[Dixielandjazz] Transcribing Solos

[Steve Barbone]

My 2 cents.

As a young jazz wannabe, I transcribed many solos of many different reed
players. For the reasons that Mike stated. To see exactly what these players
were doing with chordal & melodic improvisation.

In my case, growing up when Bird was alive, I looked at, and analyzed a lot
of the things he was doing because it was so startling. (At least to me). As
well as the Picou solo on High Society, lots of Bechet, Edmond Hall et. al.

Also looked at what Tony Scott, Buddy DeFranco and others were doing, as
well as George Lewis and Johnny Dodds.

Not to copy their solos, but to try and get inside their heads to figure out
what they were hearing. Thinking that what they did, was a moment in time
that had passed and to just repeat it, would be what Condon called musical
archeology, and what others have called musical necrophilia.

Also interesting to me was to try and figure out who their influences were,
in a effort to attempt to relate how their influences shaped their ideas.
Like, why did they play that way?

E.G., if you are going to listen to John Coltrane today, you might also
listen to Dexter Gordon, who was Trane's primary influence in the early
1950s. Or when listening to Bix, listen also to Ravel and Debussy etc.

Or if you listen to Kenny Davern, you might listen to Pee Wee Russell as
well as Benny Goodman, for Russell was, according to Davern, his major
influence as to how to approach the clarinet as a communication device.

Transcribing helped me considerably to actually "hear" what I was listening
to. It is one thing to like what one listens to, but IMHO, it is another
matter entirely to really "hear" what one listens to. And I suspect that
many other musicians can differentiate between listening and "hearing"
because musicians, again IMO, hear differently than non-musicians.

Ideas for collective improvisation and/or solos abound in transcriptions and
if one avoids copying and comes up with fresh ideas based upon the knowledge
of what is in those transcriptions, one can't help but improve as an
individualistic jazz musician.

Note how much transcribing is in Richard Sudhalter's book, "Lost Chords".
There is a wealth of "idea" material throughout and evolutionary material as
to how X's solo ideas influenced Y's.

CAVEAT ADVICE ONE MORE TIME: BUT, beware copying what other folks played and
develop your own voice because that's what jazz is. The time is here and
now, not yesterday or further back. Those bright moments are forever gone.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone