[Dixielandjazz] Getting into your Solo

[Gene Hovland]

Steve, Russ, Jim, Larry, Bill and others that respond to my question "What 
is the best thinking process while waiting to solo so it has a good
clean start?"

a HUGE thank you.  I feel very fortunate to have your expert advice to help 
me improve my playing.

Gene Hovland
Rapid City, SD
Currently


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stephen G Barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: "Gene Hovland" <hvlnd at knology.net>
Cc: "DJML" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 6:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Getting into your Solo


>
> On Dec 15, 2008, at 10:56 AM, Russ Guarino wrote:
>
>> I was told, by an old pro, that a good solo tracks the melody line  from 
>> time to time.  The audience likes it because they then know
>> where the solo is coming from.  The idea is that when the soloist  flies 
>> away, the audience doesn't know what is going on.
>> I tend to do that and I've had to work on getting back to the melody 
>> once in a while.
>
> IMO that's very good advice Russ. OKOM audiences are melody oriented  and 
> so putting in a bit of melody here and there helps them "hear" the  solo. 
> Too many soloists, IMO, are extremely technically proficient,  but tend to 
> play vertically on the chords. They can lose an audience  pretty quickly, 
> because they think in short intervals.
>
> The goal ( I think) should be to improvise melodically. By that I  don't 
> mean play the melody all the time, but compose a new melody over  the same 
> changes. And instead of thinking in short intervals, think in  8,  12 or 
> 16 bar sequences, whatever the length of A or B is.
>
> For example, Bechet was a master at this. He plays his A and B solos 
> through the entire length of them original tune, but the song he plays  is 
> new, and his own. Wonderfully logical. Some of the best drummers I  know 
> play drums this way, in chorus length sequences so that you hear  "melody" 
> drums. Our new drummer, Mike Piper does this. So well that we  no longer 
> count bars, we know by instinct when to come back in because  we hear the 
> melody.
>
> BTW, one thing I forgot to mention when discussing problems about  getting 
> into a solo when following another soloist, is a very helpful  device. 
> That of trading choruses;  four bars or eights etc., or even  twos if 
> able.  If the beginning musician has someone with whom to  practice these, 
> after a few months, he/she should be able to quickly  get into a solo at 
> any given point on the chart. Or do it on the stand.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
> www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband
>
>
>
>
>
>
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