Tips for jazz blues solos to learn from?

[Swingstring]

Apologies if this would fit better in another subforum.

I have decided that I want to delve more deeply into the jazz blues form, since my imrpo vocabulary here is very much lacking.

Do you guys have some recommendations for some good solos / recordings to learn from? By jazz blues I mean any jazz tune that is clearly rooted in the blues form; not one specific chord progression.

Currently I am transcribing a Julian Lage blues solo (Tiny Desk Blues with Gary Burton), and I am thinking that Freddie Freeloader and All Blues would have many good solos to learn from.

Any more suggestions for recordings and solos?

[Jimmy Smith]

I really like how Kenny Burrell makes it a mix of rock blues and jazz blues. Here's a record with all bluezes and tasty Kenny Burrell solos (as well as the other cats). I think you'll like it if you want to focus on the jazz blues form.

[ruger9]

Kenny Burrell really is the "king" of this, I think.

[alltunes]

Miles’ solo from Freddie Freeloader is often cited as a masterclass in blues phrasing. Barry Greene has mentioned Grant Green’s “Grants Greenery” as a great example of blues language.

Also if you are a TrueFire guy; Robben Ford’s Blues Revolution course has a boatload of tasty jazz tinged blues licks.

Chris Whiteman’s Patreon page has some nice blues “etudes” too among a bunch of other great stuff.

[Bop Head]

Before I’d transcribe a Julian Lage solo to learn jazz blues I would rather go way back in time (if you haven’t already)

and immerse yourself into the roots of that music (I am not talking about imitating the guitar playing but getting a feeling for the melodic and rhythmic aspects of the singing) or at least go as far back as the Kansas “territory bands” of early Count Basie or of Charlie Parker’s former boss

to learn about swing blues riffs.

[AlsoRan]

Stringswinger, I have been looking at this form for awhile now. It never ceases to amaze me how many variations there are within Jazz Blues.

Some are really fast, some are slow and laid back. Some have more of a county sound with lots of Major Blues scale lines, while some may have more of a BeBop sound, with progressions that throw in more 2-5-1 lines. And there are many other approaches.

I wish you luck in being able to "scratch this itch" and it will be fun to see what others contribute to this thread.

[Sam Sherry]

Apparently John Coltrane once said that this was his favorite of all the albums he made:

Lotta jazz players might say that this isn't jazz but a lot of others would beg to differ:

IMO this piece perfectly rides the line between jazz, blues and soul.
And of course, Sarah Vaughan.

And on the other side of that same line, these two pieces -- heck, just the first phrase of each of these two pieces -- launched a million guitarists and together helped to re-launch the dormant Gibson Les Paul Model guitar:

+ + +

We now return you to JG.be as we know and love it.

[Bop Head]

[…] Lotta jazz players might say that this isn't jazz but a lot of others would beg to differ:

[…]

One of Kenny Burrell’s influences

[Bop Head]

The album “My Mama Pinned A Rose On Me” by the “Godmother of Bebop” Mary Lou Williams (mentor of Charlie Christian, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell and others) opened my ears for the harmonic possibilities of jazz blues 30 years ago:

which on the album goes seamlessly into

then seamlessly into

Here is the tracklist of the album. I think all of the tracks are on Youtube.


And here she is on minor a blues in Oscar Peterson’s TV show

EDIT: Here are some transcriptions by someone who studied with Mary Lou of tunes from “My Mama Pinned A Rose On Me”

[Bop Head]

Another thing to listen to for inspiration is blues harmonica (“blues harp”). Here is Carey Bell from Muddy Waters’ band in a modern jazz context.

[The album was published on L+R records, a label established by German concert- and tour promoters Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau, who in 1960 together with German jazz author Joachim Ernst Behrendt had invented the “American Folk Blues Festival” European tour that lead to the British blues revival and thereby later to the ”British Invasion”.]

[ruger9]

and immerse yourself into the roots of that music (I am not talking about imitating the guitar playing but getting a feeling for the melodic and rhythmic aspects of the singing) or at least go as far back as the Kansas “territory bands” of early Count Basie or of Charlie Parker’s former boss

to learn about swing blues riffs.

That's the sh1t, right there. Awesome music! I'd take it all the way back to Louis Armstrong's early recordings.

[charlieparker]

My suggestion would be to look at some blues tunes played by Wes, Kenny, and Grant Green. IMO, they are the definitive classic hard bop blues players on guitar.

D-Natural Blues comes to mind if you want a specific tune to start with.

[ragman1]

I have decided that I want to delve more deeply into the jazz blues form, since my imrpo vocabulary here is very much lacking.

I'm sorry if this is going to be controversial (but a bit doesn't hurt) but you know you can listen to what others do everlastingly. It's all right but the bottom line is what you yourself play.

The basic blues vocabulary is simple enough. It's a combination of the blues scale (minor pentatonic) and mixolydian scales. When you've got that then you can add in embellishments like altered sounds.

Most solos are simple and direct. Getting complex only comes much later. Of course, everybody wants to go straight to the clever stuff first but that really doesn't work. It's far better to play something simple well than play something difficult and do it badly.

Jazz-blues is not the same as blues-blues. What BB King does isn't the same as what Wes Montgomery does. When even a good blues player is given a jazz form and starts to play the usual fare it just sounds as though they don't know their stuff.

So, if it's jazz blues you want to play, start there and do that. Don't try to run before you can walk, start simple and work up.

[ragman1]

D-Natural Blues comes to mind if you want a specific tune to start with.

Sorry, charlie, but you must be joking. D Natural Blues is for experts.

[itsmyname]

listen :

top phrasing Robben !

[Swingstring]

Most solos are simple and direct. Getting complex only comes much later. Of course, everybody wants to go straight to the clever stuff first but that really doesn't work. It's far better to play something simple well than play something difficult and do it badly.

So, if it's jazz blues you want to play, start there and do that. Don't try to run before you can walk, start simple and work up.

Perhaps I should have been clearer in the OP, but I am not new to jazz or blues or the jazz blues. I've played guitar for the majority of my life and jazz for roughly half of it, gigging and studying it at uni.

So I am not looking to go from a complete blank slate to getting introduced to the genre for the first time. But I do feel that my jazz blues ideas have grown a bit stale and set in their own ways. Since the blues is a somewhat more limited form in its essence, it is easy to revert to clichés or unimaginative memorized lines. My hope was to get some recommendations of recordings of some good solos to transcribe to help get some fresh ideas and expand my vocabulary.

I enjoyed the Jimmy Smith / Kenny Burrell recommendation mentioned earlier. Not an album I was familiar with, and a lot of tasteful and transcribable jazz blues solos on there. Keep 'em coming.

[wolflen]

you will find some very tasty and intricate solos against some nice blues feel progressions on Steely Dan tunes

Larry Carlton also has some nice blues lines on many of his recordings

to me "jazz/blues" has to be a large part..attitude and saying that ..there are many tunes that qualify

your mention of ALL Blues/Miles it is a gold mine of the top players using on the spot improvisation ideas..Trane and Evans lead the way..the mix of major/minor/dominant lines

are what keeps the KOB album a top seller for 50+yrs

[rob taft]

From the Willis Jackson LP "Bar Wars"

Bar Wars - Solo (Blues in F) - Pat Martino | Soundslice

[ragman1]

Perhaps I should have been clearer in the OP, but I am not new to jazz or blues or the jazz blues. I've played guitar for the majority of my life and jazz for roughly half of it, gigging and studying it at uni.

So I am not looking to go from a complete blank slate to getting introduced to the genre for the first time. But I do feel that my jazz blues ideas have grown a bit stale and set in their own ways. Since the blues is a somewhat more limited form in its essence, it is easy to revert to clichés or unimaginative memorized lines. My hope was to get some recommendations of recordings of some good solos to transcribe to help get some fresh ideas and expand my vocabulary.

I enjoyed the Jimmy Smith / Kenny Burrell recommendation mentioned earlier. Not an album I was familiar with, and a lot of tasteful and transcribable jazz blues solos on there. Keep 'em coming.

Ah, okay. I must admit it sounded as though you were new to the jazz form!

I have decided that I want to delve more deeply into the jazz blues form, since my imrpo vocabulary here is very much lacking.

But you're saying now you're 'not new to jazz or blues or the jazz blues'. In that case I admit I'm wondering why you don't already know the best jazz-blues players. Don't you already know about all those players?

I agree absolutely that the basic blues stuff can get old very quickly. Between you and me, I often wonder why the great blues players don't get stale playing virtually the same blues pents and licks all the time... but apparently they don't!

Let's say then that you know all the mixolydians and pentatonics backwards. As I said, most blues solos are played like that. The difference between that and jazz is the sort of thing that, say, Wes plays (like D Nat Blues). Or Bernstein, for example. He definitely goes into it pretty deeply. You could try this sort of thing.

[Bop Head]

Dizzy plus two Sonnys playing Erskine Hawkins’ “After Hours”

And speaking of Dizz — how could I forget about this one? It is so great I had to start a new thread in the “players” department .

[ragman1]

Also, for learning purposes, there's Jens Larsens videos. Lots and lots on the blues (but you have to scroll down for them).

Jens Larsen - YouTube

[Christian Miller]

Apologies if this would fit better in another subforum.

I have decided that I want to delve more deeply into the jazz blues form, since my imrpo vocabulary here is very much lacking.

Do you guys have some recommendations for some good solos / recordings to learn from? By jazz blues I mean any jazz tune that is clearly rooted in the blues form; not one specific chord progression.

Currently I am transcribing a Julian Lage blues solo (Tiny Desk Blues with Gary Burton), and I am thinking that Freddie Freeloader and All Blues would have many good solos to learn from.

Any more suggestions for recordings and solos?

Wow I mean where do you start? The whole history of jazz has blues tunes in it, right from the 20s to the present day.

I’ve learned a lot from looking Parker blues heads - and of course it gives you repertoire you can play on gigs too.

One of the greatest jazz guitar solos on a blues all time has got to be Wes on No Blues from Smokin’ at the Half Note.

[Christian Miller]

I was listening to this yesterday.

I like the way the solos are on the simplest jazz blues chords imaginable

| I | IV | I | % |
| IV | % | I | % |
| V | % | I | V |

It reminds me of the way the blues changes would be on a lot of those old Charlie Christian/Benny Goodman sides. Here’s Bill Frisell giving his own interpretation of Charlie.

The unison line is a transcription of Charlie’s original solo

[Christian Miller]

Miles’ solo from Freddie Freeloader is often cited as a masterclass in blues phrasing.

Don’t sleep on Wynton Kelly’s solo either!

[Bop Head]

Russell Malone killin’ it goin’ way down South @ Emmet’s Place