Listening to different renditions of the same tune may be a good way to enjoy jazz recordings, as improvisation is an essential characteristic of the genre.
You may find the following comparison listening entertaining.
“All the Things You Are” performed by Joe Pass and Bill Evans.
“Yardbird Suite” performed by Charlie Parker and Tal Farlow.
“Orinthology” performed by Charlie Parker and Bill Evans.
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“Do not fear mistakes. There are none.” – Miles Davis
There has never been and maybe there will never be a man creating so many styles throughout a career. Miles Davis was a man who led the development of cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz, and jazz fusion.
With broad acceptance and recognition, most people tend to stay in a comfort zone where their former success took place. Even many of jazz masters were hesitant to go outside their comfort zone. However, Miles Davis was different. Throughout his career, Davis continued to create new styles of jazz, each of which was refined by other jazz giants who followed. For example, cool jazz was refined by jim hall, hard bop was by Wes Montgomery, and modal jazz by Bill Evans. Thus, Davis’ contribution enriched jazz immensely.
Abandoning the fear of mistakes, new style of jazz can still be explored. Jazz has a limitless possibility.
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Improvisation is undoubtedly the essential element of jazz that makes the genre exciting. Today the word improvisation calls up suggestions of jazz, however improvisation has been common in other genres preceding jazz, indeed. Here are some examples.
Classical music of medieval times assumed improvisation similar to the one found in jazz.
During the Baroque period masters such as Johann Sebastian Bach excelled in the art of extemporisation (today’s improvisation).
During the romantic period piano masters such as Franz Liszt improvised often in public performances.
After the end of the romantic period, recital performances became dominant in classical music and classical performers abandoned improvisation.
Since the birth of jazz in late 19th century, musicians have vied with each other in the art of spontaneous creation of fresh melodies and harmonies again. Thus, jazz has become a unique process of expression of musician’s creativity.
For some of the finest improvisations, please listen to the vintage recordings at
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“I don’t think I think when I play. I have a photographic memory for chords, and when I’m playing, the right chords appear in my mind like photographs long before I get to them.” – Earl Hines
With the above statement, Earl Hines, one of the piano jazz giants and the foundational influence of Bud Powell, shared us, lay persons, an insight of how classic jazz giants could demonstrate their limitless creativity while staying with the basic structure of a tune.
When you improvise on a tune, you have to stay with the basic chord progression of the tune, but at the same time you want to deviate from the original melody and chords. The more you deviate from the original melody and chords, the more interesting your improvisation becomes, indeed. In improvising, your mind and soul should work together. Namely, your mathematical mind is verifying if the melody and chords you play conform with the original chord progression, and your soul is generating your melody and chords that best describe your feeling of the moment.
Hines’ statement above teaches that to be a fluent improvisor you should let your mathematical mind work at an unconscious level, and focus on the expression of your emotional contents. Repeated practice of the same song is essential to bring your mathematical mind to an unconscious state. Rather than playing 24 songs in a day, you may want to play 1 song for 24 days.
Resources for jazz musicians may be found in the following website.
http://classicjazzgiants.com
“All musicians are subconsciously mathematicians.” – Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk is famous for his great compositions and his unique rendition of tunes. Unlike other beboppers of his time, Monk used calculated space and minimal number of notes capturing the essence of a tune. Such minimalist approach to tunes somewhat resembles that of cool jazz.
Monk’s unconventional and unprecedented use of chords made his compositions unique and played widely by jazz musicians that followed.
His profound understanding of rhythmic and chordal structure, and expression of purity led to that abstruse but unexpected sound of Monk’s compositions and performances.
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“Music is the tonal reflection of beauty.” – Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington was one of the greatest American composers, pianists and bandleaders. Among thousands of compositions by Ellington, “Reflection in D” is arguably the most intimate and beautiful song.
Ellington composed this song during a recording session of “Piano Reflections” in 1953. This song was recorded only twice in 1953 and 1964, and was performed by only a few other jazz musicians.
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Jim Hall was a genius in reducing a tune to its essense.
Hall was famous for his ability to express a tune with minimal number of notes and well timed silence.
Jim Hall played with other classic jazz giants in a duo setting. Such giants include Bill Evans and Ron Carter. Hall’s individuality is particularly prominent in these duo recordings.
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“If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.” – Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong was an inventive trumpeter and singer, and one of the foundational influences of jazz. Armstrong’s stop-time solos in some tunes, and his skilled scat singing changed how jazz is played forever. Armstrong might have felt limitless possibility of jazz.
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Tal Farlow is one of guitar jazz giants and beboppers influenced by Bud Powell. Farlow pursued clear sweet sound from the guitar. Among the most impressive about Farlow is that he played the guitar using his huge octopus-like hand with amazing speed and accuracy, and swing.
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The thirty-two-bar form is a song structure used frequently in American popular music. A tune adopting this structure follows a pattern of AABA with A and B being two different 8-measure sections. An example of jazz standards in the thirty-two-bar form is “Misty” written in 1954 by Erroll Garner.
To learn many of jazz standards by heart, the followings may be helpful.
Identify each 8-measure section.
For each 8-measure section, memorize a melody together with a base line (only tonic).
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Classic Jazz Giants 