-
I guess I have 2 questions...
At a jam when someone looks to you to "just play a blues" in F, Bb or whatever - I guess you have two options: you start playing a known blues head, or you just improvise a blues head on the spot.
My questions are...
If it's the first - what are your Go-To blues heads to play? - I personally default to Au Privave; Now's The Time or Blues in the Closet.
If it's the second - what is your thought process when making up your own head - I guess repetition and 'hitting the change' - but very interested to hear how more experienced musicians navigate both of these scenarios.
-
08-15-2025 04:15 AM
-
if the someone is a melody istrument: start with an intro over the form comping the chords in an active manner, almost like a chord solo. while doing that look at the guy who suggested. does he prepare to play a head? does he discuss a head with other players? if not, call a head while comping and play it in the next round.
Originally Posted by jamiehenderson1993
if the someone is in a rhythm section: call out the head, count off and play it.
-
What are some of your favourite heads to call or play? Originally Posted by djg
-
i dont play many sessions, so i have the privilege to call some less know stuff, like SJK or Cisco. Originally Posted by jamiehenderson1993
at sessions i often play que baby, which is easy for the horns to fall in. i also like miss anns tempo or sandu.
-
Tenor Madness is very popular around here. The main riff is mainly 3rd-1st-6th then b3rd-1st-6th
-
This word for word:
-
Tenor Madness, Billie’s Bounce, Sonnymoon, Now’s the Time are all ones that you can expect people to know at a session. I like calling Blues in the Closet because it’s not called all the time at sessions but it’s super easy and you could teach it to a horn player in one sentence, but usually I just go with something people already know. Originally Posted by jamiehenderson1993
Blues tunes are also good places to go off the beaten track if you have more latitude because the chances are fairly standard and variations are easy to communicate. Some less common ones that I like on my own gigs are Cheryl, Cousin Mary, Blues Five Spot and Green Street or Goodens Corner
(I get the feeling Goodens Corner might’ve been one of those blueses Grant put together on the spot like you mention above, but djg would probably know better than me)
-
you summoned me, master? actually i dont know. but leo gooden was a club owner in st louis. he was grant's mentor and iirc either he paid for grants trip to NYC or went with him to meet the lion brothers. Originally Posted by pamosmusic
-
If someone says let’s play a blues, I’m comping and they’ll play the head.
If I call a blues I call it by name. Billie’s Bounce, Chicken Shack, Now’s The Time, Sandu, Things Ain’t What They Used To Be (key of Db), Chitlins, SonnyMoon for Two, Birks Works, Mr PC, Comin Home Baby, Turnaround, Dig Dis, Cool Struttin’, …
I guess I know a lot of blues heads.
-
Haven't had a generic blues called in a long time. Usually, people name the tune.
If I were to call a straightforward one, I'd play a head that Warren Nunes wrote. Nice melody. Can't recall the name of the tune.
Otherwise maybe Blues for Alice? Straight No Chaser?
Four on Six for minor.
-
Miles..All Blues
-
I do this all the time. Call a generic blues. Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
Usually if I’m at a session and it takes more than 15 seconds to decide on a song
-
No Blues
First record I ever bought -- lucky me!
-
All Blues, if done well, lots of space and wide phrasing, will pull people in harder than anything else I’ve played. They’ll just be in a daze. Originally Posted by wolflen
-
These are all absolutely brilliant folks & really appreciate the knowledge / advice as always - so much to learn!!!
-
Originally Posted by AllanAllen
Yes its a classic
a mix of blues flavors major/dominant and minor wrapped in a 6/8 feel that punches gently then builds and can get crunchy with 7#9s to end the round.
I have said this before "..some have argued that its NOT a blues tune. My retort..read the liner notes and tell Bill Evans hes wrong."
-
This is such a very interesting discussion, and I really enjoy reading about other player's preferences and experiences, especially in the context of jazz jam sessions. Many thanks!
My primary musical activity, here in Japan, is open jazz jam sessions. Fortunately, there are several venues within reasonable driving distance that hold them on a regular basis and so I try to go at least once a week, sometimes twice. Each venue has its own character and participants, but blues is one of the common threads. Many tunes already noted here by others are typically called. Although my experience is limited to my corner of the world, I feel like I'd be able to walk into a jam session anywhere and find some common ground.
There are about a dozen blues tunes that get called here, some more often than others. We use the Jazz Standard Bible, a 2 volume set of about 500 tunes (similar to the Real Book) and every venue and most players have at least one of them on hand. I think that's in part why there is common ground, with its repertoire as potential anything in the JSB is game.
JSB blues tunes are All Blues, Au Privave, Bessie's Blues, Billie's Bounce, Blue Monk, C Jam Blues, Freddie the Freeloader, Mr. PC, Mysterioso, Now's the Time, Sonnymoon for Two, Straight No Chaser, and Tenor Madness. Most keys are either Bb or F (Bessie's Blues is in Eb, C Jam Blues of course in C, Mr. PC in Cm). What gets called from among those depends on who's on stage at any given moment. Horn players prefer some over others (e.g. Au Privave, Billie's Bounce, Sonnymoon for Two, etc). The last time All Blues was called it was by a bassist, who played the theme, and we all had a blast; as many have already said above it's a great tune, so much there to play around with. There was a tenor sax player, who has since move on to Tokyo, who always called Tenor Madness, but since he's been gone it doesn't get called quite as often. C Jam Blues works very well as an "ice breaker" tune when there are newcomers or beginners participating in the session. It's not an exhaustive list, maybe not even all the best tunes, but it's enough to have some fun.
My go to tunes are Straight No Chaser, Blue Monk and Freddie the Freeloader. The latter has a little twist with the Ab7, so sometimes we'll default to jazz blues changes for ad-lib, but if there are some on stage I've played with, we can use the original changes. I noticed on some Miles Davis recordings, they use the Ab7 for ad lib on every chorus, which I prefer, but that would need a little explaining, too. So the details can depend on who is on stage. If it's just me in a trio with drums and bass, which happens sometimes when there are not that many participants arriving yet, I'll try something like Misterioso with Bill Frisell in mind.
With most of the common tunes, it's usually enough to call it by name and count off. On some of the really well known ones, like Billie's Bounce or Straight No Chaser, someone can start with the theme and then others join in once they get their bearings. What also works well for those tunes, especially when there's several melody instruments on stage and with a few seconds to talk about it, is to play the theme in unison with only the drums, which is fun and exciting. Straight No Chaser is also sometimes called as session closer.
Regarding making up a theme, everyone has their own approach to that. I usually play a chorus of the blues in chord melody style, and once the others are onto that, I might play something similar to Grant Green's No. 1 Green Street, or Charlie Christian's Flying Home, or any one of a number of variations on the 5-6-b7 notes. What matters for these, at least in my limited view, is not that it's a uniquely new tune, but that it is something predictable and familiar to blues. Sometimes, such a theme comes to me while playing another tune. For example, last week while doing Straight No Chaser, we had a drum solo after trading fours and to bring it back to the theme, I got into a groove with the drummer using a repeating phrase over each of the four-bar sections of the form. Then as some of others caught on to that we continued the form, and once all back in the groove we played the theme in unison.
There's more to say, but this has already gotten verbose so I'll stop here and look forward to reading more of your stories. I'm especially interested in local and/or regional variations.
-
Thanks JazzPad - this is a great and interesting response !
-
My pleasure, thanks for reading and I'm glad you found it interesting. Originally Posted by jamiehenderson1993
Wishing you all the best in your jam session adventures!
-
The notes of Ab7 thought of as Bb7 extensions give you the 7, 9, 4, and #5. That’s workable, especially as a way to tension one chorus into the next.Freddie the Freeloader. The latter has a little twist with the Ab7, so sometimes we'll default to jazz blues changes for ad-lib, but if there are some on stage I've played with, we can use the original changes. I noticed on some Miles Davis recordings, they use the Ab7 for ad lib on every chorus, which I prefer, but that would need a little explaining,
-
Tenor Madness
D Natural Blues
Blue Monk
-
Hip. Originally Posted by Tom Karol
I love calling guitar player blueses
-
Perhaps
Cheryl
Sonymoon
Sandu
Birdlike
Straight no chaser
I prefer there to be a definite head, you eventually have to end the song somehow haha
-
Yeah and it’s on the Goodens Corner takes with Sonny Clarke. It’s a little hodgepodge of standard Grant licks so it feels like he might have just kind of slapped it together. Originally Posted by djg
I love it
-
Indeed, and thanks. So many options, that's the fun of open jams, one never knows what's coming your way. If the background gets Ab7 for 2 bars, as some do, I like hitting that chord with a whole step down #11 tonality, and then pop it back up to the Bb7. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
Reply With Quote
Desmond/Bickert video
Today, 02:25 PM in The Players