This page contains my jazz improvisation recordings from 2009. As you'll hear below, these jazz recordings feature such highlights as cracked notes, poor note choice, unsteady rhythm, and meandering phrases! And that's why recording myself is so important. It's the best way to evaluate my playing and to chart my progress over time. I don't expect that I'll ever become a great jazz trumpet player, but I am anxious to hear how much better I can get with practice. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

All of my jazz improvisation recordings: 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - 2010 - 2011 - 2012 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - 2022

NOVEMBER 14, 2009

iwasdoingallright - audio clip Aebersold #15, Cherokee

Eleven months ago, I posted the first recording of me improvising over Cherokee (iwasdoingallright - audio clip). Since that time, I've continued to practice Cherokee once or twice a week, just to keep it in my ears and under my fingers. Regardless of how much I practice, though, it's still a very challenging tune for me at this tempo. I always feel like a runaway train speeding downhill when I attempt these Cherokee solos. It only takes a few tiny pebbles, or in this case a few bad notes, and I jump off the track. This year, at least, it was much harder for me to pick which audio clip to put online since I had about 5 choruses that were probably good enough. That's not to say this clip is actually good (for instance, I don't like the first 8 bars); it's just the most good enough...

By the way, this is my first recording with my new GR 65M mouthpiece. Can you hear any difference? It's probably hard to tell one way or another since the mix between trumpet and backing track varies so much with each of my clips.

AUGUST 18, 2009

iwasdoingallright - audio clip Aebersold #34, Just Friends

When I decided to record "Just Friends" tonight, I thought this would by my second recording with this track. As it turns out, it's actually my third (Here's the first -on flugelhorn- iwasdoingallright - audio clip and here's the second iwasdoingallright - audio clip). My second recording might sound better to most of you, but I prefer this new clip. Unlike the second clip and most of my other recordings, this one was pretty much effortless. No nerves, no tension, no chop problems. Now that's a refreshing change of pace!

It's hard to believe this is only my third recording this year. I guess I could count the bassline clips, but still... I need to get back in the habit of recording myself more often.

MARCH 21, 2009

iwasdoingallright - audio clip Aebersold #11, Watermelon Man - Take 1

Like most of my jazz improvisation recording sessions, I improvised over a few choruses of this track and selected what I thought was my best chorus to share on this site. I liked this recording well enough, but after listening to it a couple of times I felt inspired to try some new ideas. So, about 15 minutes after the above clip was recorded, I picked up my horn and recorded the following:

iwasdoingallright - audio clip Aebersold #11, Watermelon Man - Take 2

The "Take 2" clip actually features two choruses of improvisation, since I couldn't decide which was better. As I think you'll agree, there's more energy in the "Take 2" choruses, both in rhythm and phrasing. This is a direct reaction to my playing in "Take 1" which I thought could have used a little more "oomph"...

You might prefer "Take 1" over "Take 2". Regardless, I think this is a good example of how listening to jazz, even to recordings of our own playing, can help spark new ideas and directions that we can use in future solos.

When I was twelve years old, I started taking trumpet lessons with Bruce Staelens, a trumpet player and jazz musician located in Orlando, Florida. Each week I'd look forward to my lessons, but mostly I was looking forward to the last 10 or 15 minutes, because that's when we'd practice jazz improvisation.

My favorite part of the jazz improvisation sessions was getting to hear Bruce play. I'd stare at the bell of his old Benge trumpet with its faded lacquer, as I listened to some of the hippest jazz lines that my young ears had ever heard. And then it would be my turn to play. I'd always play horribly (I'm less horrible now), but my shortcomings motivated me to practice more so I'd play better next time. And really, I didn't even care how I played. I was simply thrilled to have the opportunity to play jazz with Bruce.

At the end of my freshman year of high school, our band director discontinued the high school jazz band. Nobody I knew was even remotely interested in jazz at the time, except for Bruce. So, not only did Bruce introduce me to jazz in the first place, but he also helped sustain and nurture my interest in jazz at a time when it could have easily faded. That interest in jazz has continued to grow over the years, enriching my life to this day, 20 years later.

THE MIDDLE YEARS

The above might be familiar reading if you've read the My Introduction to Jazz article, but there's a little more to the story. After five years of lessons with Bruce, he got a gig traveling with a Broadway show. His departure was sudden. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye and I completely lost touch with him. I didn't get to tell him when I made it into the all-state jazz band as a senior in high school and I didn't get to tell him that I was going to study jazz in college. And I definitely didn't get to thank him for introducing me to jazz so many years earlier.

In total, eighteen years passed without any communication with Bruce. About once a year I'd search for him online but I never found any information. That all changed in 2008, however, when I searched again and found his newly constructed website.

Once we regained contact, we traded a few emails and I finally got the chance to thank him for introducing me to jazz. I also told him about my jazz blog. Since then, he's read several of the articles and I'm pleased to say he's remained a regular reader. Honestly, that's about as good of an ending as I had hoped for this story. But it gets better...

SEATTLE REUNION

A couple of months ago, I began planning a vacation to visit my mother in Portland, Oregon. The trip would also include two days in Seattle, a city that I've always wanted to visit. After booking hotels and airfare, I searched for jazz clubs in Seattle with the intention of seeing a good concert during my visit. My search eventually led me to Tulas.com, a Seattle jazz club's website. As I looked at the concert calendar, I noticed Bruce's name and immediately remembered that he had moved to Seattle a little over a year ago, where he continues to play jazz and teach private lessons. He wasn't going to be performing during my visit, but I contacted him to see if we could get together for dinner or something. To my delight, Bruce not only agreed to dinner but also offered to drive my mother and I to his house afterward so we could play some jazz together! How cool... oh, and by the way, you can catch Bruce and his big band at Tula's on the first Wednesday of every month. If you see him, say hi for me!

The big night of our Seattle reunion finally arrived last weekend. As planned, we went to dinner and then over to his house. I had told Bruce beforehand that I was just going to bring my mouthpiece, which I had hoped to use with one of his extra trumpets. So there I was, mouthpiece in hand when I saw a familiar trumpet on the floor of his practice room. The lacquer was almost entirely worn off, but I instantly knew it was Bruce's old Benge trumpet. When I asked him about it, he said he took it out of storage and cleaned it up just so I could play it. I know it might not seem like a big deal, but it really meant the world to me. All of those memories of staring at the horn, listening to those great jazz lines, came flooding back to me. And now, nearly twenty years later I held that very same trumpet in my hands as I prepared to play. It gives me chills even now.

In total we played 5 or 6 tunes in Bruce's living room that evening. My mother and Bruce's wife watched from the side as Bruce and I traded solos. That part also brought me back to my childhood since my mother would always wait for me outside of the practice room to take me home after my lessons when I was a kid. Although, this time she could finally hear us clearly and this time I actually sounded pretty good! Well, maybe not all that good. It was about 1am Eastern time, I was tired from traveling, and had just finished a few glasses of Bruce's home brewed jazz-inspired beers (the Miles Davis "Prince of Darkness" was my favorite). But whether I played well or not, it was a fantastic night and a memory that I'll always treasure.

Best of all, I finally got to thank Bruce in person for introducing me to jazz. Were it not for Bruce, I'm sure that I wouldn't have developed such a strong passion for jazz music. Without that passion, I wouldn't have created this website nor would I have created my free online ear training tools. And without that passion I would never have returned to the most frustrating and fulfilling part of my life: playing jazz trumpet. And I have Bruce to blame, I mean thank, for it!

Thank you, Bruce.

Earlier this year I had a lesson with one of Atlanta's best jazz trumpet players, Joe Gransden. During that lesson, I got to try his Monette trumpet and wrote an article about the experience. Reader comments to that article eventually led me to switch from a 7C mouthpiece to a larger Yamaha 14B4 (3C) mouthpiece. I've been relatively happy with this new mouthpiece, but continue to wonder if it's the ideal solution. After all, I've only tried a handful of mouthpieces over the years and there are literally hundreds of alternatives to choose from.

My search for a better mouthpiece took a new turn about a month ago, when I was introduced to Alexa (Alex) Yates by way of Joe Gransden's Facebook page. Alex Yates is a professional trumpet player living in the Atlanta area. She also happens to be a mouthpiece consultant for GR Mouthpieces. As my trumpet playing readers may know, GR Mouthpieces is a boutique company that specializes in high-end mouthpieces. I've always heard good things about their mouthpieces, but frankly their dizzying array of options has always scared me away. GR Mouthpieces even jokes about their complexity with the following text that appears in bold type on their "Mouthpiece Tutorial" page: Caution - Do Not Venture Here Unless You Want Your Brain To Hurt! That's why they have consultants, like Alex Yates, who specialize in matching mouthpieces to trumpet players.

Interested, but not entirely sold on the consultation, I sent Alex Yates an email to learn more about the consultation process. She told me that the consultation lasts 1.5-2 hours, after which time 99% of the players leave with a new mouthpiece that matches their embouchure, playing style, and horn (the other 1% don't buy a mouthpiece). That's a great track record considering she's done hundreds of these consultations. Alex also told me that regardless of whether I buy a mouthpiece or not, "You will come away feeling much more in-the-know about how to listen to yourself, allowing your chops to respond to the air and play naturally in sync with your body." Sold!

Following are my notes from the consultation, which occurred yesterday.

THE MOUTHPIECE CONSULTATION

The mouthpiece consultation began with me playing a few G's in the staff on over a dozen different mouthpieces. For each of the G's, I used an air attack (a "Pahh" sound) and Alex listened as I played. We eliminated any mouthpieces that felt uncomfortable and kept those with which I was most easily able to get a clean attack. After the air attack sequence, we moved onto excerpts from classical etudes. The excerpts covered a variety of skills including low slurs, large intervals, articulation, and varying dynamics. With each excerpt, Alex noted my reaction to the different mouthpieces and tweaked the list of potential candidates.

The mouthpiece selection process felt a lot like an eye exam. Initially it was easy to eliminate mouthpieces since she tried a wide range of possibilities. But as time went on and the list grew smaller, I had a hard time picking my favorite. This was especially true when we finally arrived at two options that I really liked: 65M and 65C. At that point I alternated between the two, improvising jazz lines for about 15 minutes. I still couldn't make up my mind, though, so I asked Alex to choose one for me. She suggested the 65M, and that's what I bought.

DID I FIND THE PERFECT MOUTHPIECE?

As of this writing, I've only had the mouthpiece for one day, so it's way too early to tell how much I'll like it long-term. I can at least say that it doesn't sound as good in my tiny practice room as it sounded in the vaulted ceilings of Alex's trumpet studio. It still sounds pretty good, but now it seems a little thin, which isn't ideal since I like a nice warm trumpet sound. I really wish I could have tried the 65C at home so I could compare the mouthpieces in their normal setting.

The new mouthpiece is definitely easier to play on than my old mouthpiece, but at this moment that means it's actually harder to play. For example, on this new mouthpiece it feels like the notes slot much closer together. In other words, it takes less effort to go from one note to the next. In the long run, this added efficiency should improve my endurance and overall playing level. But since I'm not used to it yet, I'm overshooting some notes and/or missing their center. Alex told me it would take a couple of weeks to change my motor memory to lock into the new mouthpiece, so I knew this was coming. I just need to be patient during this adjustment period. Hopefully, once I've adjusted to this mouthpiece I'll also get a warmer sound.

CHANGING MY EMBOUCHURE

While the mouthpiece selection was the primary focus of the consultation, I think I'll benefit the most from Alex's assessment of my embouchure and use of air. The embouchure part came early in the lesson, when she noticed I was rolling my lips in to play the classical etudes. The roll-in is something I've been doing for several years now, ever since I first read about it in the Balanced Embouchure method several years ago. Here's an article about my initial experiences with Balanced Embouchure.

My longtime readers may notice that I haven't mentioned Balanced Embouchure in quite a while. I haven't said anything because I don't know if I actually did it correctly. Although, I guess I could say that if I did do it correctly, it doesn't work for me. I base this on the fact that I now have three different embouchures: one for notes below the staff, one for notes in the staff, and one for notes above the staff. When I play classical etudes, I constantly reset my embouchure based on the range I need to play. Obviously this doesn't work well for large intervals, and it doesn't work at all for jazz since I need to play all around the horn without stopping and starting again. When I play jazz I typically end up using the middle embouchure and excessive pressure for anything above the staff. That explains why I can only play jazz for 15 minutes or so before my chops begin to wear out.

Anyway, when Alex saw my rolled-in embouchure and all the horn pivoting and jaw movement I do when I normally play, she advised that I stop doing all of it. As she put it, it's all causing unnecessary fatigue and although some people can excel while doing all of that stuff, I've already proven that I'm not one of those people. Instead, Alex suggested that I use a single embouchure with strong corners and let the air do most of the work.

The embouchure itself is formed by saying "hmm." The goal is to keep the corners in that position throughout all ranges of the horn. That means I shouldn't relax my corners and puff my cheeks, and I shouldn't drop my jaw and loosen things up when I play low notes. She also gave me a couple of exercises to help strengthen my corners. I'm definitely going to give this new embouchure a try over the coming weeks and months. It may not be the ideal embouchure for everyone and it might not even be an improvement over what I already do. But, since I know that my current embouchure isn't working, I think it's worth trying something new.

THANKS, ALEX!

I'd like to thank Alex Yates again for the consultation. As you can see, I learned a lot about my embouchure and came away with a shiny new mouthpiece. I'd definitely recommend her services to my trumpet player readers, even if you don't intend to buy a GR Mouthpiece.

ADDITIONAL READING

• Will I still like the GR 65M mouthpiece after a couple of months? Read my seven-year anniversary article to find out!

Over the weekend, I attended the sixth annual (2009) Atlanta Trumpet Festival at Emory University. It's a two-day event featuring concerts from guest artists, trumpet master classes, ensemble rehearsals, and trumpet vendors. Here's my review of the festival:

ENSEMBLE REHEARSALS

The Atlanta Trumpet Festival has three ensembles for the festival participants. There's one ensemble for middle school students, one for high school students, and one for adults. The ensembles meet a total of three times to rehearse concert pieces in preparation for a performance on the final day of the festival. Within each ensemble there's a fairly wide range of experience and talent. For example, in the high school ensemble you'll see All State trumpeters playing alongside 1st-year students. Similarly, in the adult ensemble you might find semi-professional players sitting next to jazz trumpet bloggers who only play concert band tunes once a year (like me!).

Playing in the adult ensemble reminded me of when I was in high school band. Back then I was actually very good at playing concert band repertoire. I was a great sight-reader, and I had no trouble reading syncopated and otherwise complex rhythms. Well let me tell you, that time is long gone. So far gone, and so seemingly implausible, you'd think it never even existed. Like when unicorns roamed the earth.

In both of the tunes that we rehearsed, there were sections that I never quite managed to play correctly with the band. I even practiced the music at home, but it didn't matter. Once I got in the group and heard all the other trumpet parts, I'd always mess something up. At least I had the good sense to not play during those sections rather than throw off the performance. It was at least a little comforting, though, when our director (Mark Clodfelter) told us that these were the most challenging tunes he's ever tried with a group like ours. Of course, he might have said that just to pump up our deflated egos, but I'll choose to believe he was sincere. Regardless, I enjoyed the challenge and hope he returns next year with equally punishing tunes.

For me, the highlight of this year's festival came during a rehearsal with Thomas Hooten, principal trumpet of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He was the featured soloist on a tune and the adult ensemble had the good fortune to be his backing band. As I wrote previously, Thomas Hooten is the best classical trumpeter that I've ever heard. Every note is stunningly brilliant. The rehearsal was a rare opportunity to hear him up close. For once I was glad that we as a band weren't perfect. Every mistake meant stopping and repeating, allowing us to hear Thomas play again.

RAMON VASQUEZ - DRUM CORP & BREATHING EXERCISES

Ramon Vasquez, professor of trumpet at Auburn University, led a master class where he discussed his experiences playing in drum and bugle corp. The class began with a brief introduction to the various instruments allowed in drum corp. To my amazement, until 1990 they were forced to use 2-valve instruments that limited the number of playable notes (e.g. the trumpets couldn't play an Ab). And, if you can believe it, 2-valve instruments weren't even allowed until the 1970's! Apparently the addition of each new valve was fraught with a lot of controversy. It's a good thing brass instruments only need 3 valves. Can you imagine what a clarinet corp would have to endure (you know, because of the number of keys)? Even worse, can you imagine listening a clarinet corp? I'd apologize to my clarinet readers, but I know none of them would stoop so low as to read a blog article about a trumpet festival.

After discussing the drum and bugle corp instruments, Ramon Vasquez focused on some breathing exercises that have helped him to play at the intense volume levels demanded by the drum corp. The exercises are similar to those found in The Breathing Gym. They're all designed to help players develop an efficient and powerful airflow. Good airflow allows the air to do most of the work, saving you from excessive mouthpiece pressure. Following are a couple of the exercises. For all of them, use a metronome and relax your body (don't shrug your shoulders).

• Flow Exercise: Inhale fully for 4 beats and then exhale fully for 4 beats. Don't stop or hold your breath at any point. Keep the air constantly moving. After 4 repetitions of the 4-beat in/out, switch to 2-second cycles where you inhale for 2 beats and exhale for 2 beats. You should move as much air in 2 beats as you moved in 4. Repeat it all several times.
• Lung Expansion: Inhale fully for 4 beats. Then after each of the next 4 beats you'll take another small breath of air. The next 4 beats you'll hold all of that air in and then finally exhale for 4 more beats. Repeat it all several times.

During the question and answer portion of Ramon Vasquez' master class, one of the high school students asked for advice to develop more endurance for his chops. Ramon suggested mouthpiece buzzing as one of his favorite methods. When buzzing, hold the mouthpiece at the end, use as little pressure as possible, and try buzzing an entire tune. I'm definitely going to spend a few minutes each day buzzing long tunes like "All The Things You Are" and "Stella By Starlight" to see if it helps my endurance.

KEVIN EISENSMITH - DEVELOPING A PRACTICE ROUTINE

Kevin Eisensmith is professor of trumpet at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and as of October 1, 2009 he'll become the president of the International Trumpet Guild. You may recall that he gave a master class on overcoming performance anxiety at the 2007 Atlanta Trumpet Festival. This year's presentation was titled "Developing a Practice Routine."

Each day, Kevin Eisensmith practices with three goals in mind:

• Warm-up: This is the time to reacquaint yourself with the instrument, remembering the things you learned from the previous day's practice session. Kevin's warm up starts on G in the staff, followed by 1/2-step slurs for about eight counts each. His warm-up takes 5-15 minutes with as much resting as there is playing. It was interesting to hear that Kevin doesn't like to do long tones in his warm-up. He thinks it inhibits blood flow to hold a single note for a long period of time. Of course, this contradicts a lot of conventional wisdom about the importance of long tones.
• New Literature: Kevin Eisensmith recommends spending five minutes a day on sight reading and up to 10 minutes on each piece of new music you're trying to work on. He enforces this 10-minute maximum because he feels we only have a 10-minute attention span. Anything longer than that and our minds begin to wander.
• Developmental Practice: At this stage, Kevin works on the core techniques needed to master the trumpet. This would include lip flexibility, articulation, and finger dexterity. Each exercise is practiced with an "ER" modifier. "ER" includes fastER, loudER, highER, softER, slowER, lowER, longER. For example, you could take a C major scale and play it at a soft volume, then play at it at a fast tempo, then add a second octave. You could even do all three at once. The next day you might try the C major scale at a louder volume and slower tempo. This developmental practice should last a minimum of 20-30 minutes each day.

Kevin Eisensmith believes that we should practice every single day. Since our muscles begin to atrophy after 48 hours on non-use, taking a single weekend off can undue some of our progress.

PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT

We've all heard the saying "practice makes perfect." As Kevin Eisensmith pointed out, that really isn't true. If you practice something every day and you're always doing it incorrectly, then you aren't approaching perfection. Instead, all that practice is reinforcing bad habits and making those bad habits permanent. I can certainly relate to that as I continually battle against all those years of practicing with excessive mouthpiece pressure. I never developed an efficient embouchure, and often I wonder if I ever will. Are those bad habits truly permanent? Probably not, but they are certainly hard to change now.

NOTHING I'M SAYING IS RIGHT

After cautioning us against playing long tones, Kevin Eisensmith quickly stated, "Oh by the way, nothing I'm saying is right." And that's when I stopped taking notes. Just kidding. Kevin was simply saying that there is no single right way to play the trumpet. Instead, there are an infinite number of ways to approach the instrument (or anything in life) and what works well for one person may not work well for another. In Kevin's case, long tones aren't the most effective way to warm up. But for somebody else, long tones might be the key to their success.

Coincidentally, an illustration of "nothing I'm saying is right" came up during the first day of the Atlanta Trumpet Festival. That morning, we had a warm-up session led by Mark Clodfelter, professor of trumpet at University of Kentucky. Mark began the warm-up telling us that the first note he plays on his horn each day is a G at the top of the staff. He went on to say how the first note sets the stage for our chops and if we start on a low note, we're not preparing ourselves for the full range of the trumpet. Then, later that same day we were all in a master class with Kevin Eisensmith who told us he always starts his day a full octave lower than Mark, with a nice easy G in the staff. So who's right? You could say they are both right since what they're doing works well for them and their students. Or, you could say neither of them is right because there's no single correct way to warm-up. Turns out, both answers are right!

FESTIVAL CONCERTS

The first night's concert featured several trumpet solos and duets by Mark Clodfelter, William Stowman, Ramon Vasquez, Kevin Eisensmith, and James Thompson. As usual, the outstanding Rebecca Wilt accompanied them on piano. Rebecca sounded so good that I found myself wishing she got to play a piece by herself without all those darn trumpets getting in the way. I know, I know. As a trumpet player I should want all trumpets, all the time. But, honestly, I prefer to have some other instruments in the mix for variety.

On the second and final night of the Atlanta Trumpet Festival, the various ensembles performed for their friends and family. We were also treated to a performance by the Studio 5 Trumpet Quintet, comprised of various trumpet professors from Alabama colleges. All in all, I thought it was one of the best 2nd day concerts that I've seen at the festival.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

As usual, I'd like to see at least one jazz trumpeter at these trumpet festivals. While there weren't any jazz performances this year, the festival's organizer did assure me that they definitely plan to include more jazz in the future. Hopefully next year jazz will make its return (Joe Gransden gave a great master class recently... hint, hint).

I'd like to thank Kay Fairchild, her son David Fairchild, and the Atlanta Trumpet Ensemble for their excellent work in putting together another entertaining and educational trumpet festival.

All of my Atlanta Trumpet Festival reviews: 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - 2011 - 2012 - 2013

Last week I attended a master class hosted by jazz trumpeters Joe Gransden and Andy Gravish at Carere Music. As you may know, Joe Gransden is one of the best jazz trumpeters in Atlanta. You can hear him at a variety of Atlanta venues including the wildly popular big band concerts at Cafe 290 (1st and 3rd Monday of each month) and the Tuesday night jam sessions at Twain's. Joe�¢����s also the owner of that beautiful Monette trumpet that I played a couple of months ago. You'll see that horn in the photo below (Joe is on the left, Andy on the right).

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. They're both playing Monette Prana 3 trumpets.

Perhaps less familiar, at least to my Atlanta readers, is Andy Gravish. Andy Gravish is a New York City based jazz trumpeter who has toured throughout the United States and Europe, playing in bands with notable leaders such as Buddy Rich, Artie Shaw, Paquito D'Rivera , and Toshiko Akiyoshi.

Joe Gransden met Andy Gravish several years ago, when they both lived in New York City. The two became fast friends and would regularly get together to practice jazz improvisation. In a typical practice session, they'd spend hours trading solos, with one person improvising while the other plays a counter melody or bass line. Or sometimes, the person not soloing would simply listen and absorb new ideas to incorporate in his next solo. Which reminds me, I actually had the opportunity to do this very same type of thing with Joe Gransden about a month ago. For about 30 minutes we improvised over the chord changes to Cherokee, without any accompaniment. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and was happy to have (barely) been able to keep up with Joe. And by that, I mean I didn't fall flat on my face. Well, except for a couple of times. But I digress...

Joe and Andy began the masterclass with a demonstration of their old practice sessions. For about ten minutes they played, bouncing ideas off of each other as their solos intertwined. When they finished playing, Joe asked the master class audience to name some of the prerequisites for that type of improvised jazz soloing. A variety of skills were mentioned including having good time, knowledge of the changes, and good trumpet chops. All of these skills are important, but Joe was looking for a different answer that just so happens to be one of my favorite musical topics. Ear training!

JOE GRANSDEN'S INTRODUCTION TO EAR TRAINING

The ear training discussion started with a brief recollection of Joe Gransden's early days in New York City. Fresh out of college, with a degree in jazz performance, Joe was hoping to make a name for himself among the best jazz musicians in with world in New York City. Unfortunately, things didn't go quite according to plan. Try as he might, he couldn't keep up with the New York City jazz musicians. The disparity was especially noticeable when he was forced to play unfamiliar tunes and/or tunes in non-standard keys. For example, if somebody asked Joe to play Cherokee in F#, he would have to transpose the changes in his head from Bb (the standard key). That might be doable at a slow tempo, but I think most of us would struggle if we had to do that in real-time at ~300bpm. Yet, the great NYC jazz musicians could do that and more because they were able to play accurately by ear.

The turning point for Joe Gransden came during a discussion with the great jazz trumpeter, Joe Magnarelli. Gransden mentioned that he owned several transcription and jazz pattern books and was looking for some pointers on how he could use them to improve his playing. Magnarelli's advice was simple and to the point. He told Grandsden to throw the books away. Magnarelli saw the books as a crutch that would hinder Joe's ability to play by ear. In other words, if we aren't exercising our ears by forcing them to guide us through music, then we're likely not to develop them. So, instead of reading from written music, Magnarelli advised Gransden to listen to recordings and learn jazz by ear. And that's what he's been doing ever since.

During the years that followed, Joe has spent many hours playing along with recordings, practicing call and response with other musicians, and testing himself by playing along with random notes he hits on a piano. He can still work with written changes if he needs to, but when he solos it's pretty much all by ear.

As I've mentioned before, I used to be one of those players who are totally dependent upon written music. I was one of the best high school trumpet players in the state of Florida and more than anything I wanted to be a professional jazz musician. It might have been an attainable goal, except for one thing. I couldn't play anything accurately by ear. There simply wasn't any way I could have succeeded as an improvising jazz musician without the ability to play the ideas in my head. So, I quit playing the trumpet. It wasn't until several years later that I realized how foolish I was for not working on ear training when I was younger. Although I guess it wasn't entirely my fault since nobody ever told me about it until my freshman year of college. The good news is that when I finally started playing the trumpet again, I created some ear training tools and have been making steady progress with ear training ever since.

CALL AND RESPONSE WITH THE AUDIENCE

At the end of the master class, Joe Gransden and Andy Gravish played some call and response ear training exercises with the master class participants. About 30 trumpet players were in attendance, with the youngest being high school age. They were all serious about playing the trumpet and a few of the audience members were professional trumpet players who give trumpet lessons. Keep that last part in mind as you read on.

The call and response exercises consisted of Joe or Andy playing a short phrase followed by the entire audience playing the phrase back on their trumpets by ear (i.e. without written music). To keep things simple, the phrases were all based on a concert Bb blues. I was really impressed during the first few attempts since it sounded like most of the people were able to play back the phrases accurately by ear. That changed, however, when Joe asked them to do it with their eyes closed so they couldn't look at his fingers. Since I didn't have my horn, I looked around the room during the closed-eye attempts and noticed that most people were stumbling through the notes as their fingers moved frantically from one valve to another after guessing incorrectly. And it wasn't just the young players who were fumbling. Even some of the professional musicians, the ones giving private lessons, were unable to play blues phrases accurately by ear.

In truth, the professional musicians in the master class don't actually need the ability to play accurately by ear. To my knowledge, none of them are jazz musicians and I'd assume that just about everything they ever need to play is written down. But that doesn't mean they should neglect ear training studies with their students. On the contrary, their students absolutely deserve exposure to ear training. And the sooner the better. You never know, one of those students might dream of becoming a professional jazz musician someday...

STRIKE FIRST, STRIKE HARD, NO MERCY EVER!

To close things out, here's a video clip of Joe Gransden and Andy Gravish playing at Churchill Grounds on the final night of Andy's visit to Atlanta. The clip begins with an energetic drum solo by Kinah Boto. At the two minute mark, you'll hear Joe and Andy as they engage in a friendly trumpet battle (to the DEATH!!!).

Thanks guys!

ADDITIONAL READING

• My ear training tools which feature exercises for all sorts of things including: intervals, chords, melodies, call and response, jazz licks, and more!
• Learning to Improvise - Introduction - Here I discuss the absence of adequate ear training in my jazz education
• Learning to Improvise - Ear Training - Ear training is essential for jazz improvisers!
• Dave Douglas on Ear Training - Yes, THE Dave Douglas

Matthew Kaminski, an Atlanta-based jazz pianist and organist, was recently featured in the Atlanta Journal Constitution (Atlanta’s main newspaper) for his success as the new Atlanta Braves organist. During the four years before Matthew got the organist job, the Atlanta Braves had been using recorded music during all of their baseball games. Every night the baseball fans would hear the same tunes played exactly the same way. Most people probably didn’t pay any attention to the music. That’s all changed thanks to Matthew Kaminski. On the gig for just a few months, Matthew has already managed to win over Atlanta Braves fans with his creative and entertaining song choices. They look forward to Matthew’s next jab at the visiting team, they have mini trivia games to guess song titles, and they even text each other about funny songs. Thanks to Matthew’s creativity and talent, live music has become a major source of entertainment at the stadium, so much so that the Braves’ director of entertainment said, “I feel like a genius for finding him.”

Obviously, this is a great article for Matthew Kaminski. Hopefully it will broaden his exposure in the Atlanta area and bring more people to his other (jazz) gigs. It’s also a wonderful article because it emphasizes the value of live music.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE

Why is Matthew Kaminski so well received by the Atlanta Braves fans? Because he’s thinking of clever ways to keep them entertained. He could simply play nothing but baseball standards like “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and… um, is there another baseball song? But, by being creative he created value for live music, he got a prominent newspaper article written about him, and no doubt the buzz he’s produced will motivate more people to see Atlanta Braves games. In fact, for a brief moment I even considered going to a baseball game just to hear him play, and I hate professional baseball. To give you an idea how disinterested I am in baseball, I lived within walking distance of Wrigley Field for nine years and I never went to a single game. But I almost kind of thought about maybe sort of possibly going to an Atlanta Braves game because of Matthew Kaminski. That’s huge!

Matthew Kaminski’s success at the Braves games got me thinking about some of the ways you can keep people entertained at your gigs. Here are some suggestions:

HAVE A GOOD STAGE PRESENCE

You are not Miles Davis. You aren’t as good of a musician as he was and you aren’t as cool either. Unlike Miles, you will actually have to engage your audience. I like to think of the audience as a mirror of the stage. If you ignore your audience, your audience will ignore you by skipping your future gigs. If you look bored, your audience will be bored. If look uncomfortable on stage, your audience will be uncomfortable watching you. You get the idea. Some charisma and a genuine joy to perform (or even a well faked joy!) can go a long way. Treat your audience like friends. Talk to them from the stage. If necessary, plan some funny/interesting (but not too long) things to say to them ahead of time. Thank the audience for coming to your gig. Be sincere! Make an effort to chat with them between sets. Introduce yourself and learn peoples’ names. If your audience likes you, not just your music but YOU as an individual, they are much more likely to come to your gigs.

TAILOR YOUR PERFORMANCE TO THE AUDIENCE

A good communicator tailors his or her conversation to each audience. For example, when speaking to a room full of children, a speech would contain a lot less jargon and more simplistic language then when speaking to a room full of business executives. Although maybe it should be the other way around! The point is that we all know that we have to relate to our audience if we hope to get our message across. Of course, this isn’t limited to verbal communication. You can do this from the bandstand as well. Let’s say you’re about to start playing and you notice a lot more college kids in the audience than usual. Instead of playing your normal batch of jazz standards and/or originals, you could take a cue from The Bad Plus and play a jazz version of a modern-day rock/pop song. Likewise, if you’ve got an older crowd than normal, maybe you could put a fresh spin on an old Sinatra tune. And in both cases avoid 10-minute bass solos! I’m not suggesting that you pander and simply give people a dumbed-down version of your music. Just the opposite; like a good communicator, you’re still getting your point across by playing music your way, but you’re selecting an approach that is more likely to connect and keep the audience entertained.

VALUE AUDIENCE REQUESTS

I know, I know… you hate requests. People always ask you to play lame tunes and/or tunes that you don’t know. I wouldn’t solicit requests, but when you do get them I’d view it as an opportunity to connect with your audience. By valuing their suggestion you’re valuing your audience. If you don’t want to do a requested tune, perhaps you can offer a few alternatives by the same artist or in a similar style. Whatever you do, don’t roll your eyes or scoff at a request. That’s one of the quickest ways to shrink your audience. Also, if somebody makes a broad suggestion like, “Play some Stevie Wonder.” Don’t intentionally play the most obscure Stevie Wonder song you know. That doesn’t satisfy the request at all. Again, as with the previous section, you can play these tunes however you want. This isn’t about pandering, it’s about connecting with your audience.

ADD VARIETY TO YOUR GIGS

As they say, variety is the spice of life. It’s also nice on the bandstand. If you have a steady (e.g. weekly) gig, don’t play the same music every night. Even your most ardent fans will probably tire from hearing the same tunes over and over again. Instead, mix up your repertoire, adding one or two new tunes each week. Also, think of new ways to play your existing tunes. It could be something as simple as changing the tempo. You could even ask your fans for feedback on your repertoire. With their input, you might be able to come up with a better overall set list.

Just as you can have variety with your choice of tunes, you can also add variety by featuring guest musicians in your band. Joe Gransden’s extremely popular big band gig at Café 290 is a perfect example. Each night the band features a guest vocalist on a couple of tunes. Usually the guest vocalist performs tunes that the band hasn’t played before, so you’ve get the combined benefit a new lineup and new music. As a bandleader, having special guests is also a great way to grow your audience. Each guest will likely bring his or her own group of fans to your gig. Some of these people may not have heard you perform yet and could become your newest fans.

PROMOTE YOUR GIGS

This isn’t so much about entertaining people, but getting them in the door in the first place. Here are several suggestions for promoting your gigs. It’s tailored to the Atlanta jazz scene, but most of the topics apply anywhere.

WHAT ABOUT THE MUSIC?

If you’ve read this far you might be thinking, “I shouldn’t have to do all this stuff. Isn’t my music entertaining enough?” I agree that it would be nice to focus solely on the music, but it won’t get you very far as a gigging musician unless you’ve already got a large and loyal following. And how do most musicians get a large and loyal following? By being great entertainers.

A couple of months ago, I took a lesson with jazz saxophonist and educator, Mace Hibbard. Knowing that I wanted to experience the same type of lesson that he'd give to his students at Georgia State University, Mace Hibbard began the lesson by asking me to play a bass line on my trumpet. We settled on a concert Bb blues for the chord progression and set a metronome to sound on beats 2 and 4. It would have been nice if I actually had some experience playing bass lines, but I figured I could fake my way through this by outlining the chords and hoping for the best. That's when I panicked. Who am I kidding, I can't fake my way through this!

Before I continue, here's some background info on Mace Hibbard. In addition to being one of the best saxophonists in Atlanta, Mace Hibbard is one of my favorite musicians to hang out with and a really good sport. And by good sport, I don't mean that he's good at sports. Because I've heard that he isn't. Rather, he's a good sport by taking my jokes and mildly-abusive sarcasm in stride (see, I just zinged him about sports!). Mace Hibbard is also one of my wife's favorite Atlanta jazz musicians, which might worry me if Mace wasn't happily married and socially inept (got him again!). Perhaps now you can see why when Mace asked me to play a bass line, it kind of felt like he was exacting his revenge for all of the fun I've had at his expense.

Back to the lesson... My nerves got the best of me and when I lifted my trumpet to play, my mind instantly went blank. Frankly, I think my brain checked out so I couldn't blame it for what was about to happen. After stumbling through two pathetic measures, Mace told me to stop playing. I needed to start from the beginning and take this one step at a time...

STEP 1: PLAY THE ROOT NOTES

The lesson continued with Mace asking me to play quarter notes over jazz blues changes, playing just the root notes. Learning the sound of the root notes in the context of the overall progression will provide a foundation for each of the following exercises. You might consider it a starting point for learning any new chord progression.

iwasdoingallright - audio clip Play root notes for each chord.

There are a variety of jazz blues progressions, but here's the one we used:

I7 | IV7 | I7 | I7 | IV7 | IV7 | I7 | VI7 | II-7 | V7 | I7 | V7

Here's the progression in the key of C, which is the trumpet's key for the audio clips.

C7 | F7 | C7 | C7 | F7 | F7 | C7 | A7 | D-7 | G7 | C7 | G7

You'll hear this progression in each of the audio clips that follow. It's also worth noting that the audio clips were recorded recently. While I was able to play some of the easier exercises (Step 1) during my lesson, Steps 3 and 4 are the result of practicing these bass line exercises several minutes each day for a few weeks. I mention this so you'll understand that this isn't something you're likely to master in a single day. Like anything worth learning, it takes practice.

STEP 2: OUTLINE EACH CHORD

After a few botched attempts at the quarter note root exercise, I finally managed to play it well enough to move on to outlining chords. We started by adding the 3rd of each chord and then the 7th. In the clip below, you'll hear me outline the full chord as I play the root at the start of each chord change, followed by the 3rd, 5th, and 7th. Of these additional notes, the 3rd and 7th are the most important since they define whether the chord is major, minor, dominant, etc.

iwasdoingallright - audio clip Outline the changes.

Outlining the chords like this is especially valuable for us one-note-at-a-time instrumentalists. Since we can't play chords on our instruments, this is an ideal way for us to hear the sound of each chord change so we can internalize and learn what the entire progression sounds like. The key here is that we're learning the sound of each chord and not simply learning the written chord symbols. If you learn the symbols without learning the sound, then your solos will never truly blend in musically with the changes.

STEP 3: PLAY A BASS LINE

Once we can outline all the chords, we can move onto something that actually sounds like a bass line. At this stage we'll add a few swing rhythms and some connecting notes outside of the root, 3rd, 5th, 7th. Even though this is a bass line exercise, I'd suggest that you needn't worry too much about actually sounding like a bass player. Instead, focus on establishing a jazz feel as you smoothly move from one chord to another. This will help you to hear the common and leading tones in each chord and it will prime you for the next exercise... playing solos!

iwasdoingallright - audio clip Here's my rough take on a bass line.

STEP 4: PLAY AN IMPROVISED JAZZ SOLO

Having reached the point where we can confidently play bass lines, we're now ready for jazz improvisation. Thanks to the previous exercises you should have internalized the chord changes to the point where you can hear them in your head while you play a solo. You can play inside or outside the changes and you'll always know where you are within the chord progressions. You can also play elements of the bass line exercise in your solos to help trigger new ideas.

iwasdoingallright - audio clip Here's the solo. Not great, but a huge improvement over my lesson.

Even though I'm no longer playing the bass line in this clip, you can (hopefully) still hear the chord progression in my solo. Thanks to the bass line exercises, the changes have become a part of the music.

I encourage you to add these bass line exercises to your practice routine, especially when learning new tunes. I'd also suggest that you try to sing these exercises in addition to playing them on your instrument. Singing will really ensure that you've internalized the sounds. And don't forget to use a metronome since these are all played without accompaniment. Who knows, with enough practice, someday you might sound as good as the saxophonist in this video:

Thanks, Mace!