Roaring Fork Jazz Workshop

http://www.apassion4jazz.net/improvisation.html

We'll be firing up the Roaring Fork Jazz workshop again in late September or early October 2010. Until then, keep woodshedding those bebop scales!

Using the dominant 7 bebop scale, we've been playing short descending phrases, starting on each note of the scale. We're using different methods of getting from a non-chord tone to a chord tone in the next beat. Here is an example of what I mean:

Bebop scale examples

We then took each small phrase, and played with the phrase through the Bb blues. Here's an example (starting on the 4th, and enclosing the 3rd):

Blues bebop example

Had a great time performing and hanging with Lenore Raphael last week at Roaring Fork High School, in Carbondale.  The concert was well attended, and well received.  We played a few of Lenore's originals, including "One for the Byrd", "Blues for O.P.", and "For Chet".  We also played "Invitation", "Stella By Starlight", "Joy Spring", and "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise", among others.

Oni Butterfly had a scrumptious reception afterwards.  Fun filled afternoon!

 
lenoreAndUs.egg on Aviary.

Last night, we studied/practiced/improvised with the bebop scale. We played with different ways to get from a non-chord tone (on the beginning of a beat), to a chord tone by the second beat. They included:

• playing the non-chord tone as a quarter note, then going up or down to a chord tone on the next beat.
• using a chromatic "passing tone" (where a full step is required to get to a chord tone... e.g. from the 6th to the 5th).
• "enclosing" the chord tone... e.g. 6th to b5th to 5th (similar to a "neighbor tone group" or "changing tone")

We also added a 'bebopy" way to start a phrase. The following example shows both the starting idea, and the chromatic "passing tone" method of getting from the 6th to the 5th, in one beat:

And, of course, the ever popular Melodica demo:

Bebop scale, using chromatics between the 3rd and root, and starting on a non chord tone, using the "enclosure" method to get to the 3rd by the second beat.

  

Here's a little demo video, made on ustream.tv:

This week, we continued practicing the Bb7 bebop scale. We traded fours and eights, solo and in duet, using the scale and the rules we came up with last time. We, then, added chromatics notes between the 1st and the 3rd of the scale (e.g. Bb, B, C, C#, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, A, Bb) and did the same exercises.

Welcome back to the Roaring Fork Jazz Workshop for Spring 2010! We're back with a vengeance!

We'll be meeting every other Monday, in one large swinging group. Check out the calendar for workshop dates. Our sessions, this spring, will have a fairly narrow focus, for a change. Here are some goals:

• continuing to learn how to get around fluidly on your instrument with a good tone, and good time
• developing more coherent linear phrasing
• injecting chromaticism into your melodies

We'll be tending to the blues and rhythm changes, using, as the foundation, bebop scales.

Last night, we played over a Bb7 chord/scale using the mixolydian bebop scale. We played through some exercises, confining ourselves (temporarily) to the following rules:

• only diatonic motion (no arpeggios or skips)
• start phrase on beat one (kind of an arbitrary rule, but a rule, for now)
• if starting on a non-chord tone, make it a quarter note (there are other ways of handling starting on non-chord tones, and we'll get to those)
• change direction only on chord tones

We traded fours, using the scale/rules and one of the two common phrase endings, as described in David Baker's "How to Play Bebop" series.