[Dixielandjazz] Winging solos

[Richard Broadie]

When on piano I play better if I sing along with my improvised lines.  Also
do this on bass solos ala Slam Stewart.  Haven't figured how to do this on
reeds so I feel that they're my weakest instruments on improvising.  I'm
always frustrated, being self taught, that I can't ever quite get up to
speed with the ideas I hear in my head.  Maybe if I'd try practicing some
day.  ????   Naw, I like to get paid when I play.   When I practice on a
given instrument two things seem to happen.  1. I never get a call to work
on that instrument.  2. If I do get a call and my chops are up, I tend to
try to please my fellow musicians, sometimes at the expense of my audience
who can't necessarily follow my ideas.   It's ironic that when I've been off
an instrument for a few months and then get a gig, I play with greater
simplicity, and consequently am better received by my audience.  Maybe
there's a lesson there for me to learn.  Oh well, when I grow up.......
:-)   Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "willc" <willc at nova.edu>
To: "Charlie Hooks" <charliehooks at earthlink.net>
Cc: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2003 8:30 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Winging solos


>
> Charlie Hooks wrote:
>
> > . . . .   I don't
> > play pat choruses--except for one that I call my Ab chorus used on Tiger
> > Rag, Burbone St. Parade, and other tunes with the same chords--but I
always
> > need to "decide" what I'm going to play at least one bar and preferably
two
> > or three ahead.  Simple inspiration needs to come in bar-lengths, in
> > clusters of sound comprised of the chords and the line you are heading
into.
> > Otherwise, you'll just play random notes--whatever holes your fingers
happen
> > to be covering.  I tend to "hear" a bar or two ahead and then play what
I'm
> > hearing.  And I agree with you that much of this comes from the feeling
of
> > the song, much influenced by the words of the song.  Yet I  know more
than
> > one good player who claims never to care about any words, even to slow
> > ballads.  Go figure.
> >
> > Charlie
>
> I am in total awe of musicians who know what they're going to play in a
> solo
> before they play it. I don't have any consciously "preset" choruses
> because
> I can't remember exactly how I played the tune the last time.
>
> I have a feeling that my solos are shaped by how I THINK (but do not
> know) I
> acquired the ability to improvise.
>
> First, I have always been more internally driven to play harmony than
> lead,
> which I think is probably unusual for a cornet/trumpet player. Self
> taught
> with almost no formal training, most of what I learned came from playing
> along
> with records - pop music from Ella and Sinatra and Jo Stafford, jazz
> from
> Louis, Tom Justice, Hackett, the Dukes, Matlock and the like. When I
> play
> along like this, I rarely play the melody. I find harmonies that seem to
> me
> to enlarge the whole, to add something to the music I'm hearing. And
> more
> often than not, on vocals, the harmonies I play take the form of
> supportive
> rhythmic fills.
>
> The solos I play must surely patterned after things I've heard others
> do,
> not necessarily on the same song. I don't consciously copy other folks
> solos, but I'll confess that this us not entirely because I am pure of
> heart and beyond plagiarism, but rather because I lack the technical
> ability
> to soar like an eagle miles above the staff or do hummingbird triplets.
> So I often play fewer notes than my peers, but I think they fit pretty
> well.
>
> So what in my solos may occasionally sound pleasant and innovative, may
> actually be mere puttering with harmonies and an acute lack of ability.
>
> Or possibly not.
>
> It sure as hell ain't planning or thinking ahead!
>
> Kindly,
>
> Will ("I've fooled a bunch of people!") Connelly
> River Liffey Saloon Jazz Band
> Fort Lauderdale, Florida
>
>
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