Jazz Smugglers Master Workshop

Jazz Smugglers Master Workshop
Click on photo for Jazz Smugglers website

Sunday 30 September 2012

KEITH JARRETT. Autumn Leaves. Classic.



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Totally brilliant. We are going to be doing this one at the first Jazz Smugglers workshop on October 21st.
Ten of us. It might not sound quite like this, but not far off I'm sure.

John

In this blog We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.



Wednesday 26 September 2012

BRUBECK, DESMOND AND MULLIGAN. IT WILL MAKE YOU CRY




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The beauty of this made me cry. These are three of the greatest musicians of all time. The ideas, the understatement, the melodic twists and turns. Breathtaking.

In this blog We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.

Kenny Barron's "Voyage". Improv analysed



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WE NEED A JAZZ GUITARIST FOR OUR JAZZ WORKSHOPS AGAIN ON OCTOBER 21. Chichester area. KNOW ANYONE?




From the artist.
A MIDI file of my solo, PDF notation file of my solo, and MIDI and MP3 backing tracks for this song are available The artists website.

"Voyage", written by the great pianist Kenny Barron is a beautiful (and difficult) song. Loving the key of F Minor like I do, I just had to take a stab at it. I take it at a decent pace of 205 bpm.

The key for me during my improvisation is to have an idea of where I want to go and what I want to say. This is sometimes referred to as "intent". To quote Paul E. Rinzler in his book The Contradictions of Jazz, "Technique in jazz is defined not through a universal standard, but in terms of intent. That is, good technique is that which expresses and makes manifest an improviser's intent, as a matter of positive freedom. The stark dissonances of Thelonius Monk may sound like mistakes to jazz neophytes just like Miles Davis's unfocused tone, but those dissonances are actually the consistent result of clear intent from a great musical mind that saw creative possibilities in harmony and dissonance that no one else in jazz had before."



In this blog We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.

Tuesday 25 September 2012

ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE. SOLO ANALYSED. GREAT IDEA.




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WE HAVE FOUND OUR GUITAR PLAYER FOR THE WORKSHOP STARTING ON OCT 21 NEAR CHICHESTER

PLEASE "SHARE" THIS WITH YOUR MUSICIAN PALS.



He has played a solo, than gone back over it and analysed what he did. He then shows this over the chart. Great idea. He is good isn't he?

John


In this blog We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.








Friday 21 September 2012

LEARN A BE-BOP LICK. EASY


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WE NEED A JAZZ GUITARIST FOR OUR JAZZ WORKSHOPS AGAIN ON OCTOBER 21. Chichester area.
Would you SHARE this with your musician friends please?



BE BOP JAZZ LICK  
This is a short jazz piano lesson on how to play a minor ii - V- i lick. 2-5-1


In this blog We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.




JIM HALL MASTERCLASS FOR JAZZ GUITARISTS. BRILLIANT



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WE NEED A JAZZ GUITARIST FOR OUR JAZZ WORKSHOPS STARTING AGAIN ON OCTOBER 21. Chichester area.

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Jim Hall is one of the all time greats of jazz guitar. He has played with Sonny Rollins, Art Farmer, Lee Konitz, Ben Webster, Bill Evans all the tops. Absolutely brilliant. a lovely modest man, here he talks about jazz in his MasterClass film. It is a long one but you'll get a lot from it.


In this blog We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.




Wednesday 19 September 2012

A CHARLIE PARKER RIFF ANALYSED




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.




Well, I don't know. Is it worth bothering to analyse this stuff? It is not even a particularly beautiful riff. Every jazz musician makes up their own. They just play it, and feel it, they hear it in their head. So did Charlie Parker. I bet he would have been highly amused at this kind of thing.


In this blog We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.




Tuesday 18 September 2012

USING mPENTATONIC OVER MAJOR CHORDS. VERY GOOD



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WE ARE GOING TO START OUR JAZZ WORKSHOPS AGAIN ON OCTOBER 21. We need a guitar player. Chichester area. Ask John jazzsmugglers@yahoo.co.uk



Don't know this chap's name.This is what he says:
Try out some of these embellished, pretty Major 7th piano chord voicings with a little lydian flavor. Learn them in all keys, run them through the circle of 5ths or build a solo off the extended triad. These keyboard chord voicings can work nice in everything from modal-post bop jazz to neo-soul to church service talk music.

In this blog We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.

YOUR COPY: ABERSOLDS CHORD SYMBOLS CHART

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thank you. 

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WE ARE GOING TO START OUR JAZZ WORKSHOPS AGAIN ON OCTOBER 21. We need a guitar. Know anyone?

Hope this helps. I find I still need to refer to it sometimes. Chord symbols are a beast when you start. Ugh! 
We have Jamey Abersolds permission to reproduce it. Take a copy

In this blog We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.


Monday 17 September 2012

BEAUTIFUL VOICINGS. JUST PIANISTS



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WE ARE GOING TO START OUR JAZZ WORKSHOPS AGAIN ON OCTOBER 21. We need new players but slots are filling up fast. You need to be quick..

Terry Seabrook sent it to me and thought this would interest all the pianists. Absolutely. Thanks Terry.



Gorgeous upper structures for pianists, using quartals. Lovely song Darn that Dream. I sometimes use quartals in So What, (because they are easy) but no one in the band has noticed. As ever.

Here is what the authors say about voicings
Quartal voicings have become a standard in modern jazz. Their ambiguity in sound allows the jazz player to travel through unexpected paths, sometimes deceiving, sometimes surprising the listener with their unresolved quality. Although quartals are often used in improvisation and comping, it is not surprising that there is no standard chord notation for them due to its lack of harmonic direction (or function) and consequentially rarely used by composers as a source in their compositions.
IN THIS SITE THE AUTHORS GIVE YOU A FREE DOWNLOAD.

John

In this blog We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.








Sunday 16 September 2012

TERRY SEABROOK, ALAN BARNES, LIVE AT THE BRUNSWICK

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WE ARE GOING TO START OUR JAZZ WORKSHOPS AGAIN ON OCTOBER 21. We need new players. On Facebook would you please Share this with other musicians you know?




Terry Seabrook created the Milestones Jazz event first launched at the Brunswick in Hove. It has been played by him and Alan Barnes all around the country, probably 40 gigs.
This is Boplicity by Miles Davis.. Live at the Brunswick in Brighton January 2010
Featuring Terry Seabrook (pno) Alan Barnes (bari) Ian Price (tenor) Graeme Flowers (trpt) Paul Whitten (bass) Spike Wells (dms)

In this blog We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.




Friday 14 September 2012

VERY VERY GOOD. Jazz progressions, turnarounds, substitutes



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WE ARE GOING TO START OUR JAZZ WORKSHOPS AGAIN ON OCTOBER 21




This ten minute films is directed at guitars, but don't you believe it. Soloists can use this, and obviously pianists as well. In ten minutes he shows how turnarounds work to get you to the next key. He shows how to embellish the standard 11 V 1s. He is very clear, a super teacher.

Apart from other stuff he is showing how to embellish dominant chords with +9 +11 b9. Worth watching.



John
Ps. The trouble is that you have to learn this stuff in all the keys. A year later......you'v got it.





Thursday 13 September 2012

The video shows which chords he is using as he improvises. No talking, just playing.


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WE ARE GOING TO START OUR JAZZ WORKSHOPS AGAIN ON OCTOBER 21



It think its value lies in showing how jazz musicians get a great variety of sounds into a standard set of chord progressions. It is fascinating to watch the chords on the screen, as he plays, don't you think?

John

Wednesday 12 September 2012

Now this is what I call a REAL BATTLE OF THE SAXES


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WE ARE GOING TO START OUR JAZZ WORKSHOPS AGAIN ON OCTOBER 21



I've had to listen to a lot of mediocre, unmelodic rubbish to find this. But this one is good.
Rusty Scott, the pianist, with his Boston quartet.



Tuesday 11 September 2012


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WE ARE GOING TO START OUR JAZZ WORKSHOPS AGAIN ON OCTOBER 21





This guy is nice and simple. Chord progression in Gmaj.

We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.


Monday 10 September 2012

The brilliant Bill Evans live.


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WE ARE GOING TO START OUR JAZZ WORKSHOPS AGAIN ON OCTOBER 21




The wonderful, lyrical one and only Bill Evans. Lovely man, too. Heroin got him in the end.



We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.


SIMPLE JAZZ PROGRESSIONS. V1 11 V 1


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WE ARE GOING TO START OUR JAZZ WORKSHOPS AGAIN ON OCTOBER 21





This Australian is a very good, clear, understandable teacher. In a 4 minute clip he has covered a common progression, he has shown how to use rootless chords, Am9 Dm9 G13 and C6 and he has shown how to push the major. Not only that he has put the root notes into the left hand to show where we are.
Excellent. Some of these jazz tutors just want to show off, but not this chap. He wants to teach.
John

We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.

Sunday 9 September 2012

Add the Lydian to your solos

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WE ARE GOING TO START OUR JAZZ WORKSHOPS AGAIN ON OCTOBER 21




Add a lovely note to your solos - raise the 4th on the major, minor and dominant modes.(called #4 or #11)
John

We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.

Saturday 8 September 2012



Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, live. The iconic Hot House



We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.







Friday 7 September 2012

Stan Getz Astrud Gilberto, The original Girl from Ipanema


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When you say Latin to an audience, this is the one song they all want to hear and this is the one recording. Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto. She is so cool.


We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.



Wednesday 5 September 2012

MILES DAVIS - LIVE


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Listen to the brilliant exchanges between flute and trumpet. We'll be doing some of that at the workshop.


We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.



Tuesday 4 September 2012

The Famous Berklee Workshop


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There is no more renowned school of jazz than Berklee. This is the final concert of their five week workshop.


We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.



Monday 3 September 2012

JAZZ CHORDS AND MELODY. Not for beginners


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We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.

Saturday 1 September 2012

FOR JAZZ HORN PLAYERS. USE A PIANO TO HELP


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This lady "Sweet Sue" is describing why horn players need to work with a piano or keyboard to understand harmonies, progressions and key changes.
At least on a piano you can see the notes you play.

This is"Sweet Sue" in action.




Good huh?

John

We will produce tips for jazz piano, and jazz guitar together with jazz saxophone. We will cover jazz chords, jazz guitar chords, and we will deal with jazz scales. We will cover jazz songs. This site is all about jazz improvisation.