Swing To Bop'. I've put to one side Holdsworth on 'Inner Urge'. I use my Fender Mustang for the CC solo, which I now have detuned for the purpose of transcribing it... (so all my other practising these days is on my Godin 5th Avenue).
I've also started again on 'Mars' by John Coltrane, the notes of which I pick out on my keyboard and then notate. I actually started doing this late last year - I've now done the first minute or so of Coltrane's solo (up to about 1:35 on the track).
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11-29-2025 12:53 PM
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A Fine Romance
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Lately I've been practicing singing and comping. Various songs, including a few jazz standards, but not mainly jazz.
Been hanging out with singers and having fun with it. My jazz chops are suffering a bit but my ear might be benefitting.
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Just for people's information - when I say 'transcribing' here I don't mean writing it down, just figuring it out by ear.
Originally Posted by James W
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To continue my journey with "Like Someone in Love" (posts 135 & 152), a couple nights ago I had another chance to play it at a jam session. I had been running through it with iReal (bass and drums only, no position indicator) on and off for a couple of days and felt that it was starting to come together. So I called it at the session. My playing was better and overall it went well, except for one significant, and at the same time, evocative hitch.
Although I was prepared to play the theme, which is usual process for whoever calls the tune, once I counted in and while playing a short intro, the trumpet player opened the JSB (Jazz Standard Bible, like a Japanese Real Book) to the lead sheet and was poised to do the theme. So I deferred and started comping. When we reached the modulation in bars 9-12, he faltered and looked a bit distressed so I picked up the theme and we continued.
Afterwards, he said it was difficult because the modulation from Fmaj7 to Amaj7 meant he had to play in the key of B and there was some discussion about how that doesn't lay well on a Bb instrument. This young up and coming player is quite accomplished, and even though he sometimes reads charts from the JSB at a jam (common practice here) this was different. If it was a gig, we'd have talked this over during rehearsals or whatever, but the strength of a jam session is its spontaneity. But now I realized, it's also a weakness.
So the next day I investigated. The JSB chart is in C, which is kind of unusual judging by recordings. For example, Coltrane played it in Eb, which is the key for the sheet in the Real Book. I was first attracted to "Like Someone in Love" from listening to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, with Lee Morgan playing the theme beautifully, and they did it in Ab. Other versions with horn players used Eb or Ab, too. Randomly checking around for other versions, I found that some vocalists sang it in G. So the C didn't make much sense. Perhaps the editor of the JSB had their reasons for publishing the sheet in C, and it was partly my fault for not understand the difficulty of the F-A modulation for Bb instruments.
Practicing it at home, I sounded out the melody in both Eb and Ab and worked out the changes, and so it's totally feasible to use those keys from where I'm sitting. But taking into account the spontaneous spur of the moment nature of a jam session, where not everyone knows all tunes in all keys and it's acceptable (at least around these parts) to read tunes from the JSB if one is a little wobbly on it. That's part of the fun in jams, rising to the challenge of spontaneity. The Real Book has a chart in Eb and I suppose I could photocopy that and hand it out at a jam session if I wanted to call it again, but that's a bit unusual since the JSB is on hand and most tunes are called from that. Or, I could only call the tune when there's no horns, or perhaps ask the horn players if it's OK to call it.
In any case, lesson learned and now that I know about the keys from iconic recordings noted above, it's a good opportunity to practice "Like Someone in Love" in a couple of other keys (Eb and Ab seem likely contenders). The only other time I've done that is for tunes that are called by vocalists, where they distribute charts in their own keys, but this was the first time for me, as an amateur part-time sporadically gigging player, that there was a hitch due to calling a tune in a key that doesn't lay well on a particular instrument.
Although this is getting a bit verbose, it raises one other point. When the trumpet player faltered on the modulation, I picked up the theme and we continued playing without any problems. That taught me, from a real time on stage experience, about the concept of "rescuing." I'm sure others think of it this way, but I first heard that idea from Bill Frisell. There's variations of quotes floating around the internet, the gist of which say something along the lines of, "Playing music is not about competing nor is it about what's right or wrong; it's about rescuing one another." When I read that, I thought it was interesting, but when I actually felt that on stage in the situation noted above it took on more significance. And to me, this experience raises an important point, that no matter how much we might practice in isolation or with backing tracks, playing along with others in spontaneous live situations--such as the open jam sessions in my case--is a crucial aspect of learning jazz.
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About to start learning 'How Deep Is The Ocean'.
I'm not sure if it's in the RB or not, but even if it is, I intend to learn it by ear from a recording, in this case Kurt Rosenwinkel's from the album Intuit. I'll probably end up figuring out some of his lines too.
It's high time I learned a new tune so looking forward to doing this, which I'll be doing in the time I normally would allocate to practising a tune in that systematic way I described on another thread.
(So essentially doing more transcription in addition to the Charlie Christian mentioned above).
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We need more of this as the baseline. Cutting contests are for seasoned pros, nobodies at a brunch jazz jam should be working together."Playing music is not about competing nor is it about what's right or wrong; it's about rescuing one another.
And if a seasoned pro finds himself at a brunch jam, he should rescue everyone he can.
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'Gone With The Wind' for the Jazz guitar weekend.
I'm copying the Ben Webster version.
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As previously said my main study now is a full song transcription of “Midnight Blue” and cherry picking Marshall’s xscript of “Four on Six” from Half Note.
The other is chipping away at reading with lead sheets and technique lessons.
Over the weekend I started playing around with “Birth of the Blues”. Much more interesting melody than I thought.
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Ok, 80% I get it right now. I guess the sound of that mimics dim alot. Meaning, when some notes for the proper dim triad are found, it'd be too easy not to go full dim7 - a trap. Originally Posted by emanresu
The dim-sound is strong with this one...
Yup. D7#9 - easy. Db9 - jeeperz. Atm., it only feels that it is doable.
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Working my way through some of this website's jazz courses right now, along with some picking exercises and my usual song list play through. I keep trying to add to my repertoire.
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I don't understand the exercise. Random progression, random key, random placement of a very specific dominant chord? Originally Posted by emanresu
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Atm, it is just D7b9>m7, in random keys, tryng to play instantly the correct scale/key. The same shapes, nothing fancy. But every try feels like a curveball. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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Do you mean D7b9 like D F# A Eb? In any key? Originally Posted by emanresu
That sounds like a curveball.
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Joy Spring, A Smooth One and Fine Romance(singing and playing).
Technique was 3 octave minor arp up, melodic minor scale in 3rds down. 12 keys, free time, slowly.
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I'm learning 'Gone with the Wind', but was easily distracted by this video.
Barney Kessel on guitar.
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If you like this style check out Why Do I Love You by Helen Carr with Howard Roberts, and Mood To Be Wooed by Sammy Davis Jr with Mundell Lowe. Originally Posted by GuyBoden
There's also Juile Is Her Name Vol. 2 which also has Howard Roberts instead of Barney Kessel.
Great albums with vocals, guitar, lots of space, and no scat singing.
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A good part of my practice time is taken up with composing lines over chord sequences. I compose them rubato (although more and more I'm finding ideas come to me in real time, albeit not necessarily great ones) and then practice them against a backing track. Tonight I was working on the FM7 -> Fm6 -> Em7 -> A7 part of All Of Me:
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Endurance; I have three this weekend, then New Years.
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1 - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (C)
2 - Sleigh Ride (G)
3 - Blue Christmas (F)
4 - Merry Christmas Baby (F)
5 - Silver And Gold (C)
6 - I'll Be Home For Christmas (Ab)
7 - Frosty The Snowman (C)
8 - A Holly Jolly Christmas (HLTRCB) (C)
9 - My Favorite Things (E-)
10 - It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (Ab)
11 - Jingle Bells (G)
12 - Christmas Time Is Here (F)
Holiday song crunch time.
The time of year where I use a music stand.
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Some of the nicest sounding jazz tunes are Christmas songs.
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I’m enjoying how predictable and simple they are
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What’s with these 9#11 turn arounds to V? They’re all over the Xmas real book
G-7
Db(9#11)
C9
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Fits the melody in this case - G on a Db7. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
What’s with these 9#11 turn arounds to V? They’re all over the Xmas real book
G-7
Db(9#11)
C9
(Db9#11 is a nice old school Ellington/Strayhorn-ish sort of voicing - B+ on a Db bass eg x 4 x 4 4 3)
In this case the chord moves down a half step but melody note is sustained. So the chord symbol is implying that. So not strictly necessary, given we have the melody right there, but quite reasonable notation imo.
Depends on the style of lead sheet but you’ll often see extensions reflecting the melody. Older style lead sheets would have just given you the basic chord quality.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Thanks Christian & Brent!
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