Photo by Nick Granville
JAZZ WORKSHOPS 2024
CONTENTS
Introduction • Jazz Steps • My Jazz School • Speaking Jazz
Primary Resources • Count Basie • Charlie Parker Omnibook • Jazz Conception
Listening • Trumpet • Saxophone • Trombone • Piano • Bass • Drums • Guitar • Voice
Training Your Ears • Jazz Theory • Jazz Piano
Other Resources • Glossary of Jazz Terms
INTRODUCTION
Greetings! Almost everything I’ve taught in private lessons, clinics, or my university classes, is the information I wish I’d had access to when I was about twelve years old.
I was fortunate to have excellent trumpet teachers at every stage, which certainly helped, but I came across few teachers, in my early years, who had the ability to teach jazz. After a few decades of studying, playing, composing, and teaching, I have a few ideas about how I think it should be taught.
Now I imagine going back through those decades, in my much-fantasized-about DeLorean time machine to teach my younger self some jazz lessons. I’m not convinced that I could get my 12-year-old self to listen to or understand the advice, but I would certainly give it a shot.
“I’m gonna throw you in my DeLorean and gun it to 88.
- Paul Rudd/Judd Apatow
JAZZ STEPS
1. Find a Teacher - You Can't Do This Alone
2. Master Your Instrument
3. Learn a) What to Play - A Jazz Vocabulary
b) How to Play It - Time, Feel, Swing
4. Learn to Play With Others - Interaction, Ensemble Skills
5. Learn to Read Music (Well)
6. Learn the History of the Music - The Important Players, Bands, Songs, Recordings
7. Compose Your Own Music
8. Learn To Teach - Pass On What You've Learned
9. Study more than Jazz: Music, Art, Literature, Politics, Life
10. Don't Stop
my jazz school
SPEAKING JAZZ
PRIMARY RESOURCES
COUNT BASIE
CHARLIE PARKER OMNIBOOK
JIM SNIDERO'S JAZZ CONCEPTION
Jim Snidero’s Jazz Conception book is one of the best resources available for young jazz musicians. Jazz Conception is a set of études (studies) based on standard tunes in the jazz repertoire (Blues, "Autumn Leaves," "Just Friends," "Take the 'A'Train," and "Rhythm Changes," 21 in total. There is a book for each of the jazz instruments, voice, and some woodwind doubles but the etudes are the same throughout the series.
Each book comes with a CD with a top New York City jazz soloist (specific to the instrument of each book) performing all of the études with a great rhythm section. Each étude is based on the chord changes of a standard tune, blues or “rhythm changes” and they are filled with great jazz vocabulary for improvising.
Use the Jazz Conception book to first practice sight-reading, master the etudes with the recorded player, matching time, articulation, phrasing, sound and pitch, then silence the other player and play the etudes yourself, with the rhythm section. Finally, improvise over the chord progression, using the material in the etudes as a guide and gradually get away from the written material.
There are now three volumes in this series: Easy, Intermediate, and the original Jazz Conception book. If you're in high school and can play your instrument reasonably well, start with the original. If it's too difficult or if you're younger, try the others, but all of them have useful vocabulary.
LISTENING
In addition to the Basie recordings I got from my first band teacher, the jazz music in my early record collection is still some of my favorite music now: Michael Brecker, John Zorn, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Miles Davis, Don Ellis, and Lester Bowie. If I could change things, I wouldn’t delete these from my learning but I’d definitely add some players. For a long time, I loved themusic I was hearing but didn’t understand it the way I needed to to progress quickly and assimilate the music thoroughly.
As a trumpet player I was missing significant listening time to players like Louis Armstrong, Clifford Brown, Kenny Dorham, Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan. As time goes on, you realize that you understand the modern players far more after listening to the players they started with.
Start a Library of Recorded Music; these days that probably means a Spotify playlist. Learn who the great players are and were (see subscribe to Downbeat Magazine). Start with a few of the most important players on your instrument and combine them with the other most important players in the history of jazz.
There are many others but this might be a good list to start with.
TRUMPET
Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, KennyDorham, Dave Douglas,
Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Tim Hagans, Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Marsalis, Bubber Miley,
Lee Morgan, Clark Terry, Cootie Williams
Pictured: Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Clark Terry, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Wynton Marsalis, Ryan Kisor
SAXOPHONE
Saxophone: Cannonball Adderley, Sidney Bechet, Michael Brecker, Ornette Coleman,
John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, Joe Henderson, Johnny Hodges, Charlie Parker, Chris Potter, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, Ben Webster, Lester Young
Pictured: Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Michael Brecker, Chris Potter
TROMBONE
Ray Anderson, Bob Brookmeyer, Robin Eubanks, Carl Fontana, Curtis Fuller, Slide Hampton, Conrad Herwig, JJ Johnson, Frank Rosolino, Jack Teagarden, Juan Tizol, Kai Winding
Pictured: Kai Winding, JJ Johnson, Carl Fontana, Bob Brookmeyer, Slide Hampton, Robin Eubanks, Conrad Herwig, Luis Bonilla
PIANO
Count Basie, Chick Corea, Duke Ellington, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Earl Hines, Keith Jarrett, James P. Johnson, Thelonious Monk, Jelly Roll Morton, Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell, Art Tatum, McCoy Tyner, Fats Waller
Pictured: Jelly Roll Morton, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett
BASS
Jimmy Blanton, Ray Brown, Ron Carter, Paul Chambers, Charlie Haden, Scott LaFaro,
Christian McBride, Charles Mingus, Walter Page, Jaco Pastorius, Gary Peacock
Pictured: Paul Chambers, Charles Mingus, Scott LaFaro, Jaco Pastorius, Ron Carter, Charlie Haden, Gary Peacock, Christian McBride
DRUMS
Art Blakey, Jack DeJohnette, Peter Erskine, Steve Gadd, Roy Haynes, Eric Harland, Elvin Jones, Papa Jo Jones, Max Roach, Ed Thigpen, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Tony Williams, Matt Wilson
Pictured: Papa Jo Jones, Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, Art Blakey, Peter Erskine, Jack DeJohnette, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Eric Harland
GUITAR
John Abercrombie, Kenny Burrell, Charlie Christian, Bill Frisell, Freddie Green, Jim Hall,
Russell Malone, Pat Metheny, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Django Reinhardt, Kurt Rosenwinkel, John Scofield, Mike Stern
Pictured: Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Mike Stern, Russell Malone, Kurt Rosenwinkel
VOICE
Louis Armstrong, Tony Bennett, Harry Connick Jr., Kurt Elling, Ella Fitzgerald, Jon Hendricks, Billie Holiday, Kevin Mahogany, Frank Sinatra, Bessie Smith, Sarah Vaughan, Joe Williams,
Cassandra Wilson
Pictured: Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Joe Williams, Jon Hendricks, Tony Bennett, Kurt Elling,Cassandra Wilson
TRAINING YOUR EARS
COPYCAT
JAZZ THOERY
Major Triads
The Circle of Fifths
The Jazz Cycle
The 251 (ii-V7-I) Progression
The 7 to 3 Resolution
3 to Flat-9
Scales and Modes
JAZZ PIANO
OTHER RESOURCES
Everything you'll need to know about jazz can be found on the recordings of great jazz musicians. Become familiar with the recorded music. It's the essential part of the equation here. Nothing else comes close but there are some resources that can be helpful.
TEACHER
More than any other resource, regular lessons with a knowledgable teacher is essential. The right teacher will help you master your instrument, suggest the players and recordings to check out, give you a practice plan for building a vocabulary, offer suggestions for improvement at all stages of your development and keeping things diverse and interesting. Depending on where you live, this might also be difficult to find. Fortunately, online options have made it possible to connect regularly with someone who can help you.
GLOSSARY OF JAZZ TERMS
CONTRAFACT
A jazz tune that uses the chord progression from an existing tune but has a new melody. Charlie Parker's tune, "Donna Lee," is a contrafact on the tune "Back Home Again in Indiana." Blues and Rhythm Changes tunes are so common that we don't usually use the term contract to describe them, but the premise is the same.
