Let's list some solos that you would say are 'Essential' to learn...

[jamiehenderson1993]

Obviously there's no solo that is essential to learn, but there are a few that seem to come up over and over again as great solos with a lot of rhythmic or vocab-based benefit (regardless of instrument). So I'm hoping to start a thread that I can come back to in the future where we list off solos that
a) you learned a lot from personally - improving time, phrasing, articulation, dynamics or just general vocab... and/or
b) you'd absolutely recommend to a student you were teaching because of the obvious benefits of learning it (or even part of it).

From what I've seen online here's a few that come up a lot:

• Chitlins Con Carne - Burrell;
  
• Grand Slam - Christian;
  
• Cool Blues or Miss Ann's Tempo - Green;
  
• Four on Six or No Blues - Montgomery;
  
• So What (or anything on KoB) - Davis
  
• Take Five - Desmond
  
• Lady Be Good - Young
  
• Honeysuckle Rose - Bechet
  
• Stompin at the Savoy - Hall
  

Hoping we can get some good suggestions going! Thanks in advance.

[JazzPadd]

Great list so far. I’d add Grant Green, No 1 Green Street, mainly for the phrasing.

[djg]

Obviously there's no solo that is essential to learn, but there are a few that seem to come up over and over again as great solos with a lot of rhythmic or vocab-based benefit (regardless of instrument). So I'm hoping to start a thread that I can come back to in the future where we list off solos that
a) you learned a lot from personally - improving time, phrasing, articulation, dynamics or just general vocab... and/or
b) you'd absolutely recommend to a student you were teaching because of the obvious benefits of learning it (or even part of it).

From what I've seen online here's a few that come up a lot:

• Chitlins Con Carne - Burrell;
  
• Grand Slam - Christian;
  
• Cool Blues or Miss Ann's Tempo - Green;
  
• Four on Six or No Blues - Montgomery;
  
• So What (or anything on KoB) - Davis
  
• Take Five - Desmond
  
• Lady Be Good - Young
  
• Honeysuckle Rose - Bechet
  
• Stompin at the Savoy - Hall
  

Hoping we can get some good suggestions going! Thanks in advance.

the essential solo is the one that floors you so much that you *need* to learn it. personally i find these lists counter-productive since they imply that there is a canon.

[Tal_175]

I think it makes sense to focus on a style when choosing a solo if the goal is to learn language rather than mixing swing, bebop, hardbop, west coast, modal etc. Also, I think just one solo is already a lot to chew on if one is to really learn something from transcriptions.

[pamosmusic]

I think it makes sense to focus on a style when choosing a solo if the goal is to learn language rather than mixing swing, bebop, hardbop, west coast, modal etc. Also, I think just one solo is already a lot to chew on if one is to really learn something from transcriptions.

Yeah quantity over quality.

Just kidding… you want to learn what you like and learn it really well, but I think I’ve gotten the most from when I just live with Jim Hall or Grant Green for a few months at a stretch.

Or anyone else but Grant and Jim are the ones I’ve done that with most often.

[lawson-stone]

Every time I hear Wes on "No Blues" I think how much I would love to sit down and learn his solo on that.

[pamosmusic]

Every time I hear Wes on "No Blues" I think how much I would love to sit down and learn his solo on that.

Yeah therein lies the rub.

To djgs point, Four on Six is an great answer for killer Wes solos from Smokin.

But also my White Whale has been Misty for years (finally learned the whole thing this year).

Also No Blues is INSANE.

I think I would also accept Impressions as “essential.”

So I think that’s four solos any person could reasonably call essential … from the same album.

EDIT: Unit 7 is also amazing. Point keeps getting made

And to Tals point, I worked on seven or eight Grant solos over a three or four month stretch last year. I did the entirety of Jim’s “Jazz Guitar” last fall.

I have only ever transcribed Misty from Smokin, and I transcribed it twice, fifteen years apart, and spent probably six months on just that solo each time.

[djg]

Every time I hear Wes on "No Blues" I think how much I would love to sit down and learn his solo on that.

why dont you start right now? set it to 75% speed, sing the first chorus along 20 times and play it. it's mainly 1st position. should take you 45 minutes tops for the first 12 bars. the hardest part is starting.

[joe2758]

I started with this

[AllanAllen]

Lester Youngs solos on All of Me and Fine and Mellow. Some stuff off Chet Baker Sings.

It's personal taste though, there are suggestions above that I'm fine never listening to again, let alone putting any effort into transcribing.

[Bob_Ross]

I'm gonna suggest Wilbur Ware's bass solo on "Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise" -- pretty much any version by Sonny Rollins' trio, because Wilbur seems to have a very specific and consistent approach to that tune that makes it so worthy of inclusion on this hypothetical list of Must Learn solos.

[digger]

why dont you start right now? set it to 75% speed, sing the first chorus along 20 times and play it. it's mainly 1st position. should take you 45 minutes tops for the first 12 bars. the hardest part is starting.

I've never been able to do the singing along with a solo thing. I wish I could, as I've heard from many sources that it's the best way to transcribe / learn solos. But I just don't have the range, articulation accuracy of pitch, speed to sing fast lines, or even pitch memory. It's like the other day I was watching a YT video on suspensions but whenever I try and sing one the main chord tones are just such a pull on my brain that that's where I end up. I think you need really good pitch to sing such things, because anything less and one simply sounds out of tune.

It's personal taste though, there are suggestions above that I'm fine never listening to again, let alone putting any effort into transcribing.

I'm intrigued - which of those suggestion would you be happy never hearing again?

I think it makes sense to focus on a style when choosing a solo if the goal is to learn language rather than mixing swing, bebop, hardbop, west coast, modal etc. Also, I think just one solo is already a lot to chew on if one is to really learn something from transcriptions.

I tend to agree. I still prefer to play early swing stuff. I mean I love the whole Hard Bop thing, and the Cool thing, but in terms of what I'm likely to play and thus what I want to learn it wouldn't get far past Django or Charlie Christian, and probably doesn't need to far beyond Louis Armstrong, though I have a soft spot for the clarinet player Edmond Hall. I kind of like chordal soloing, too - as done back in the swing days, but I can't say as I've ever transcribed any. Maybe I should!

Derek

[djg]

I've never been able to do the singing along with a solo thing. I wish I could, as I've heard from many sources that it's the best way to transcribe / learn solos. But I just don't have the range, articulation accuracy of pitch, speed to sing fast lines, or even pitch memory. It's like the other day I was watching a YT video on suspensions but whenever I try and sing one the main chord tones are just such a pull on my brain that that's where I end up. I think you need really good pitch to sing such things, because anything less and one simply sounds out of tune.

you are overthinking this. dont you ever sing under the shower?

[lawson-stone]

Yeah therein lies the rub.

To djgs point, Four on Six is an great answer for killer Wes solos from Smokin.

But also my White Whale has been Misty for years (finally learned the whole thing this year).

Also No Blues is INSANE.

I think I would also accept Impressions as “essential.”

So I think that’s four solos any person could reasonably call essential … from the same album.

EDIT: Unit 7 is also amazing. Point keeps getting made

And to Tals point, I worked on seven or eight Grant solos over a three or four month stretch last year. I did the entirety of Jim’s “Jazz Guitar” last fall.

I have only ever transcribed Misty from Smokin, and I transcribed it twice, fifteen years apart, and spent probably six months on just that solo each time.

Agree on all this. "Smokin' at the Half Note" is one of my desert-island albums. It might be that "Unit 7" would be more useful because you have an AABA form with A sections as Blues and the bridge is, well, a bridge. Lots of ideas in that solo.

[GuyBoden]

I started with this

Moose the Mooch is an easier Charlie Parker solo to learn.

I've slowed down the Moose the Mooch solo below.

[joe2758]

That's a good one, Guy. Mine was a joke if anyone didn't know

[AllanAllen]

That's a good one, Guy. Mine was a joke if anyone didn't know

I did not get the joke.

[joe2758]

I did not get the joke.

That's ok. The joke was that would be a ridiculously hard solo to start with.

[MarkRhodes]

I think Charlie Christian's "Rose Room" solo is as good as it gets. It's musical, it swings, great tone.

[wolflen]

fairly easy guitar takes..

On Green Dolphin St

All Blues

Blue Monk/Straight No Chaser

Here's That Rainy Day (great melodic/harmonic study)

St Thomas

Blue in Green (a study in style/mood)

These use basic jazz flavors and are good to begin exploring improvisational possibilities.

The solos that various artists have used over the above tunes are a composite of what is discussed on the forum in many different ways--
Harmonic/melodic/rhythmic "essentials"

[pamosmusic]

I think Charlie Christian's "Rose Room" solo is as good as it gets. It's musical, it swings, great tone.

Hes so tough to choose.

i had a couple weeks in college where I transcribed him every day. Ended up with maybe eight or nine one or two chorus solos. All pretty much perfect specimens.

[AllanAllen]

Hes so tough to choose.

i had a couple weeks in college where I transcribed him every day. Ended up with maybe eight or nine one or two chorus solos. All pretty much perfect specimens.

Benny making them play, roughly, the same solos every night would do that.