Learning Jazz Improvisation - "Imitate, Assimilate, Innovate".

[mr. beaumont]

For the weird rhythmic ones, I make up words.

O-leo, O-leo
Not butter, or shortening is workin' for me
Mar-jar-ine, mar-jar-ine
When I, make a pound cake
It's got to be
Im-per-i-all-y
O-leo, O-leo
Not butter, or shortening is working for me
Mar-jar-ine, mar-jar-ine
When I, make a pound cake
It's got to be oleo.

[John A.]

For the weird rhythmic ones, I make up words.

O-leo, O-leo
Not butter, or shortening is workin' for me
Mar-jar-ine, mar-jar-ine
When I, make a pound cake
It's got to be
Im-per-i-all-y
O-leo, O-leo
Not butter, or shortening is working for me
Mar-jar-ine, mar-jar-ine
When I, make a pound cake
It's got to be oleo.

I do something similar with polyrhythms -- 3 against 4 is "pass the god-damn butter"

[Christian Miller]

Agreed. Joe instructed others to "play melodies" when improvising - not just thoughtless note streams.

Still, unless one wishes to be kind of a minimalist improviser, there has to be more than practicing heads. Joe frequently ripped off explosive and extensive melodic outbursts.

There is a difference between strolling around the track, and running a 400 meter hurdle race.

Eh? Bird, Bud this kind of stuff? These are the sorts of bebop heads

You could mine a tune like this one, or to take a more obvious bit of basic rep, Donna Lee for a ton of bop language. Once you are able to play it of course.

Can you play DL at tempo? If not get that down first. It’ll come up useful when playing with others unlike that bop etude. Then maybe work through into the solos. I kind of feel if you haven’t already got a ton of stuff to say on the changes by the time you’ve learned the head you are kind of doing it wrong.

[Christian Miller]

Writing heads is good too

And a chorus of soloing for that matter

the best way of working on improvisation is not necessarily to improvise. If you improvise you tend to play stuff you already know. If you compose something or have an exercise you can play something new. The trick is finding ways to practice it so it goes into your playing.