How Does Jazz Improvisation Work?
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- In the very first episode of "Theory with Bob," trumpeter @bobbyspellman discusses the fundamental mechanics of jazz improvisation with help from Julia Chen on electric piano, Julian Smith on bass, and Evan Hyde on drum set.
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Twitter: @bobby_spellman
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Julia Chen: juliachenpiano
Julian Smith: juliansmithmusic
Evan Hyde: evanhydedrums
gotta show love to the drummer, pocket only for 13 minutes straight is crazy
The man is on point
Flowstate. Even for the simple demonstration. 😊
Zach grooves would have been fired for sure.
That's not long
@@balroggambit Bop drummers holding down a fast cherokee for 45 minutes while the tenor players try to flex on each other
Drummer missed exactly zero chord changes. Outstanding.
Dude. I have studied jazz on and off for decades, and this is the first time I’ve seen it explained so clearly. Thank you! ❤
Right!? Quickly, with a great sounding backing that made me focus the whole time!
💯💯💯💯
Then you took the WRONG workshops. Simply walk out after 5 minutes. It never gets any better, after those 5 minutes. No, it doesn't.
I'll never forget when a jazz piano instructor of mine had me play ii V I progression in the key of C while he just ran up and down the C major scale. It sounded a lot jazzier than I expected. My jaw dropped when he told me that his improvisation was just a major scale.
As a hack rock player rather than a jazz player, isn’t that something that I or any other basic player could do as long as we stay in the key?
It's because of the well tempered tuning. That is a compromise, allowing us to play in ALL keys we'd like. And the drawback is, not all chords that could be perfectly consonant (or dissonant) still are. Which is okay, many people don't even HEAR these details. We are used to our piano's.
We are used to, say, an E flat 7 chord. However, we have never played it on a piano that was TUNED in E flat. That piano has a perfect consonant terts G and perfect quint B flat. When you got a good quality spare piano, and you are a piano tuner, you could do it. Pick the key of a song you love, and tune the spare piano in that key. Sure tuning a piano takes time, but then you can find out if such strange tuning is worth the trouble. Depends on the song. The chords were chosen for a reason, if we change the tuning, chances are we murder the mood of certain chords. That is subtle, I remember an organ piece of Pachelbel, set just one tone lower, in this book, and you immediately hear, this is not the original we all know. Let alone what happens when you play it in a different tuning.
Dang this sums up 30 years of jazz research in 20 minutes. Amazing
All i can think about is if you really did the main part in one take without stuttering or anything
And only one take! It was a bonafide jazz miracle.
I’m quite sure you can talk about this subject for hours…. You LOVE this, one can tell…😂
But but but, you can SEEEEEE that. It was one take, from the moment the 3 others popped up. It was not Take Five, or Take A Walk On The Wild And Sunny Side Of The Street.
This is just a fantastic incredibly well thought out video, I'm dipping my toe into jazz composition and learning flugelhorn and this and your other lessons have been amazing thank you so much!
Thanks! Happy to hear it!
Super cool this was done in one continuous shot! 👏🏻😮
Old school Jazz feels
I tried snapping my fingers, but nothing happened.
@@MyRackley ты только что стёр с лица земли половину человечества! 🤯
As a life time jazz saxophonist for 52 years now, i think this video is fantastic!!!!! I have played at Smalls with Roy Hargrove. I was a member of the USAF Bands for 23 years, I will tell all my students to watch this video.Thanks!!! Grant King Koeller
30 years myself piano is my game and just shared with all my students the title of this video. I feel Jamey Aebersold vibe. Met him personally years ago and had a nice long workshop with the man.
RIP Roy incredible legacy.
Thank for what I always imagined was a perfectly logic way of explaining basic jazz. I always asked a fellow Piano major, who also majored in Jazz, to teach me a little about jazz only to get some kind of obnoxious answer like “Oh yOu cAnT ReAlly TEach Jazzzzz” like it was some secret language peasants weren’t allowed to be taught or that every Jazzer just somehow learns out of the love for the music alone. God forbid they try to define jazz in some concrete way. Will definitely be coming back to this video.
This debate is as old as jazz. I think there is truth to both sides. There's definitely a formula, but that formula gets abused regularly by great musicians with real chops because dissonance in jazz can work so well.
One shot. Fine writing. Fine musicians. Thank you, Professor Spellman, thank you, Professors.
This is one of the best illustrations of the fundamentals of playing jazz with other humans
I suspect you're American. "Other humans"?
Why not "other people"? 😊
@@gam1471I’m American. Never heard anyone else say that. F off tbh. “ you must be American”
i tried it one time with other spacealiens but they aways get across
Other living creatures
Personally I like to play jazz with other inanimate objects
hats off to all participants and thank you for the phenomenal instruction. Great teacher.
Seriously tho, this was a sweet lick. God help us, and keep Jazz alive and well in these trying times!
I've only been with the trumpet for about a year and a half; your channel is a continual help and motivator. This is one of the very best videos I've seen explaining form and function.
Your trumpet sounds fantastic. Great choice of notes; great timing. Thank everyone for their playing!
Thanks, Jeremy! Happy to hear it!
Loved this video! It was like a lesson & a wonderful performance all in one. What a joy to see such top tier musicians! Thank you for the effective instruction.
Brilliant! Wnat an amazing jazz appreciation crash course!
Man, underrated video. It's incredible that the whole thing came out in one take
I didn't know Seth Rogan could roll like that!
DO THE LAUGH!
Bobby, I absolutely love this video. Thanks to you and your band for putting this together.
4:02 "We in the horn section rely on the rhythm section for the rhyth and for the harmony and the rhythm section relies on us in the horn section for a tenuous sense of existential reality, for a sense of purpose!" What a quote, briliant! Sounds so insane yet so true!
Was it Coltrane who said, "there are no wrong notes, just bad resolutions". ? 😅
I loved that you talked about the scales you were using over the form. As someone who only plays by ear, the base logic of jazz improvisation over chords, or why you'd play a certain note and not others has completely eluded me for years. I could only play what I heard, but now I know that I need to learn modes.
Also, great job from you and your band on the single take! It was executed very well and sounded incredibly pleasing to the ears.
I believe they could do that all day long... scuuze me, comin' through!
Ah, your dissonance is fun. How very Miles of you. Fantastic lesson.
My jazz improv keeps turning into funk lol
Nothing wrong with that! Keep the Funk Alive!
You’re just in a funk, homie
Hehe I play the drums so it's all improv and I don't need to learn the changes :)
Too bad this school wasn't there in 1973 when I went to New York to try to become a Jazz Musician. I was devastated to not be able to find anyone or a good school. No one was helpful or wanted to be bothered. I realized a lot about New York. I was forced to leave and only returned once to see Les Paul. I would rather study in Boston at Berklee. I would never return to New York again! It was a great city at one time but I didn't see any of it over 6 months living there.
Fantastic tutorial. Simplest, most cogent and concise intro to jazz I've ever seen.
Where does the wrong notes come from? I don’t mind if anyone would explain the theory behind it. Asking for a help
Great video, what would be some examples of common dissonant scales used along within that sequence? Is it just one of those, whatever happens to pop into your head whether it fits in the sequence or not, just make it work/let it do it’s thing situations?
That was a great method of teaching improv!
Thanks, Patrick! I’m generally conscious of what I’m playing when I’m playing outside the conventional modes. I’m gearing up to do a couple of videos on the topic, but a couple of “out”-er scales that would work in this context include diminished (half-whole diminished on a dominant 7th chord), whole tone (check out Monk’s use of whole tone), phrygian dominant, or the chromatic scale to obliterate the sound of any tonic key of the phrase.
I dont play trumpet but this is super helpful as a drums and piano player
Can play trumpet and trombone fairly well, but failing to do basic improvisation.
One Question Bob: i try to "explain" the Eb in the Bb7 - because its not included the F-Key. In F7 its the regular 7, OK. In C7 there is no Eb and in Gm7 we have one but we sort it out with the Dorian-trick and sharpen it to E . But why you leave this Eb in the Bb7-part ? ... just trying to understand a bit more ;-) - And thanks a lot for your lessons - thats great Input!
You could do natural E during the Bb7 chord, but that would leave you with the Lydian Dominant scale which is too spicy to use all the time. Usually you want to keep the notes you can keep when changing chords, the change from A natural during F7 to Ab during Bb7 already gives you the "blues vibe", changing the Eb to E natural would be like going just a little bit outside
Great explanation! My friend in High School gave me the analogy of "Jazz is just like DandD. You have your Dungeon Master the tune. Your guide post the chords. The rest is just adventuring. Have fun interacting with the world and your team mates!"
And you have decades of history, convention, “memes”, tropes, and references on the culture level (LoTR, the official lore book, popular fanfic) and the community (the inside jokes with your local scene or friends)
that was the most amazing intro i've ever seen
you speaking over the music sounds like improvisation too. this whole thing is a jazz song. im not on drugs.
😂
Be a lot jazzier if ya were
Here’s how I use all 12 notes over a Dominant 7 chord: first 3/b7, the mighty tritone contains the 2 most important notes, then 1-3-5-b7 is the arpeggiated chord, then b3 and b5 from the Blues scale (with b3 always resolving upwards into 3, never the reverse), then add in 6 and 2 from Mixolydian. So now we have 1-2-b3/3-4-b5-5-6-b7, the most “inside” notes (Mixolydian + the Blues scale). Finally add in b2-b6-7 as “outside” notes to be used in chromatic lines that resolve. There’s all 12 notes over a Dominant 7 chord.
z z zZ z z ?
This information and instructions is awesome, gave me a greater insight and understanding Thank you!
The very first lesson i wish i was taught for
I've been looking for a video just like this...amazing job! thank you!
5:24 she knows the mario chord lmao
Awesome. Simple but very well articulated description of whats going on … great job
such a good and easy follow long video, really appriciated. Super nice and tight
Thank you for making this video. When you’re playing blues scale, are you playing a corresponding blues scale for the chord your playing over? E.G. - G Blues over G7, or D Blues over Dm7, or are you playing just one type of blues scale?
Generally you'd play the one blues scale based on the key of the tune over all of the chords. So, in this case, I'm playing concert F blues over the whole form.
Very cool video. This definitely will help beginners getting into jazz in the future.
it's actually kinda wild that you keep switching scales for the solo! In 'normal' music, the chords progression fits one scale and you just use that scale, hitting the chord tones to certain moments. Big brain stuff, I would not enjoy soloing in jazz!
you guys are amazing, both in explanation but also just clean and tidy playing
Wow! Such a great explanation and demonstration! I’m surprised it doesn’t have 1 million views yet.
Let’s say you’re in the key of Cmaj playing over a 2-5-1 progression so… Dm7-G7-C7.
Applying what was done in the video you would solo in D Dorian, G Mixolydian, and C Mixolydian.
Playing C Mixolydian instead of C Ionian is what throws me off. Is it basically just a matter of taste? For a rule of thumb you just have certain modes that work (Dominant 7 - Mixolydian, m7 - Dorian, etc)?
Good (still open) question!
It's just the blues form. The 1 and IV are made dominant which gives you the blues scale. If you are trying to improv a song but the 1 chord is maj7 you just play the Ionian (or lydian if you want to). When the chord is dominant (F7 or Bb7 or C7 for instance) the simplest option is to play myxolydian but you have other options also (breafly mentioned at some point in the video, you have the phrygian dominant, half whole diminished, etc). The only thing you have to pay attention is that the scale you choose have the notes that make up the chord
tldr: C Ionian uses a natural B, C7 chord uses a flat B, that would be dissonant (not forbidden but would probably sound a little weird)
This is such a fantastic thing you've created. Kudos to all 4 of you 👏
Fantastic introduction to jazz impro! Hats off! 😃🎹🎶🎵🎺🥁
Fantastic presentation. A breath of fresh air and some great playing. Feeling inspired.
Truly, thank you for doing this video - a great introduction into jazz/blues but more importantly it shares why I love playing saxophone - unlimited possibilities. Neil
As a jazz pianist, I really enjoyed the video. I wish I had it when I started a couple years ago! You explained the chemistry perfectly.
i find these sorts videos disappointing because it only describes jazz in functional “mechanical” (your word) terms. ironically this further obscures the MUSICAL reality of jazz as a folk tradition. How does improvisation work? It works when a musician lets themself be moved by music of the past to chart a novel, uncertain path into the future. Jazz is the living, breathing accumulated expression of over a century of (primarily black american, but not exclusively) musicians. In other words, jazz has no body without its historical canon, and no spirit without the musician’s spontaneous offering in each instant.
I know jazz musicians might take this for granted or understand it implicitly, but it deserves a couple of sentences.
The intended audience is clearly touched by jazz music in a way that inspired them to dig beneath a superficial acquaintanceship. They deserve to have some idea that, while your trumpet solo can be described in secondary terms as scales and chord tones, you are firstly playing some variation of a phrase that you heard on a record. That phrase itself traces it’s genealogy back to a hymn or a spiritual or piece by Bach. This isn’t deep esoteric knowledge gatekept by “jazz monks”. This is just the map that every musician charts in their own spirit and body by immersing themselves in accumulated work of the past century of jazz.
i agree 100%. i can guarantee that cannonball adderley, for example, was not thinking about modes and scales when he played the blues. no great improviser does. not even the trumpeter in this video. as you said, it's clear that he is playing authentic phrases rooted in the tradition of jazz, he has listened and transcribed and learned the language. talking about this improvisation in terms of modes is a post hoc explanation - maybe it could be seen as technically true if you analyze what notes he was playing, but he wasn't thinking about it during the improvisation. this is like doing a video about "how to say a greeting in japanese" and going into detail about the grammatical and phonetical details, how to physically create the sounds with your lips and tongue. instead of just presenting the phrases and explaining how they are used.
if they were playing a modal tune like maiden voyage, this modal/scalar explanation would make more sense. but that is kind of a subset of jazz improvisation. and even on those tunes, you need to have listened and transcribed in order to sound authentic and not just like you are noodling around on a scale.
@@nilsgustafsson7571
Agreed!
Scales and modes are for practicing and understanding what other musicians did, building your vocabulary.
When you are on stage you should try to use the fact you are well practiced and go with the flow. I doubt any of the greats made solos by thinking: Oh I am gonna go Bb dorian now and then F mixolydian.
You might practice playing those modes with intention over these chords, and many others of course.
Amazing video, very thorough but also concise
I'm a guitar player (strictly hobby amateur) trying to get a bit of jazz enlightenment. I found your presentation very clear and helpful. I'll record the chords and try the scales over the chords to try and get the sounds into my head. I'm not musically particularly talented, so
as a newcomer, what I'd find most helpful is a gradual easing into jazz - as an example, just working on two bars of the I chord to get some ideas going in proper jazz style; something to establish a solid foundation, then gradually extend this to say fours bars, then the IV chord and onwards.
I've had a go at memorising transcribed solos by Charlie Christian, and even transcribed one myself. I've enjoyed doing so, but it's not getting me into improvising. It's early days yet I suppose, but I hope my comments make sense and are helpful for you. Thanks for a first class and clear presentation - it's definitely an evolutionary step forward for me.
This really nice. Thank you for putting it together.
this could have been a lot of help yesterday when i was soloing lmao
Who would have thought Sheldon from Big Bang Theory was such a fine jazz drums player? Now, seriously, you guys are the best! 👏👏👏
Gotta love the upright bass! 👍
Very, very kewl! Subscribed!
Cannot believe you got the guy who made Malk to play bass.
Really good knowledge, competent delivery, confident, with a really cool approach which was enjoyable, thank you all for your musical talent.
He says any horn saxophone flute clarinet or harmonica but where does the guitar fit in jazz???
Nm just gonna learn the trombone now
@@ZEGTHEFISHnah bro learn guitar. Check out this group called Guitar Elation blew my mind when I saw them.
Great tutorial video well explained good job
4:09 simplest explanation of jazz music in history
More importantly how do Jazz Improvisors find work?
Hahaha good one
I like your room. Very much.
The piano came in and my heart melted 🖤
It means you have a good heart ;)
it cld take more than a cntstrck little comment and loveheart on YT to have her sit exactly as directed in ur mix dyude
Wow ❤❤❤so when did Bee Gees mend your broken 💔💔💔？
Bob keeping his speeches within the form is boss shit
Question please. If the band is playing in concert F , are you playing in concert F as well since you are playing a Bb trumpet? The only flat in Concert F is Bb is that why it works?
@Apollo360XD thank you for your time to explain I appreciate it
Great video; trumpeter sound reminds me of young Miles in the great C/R/W/S quintet
Charlie Parker does a great job showing how to play “outside” the chords
Holy shit!!!! That was brilliant!!!! Bravo to everyone!
I was a music student and jazz theory was a required class for 2 semesters. There’s a lot of lingo that if you don’t play jazz can really get you confused. This video clarifies a lot of things. Still can’t get over hearing that someone was blowing in my jazz arrangement assignments. 😂
I really enjoyed this vid...really helped me with jazz guitar, love jazz, I wish you would make 1 with a minor 251 turn around. No matter the instrument this vid really breaks it down, loved it.
You just made my a better player in 20 min. Thanks.
This video is absolutely amazin
Amazing! Thank you for this great video exposé! The lighting is exquisite by the way! 👌
This is so cool, very well explained. 😁😁😁😁😁😁
This would be fun to take around elementary schools
Thank you for this wonderful and helpful video.
I was wondering if it is common for horn players to support the solos of the piano or the bass with small backings or base notes of the chord. Or would this be considered to be intrusive?
This is an excellent master class in jazz! Please congratulate your fellow band members, and thank you so much for sharing your talent. 😀🥳😎
Williams Joseph Thompson Daniel Brown Daniel
I need more videos like this one, more analysing and specific terms in details. great job! thank you
What a great video thanks 👌👍🎸🎶🎶🎶🎸
Bob you are really great teacher who make complicated concepts easy. You can make any intermediate player to a jazz musicians. Amazing content as always🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤❤❤
I am ashamed to admit that I am going to transcribe this solo to guitar. Really great playing, and you even made those scales swing hard.
You should be ashamed
Nice a fellow Srsly Wrong appreciator.
Fantastic guidance. Love it! (and subscribed)
Tremendously talented group of musicians.
All the skill in this video is unmatched
Definitely!
THANK YOU ALL, for hanging in there, and thanks for the explanation narration. I SUBBED TO YOUR CHANNEL
. I'm a firm believer, that all embellishments SHOULD stick to the melody, but jazz it up, otherwise it's just a bunch of unrelated racket...you can bend one note or one phrase, only so long, before it gets OLD !!!
That was very good thank you
One thing I sometimes wonder about: Is it possible to play jazz music well, in a small group like this, without knowing theory, by just spontaneously going on profound feeling and experience?
Afraid not. You have to have had usually years of training/learning and experience to do this - no short cuts I'm afraid. You can play simple rock or pop music fairly quickly, but anything more sophisticated takes a long time to be able to do.
@rickjensen2717 , you mention experience in your reply, but I already included that as a necessary prerequisite ("by just spontaneously going on profound feeling and experience"). And that obviously requires a long time of training. What I am wondering is if a person, in a small group like this, could play jazz well by only going on profound experience and feeling, but without having learned music theory. Just like a person is able to talk and converse fluently without ever having learned grammar.
@@BigParadox yes I understood you - theymust understand music tbeory, not neccessarilyhow to readmusic, but must understand harmony.
@@rickjensen2717 , that is what I wonder. I am a musician myself with 50 years of experience, all kinds of music but particularly jazz and classical music, but I know theory. So I cannot answer my own question. What makes you think that theory is necessary? I mean, as I said, people who never learned grammar are still able to talk and converse fluently.
@@BigParadox theory is solved after there's already something you can observe. I don't think the dudes that created jazz cared about professionally knowing how it works, however you still need a formula to achieve better results
Great feel! Very capable players. Loved it.
This video is the equivalent to two semesters of music school.
Thanks for the amazing video Bob.
What a great video, really helpful and fun x