Session notes 02/03/2005
Welcome back!
Because the Madeleine Peyroux concert was going on, I expected to be missing a few people, but, our turnout was very good.
We started this spring similarly to last spring, by looking at Chet Baker's solo on Autumn Leaves. This time, however, we focused on the scales and note choices that Chet used. We discovered some about how he uses repetition of ideas. His ideas, in this solo, are very concise, but at the same time developed well through repetition and variation.
We revisited our cycle exercises... always. And, we played a couple of tunes, including Impressions, and Blue Bossa.
Session notes 02/10/2005
We had a few new people join us for our Combo 1 rehearsal. Spent some time on cycle exercises, then hit hard the scales used in Blue Bossa. We looked at the Cm7 (C dorian - second mode of Bb major scale), Fm7 (F dorian - 2nd mode of Eb major scale), Dm7b5 (D phrygian #2 - 6th mode of F ascending melodic minor scale), and G7+9 (G diminished whole tone, or G super locrian, the 7th mode of the Ab melodic minor scale). We left the ii V I in Db for next time. We practiced each scale together and in small groups, then spent time improvising over each scale. Then, we took G7+9 -> Cm7, and improvised over them (each chord for 4 measures). I think that last little exercise really illustrated the "tension and release" concept that's sooooo important in jazz (and in life). Finally, we played the tune, and I heard a real difference in people's improv. We'll do some more of this kind of study.
BTW, you may now comment on the stories that you see here. You'll need to register to do so, but, it's easy and free! I had to turn commenting off, in the past, because the site was getting spammed. Hopefully, the registration feature in the new Movable Type software will prevent the spammers...
