SO YOU WANT TO BE CREATIVE IN JAZZ?

This is what some of our country's top professionals have said about the following issue.

Alex Eberhard

Hi John, I see Jazz as a language. You have to learn grammar and expand your vocabulary,listen to to people who speak that language well and eventually get to the point, where you don't have to consciously think about grammar etc, but it becomes second nature. So being creative in playing jazz is very similar to speaking a second language: the more words you know, the more articulate you can express yourself. There is an excellent Youtube clip (more than 2 hours long) by Gary Burton: Gary Burton video clip (2 hours) Have a look if you have time - very interesting! Thanks, Alex

Tristan Banks

Interesting topic, most music that I've come into contact with has genre specific vocabulary, that's to say that each style of music has its own peticular rhythmic, harmonic and melodic structures, licks and cliches.
it's very important as a contemporary musician to be aware of what these are so the layman and scholars alike can identify what kind of music they are listening to.
As a drummer I'm happy to say that my instrument (the drum kit) was being developed at the same time as jazz music was one of the most popular music forms, so you could say that jazz music is inherent in everything that is played on the drums up to this day, but you would be wrong as various technical and stylistic advances have been made since the 1970s ( ie linear patterns, hybrid rudiments) from where jazz music's major developments have been through mixing it with rock, world and other musical forms.
So being creative??? Or improvising within a recognised musical framework or instant composition. Like any part of music the more you practise improvising the better you will become, but soloing isn't just wiggling your fingers or noodling. It should be based on phrasing, rhythmic and melodic development. I personally only use practised patterns or licks as platforms to start with or to refocus a solo if I feel that it has become too abstract. This of course is down to personal taste which gives my solos the stamp of my own musical identity.
So this leads to my question, which is: how creative can you be if you are restricting your solo to fit within a certain genre? I personally feel that you should express your full experience and artistry in all scenarios, even if it means playing some Lydian dominant quintuplet arpeggios on a gypsy jazz gig. If you can hear it play it, but don't try and crowbar the latest lick you've just been shedding.
So in conclusion, learn the history and the vocabulary of the music (and your instrument), listen to how the greats do it, don't be afraid to experiment, don't be a jazz snob. John Coltrane was the best at being himself and you will never be a better John Coltrane than he was. Enjoy yourself.

Paul Richards

Hi John, thanks for your question! Well I believe that if you actually use a creative approach to your practice sessions thinking of as many creative, fun and exciting ways to work on a concept then this will come out in your playing. So basically taking a concept or idea, working on it to get it under your fingers & in your ear then the next step practicing it in as many crazy ways as you can come up with. This is what I do with my students at Sussex Jazz Guitar School. The blog attached describes the Creative practice process we will be exploring in our next class 28/9. All the best..
Paul Richards Practice regimes at his guitar school
September 28th class will be taking a jazz standard tune and tackling it using a multitude of approaches, expanding on concepts from previous classes plus new ones.  We will be developing Creative and fun approaches to practice specific material because if we practice at home in a fun, creative way.

.Paul also wrote: "Thanks John, on this other blog here there's a section "exploring concepts" which explains it a bit. If you practise creatively you'll play creatively.

Julian Nicholas 

said this in response to the creative question and sent in this brilliant clip of "Elvis" discussing atonality. You must look at it.

"John I really like it - and I like the idea of making a few provocative statements to get the juices flowing! I must find the Elvis extract for you - it is about this!!

"Also I think it is always worth emphasising how life-changing this music can be, and how that is reinforced when we get together and exchange knowledge and enthusiasm for artists and recordings that we know and love... listening is the key!!"





James Wheeler 

I really enjoy Eric Dolphy and I think it takes great skill to know which is the most "Out to Lunch" note to pick. I think you can't create in a vacuum, you need to draw on inventive influences, a bit outside the box. A lot of other art forms can inspire you also, not just music. There's a great feedback between art and jazz music. Check out Broadway Boogie Woogie. It's not a tune, it's a painting by Mondrian. Final word: synesthetics. (Editorial note:is a neurological condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway)

THE ORIGINAL POST THEY ARE RESPONDING TO.
CREATIVITY IN JAZZ

Oooh! Hot topic. I can feel the coals about to be dropped on my head.

Who is this guy who can't play, doesn't know anything much, to put forward a view on creativity in this highly specialised field?

Well, no more than the average viewer in the Tate Gallery who likes/dislikes a painting even though they can't draw.

Personal comments these, but they relate directly to our workshop and what we plan to do. These are not your views maybe, there as many views on this topic as there are players. Start heating up the coals now. Comments welcome.

Jazz musicians are improvisers by nature. We constantly explore the unexplored, experiment, and try new things. That is what we do, once we have our technique established and even before then. From the start we'll be encouraged to do our own thing.

But look at the notes below. You notice how many of these great innovators did their best work with others. They feed off their rhytm section, they feed off each other. Without their favourite playing partners they were often a bit diminished.

Scientific studies, carried out in  laboratories show that when jazz musicians improvise, their brains turn off areas linked to self-censoring and inhibition, and turn on those areas that let self-expression flow.

To develop creativity you take big problems and then break them into small tasks.

It takes a lot of courage to be willing to sound awful from time to time in order to develop. Everyone is scared of making mistakes. If not, we are not trying hard enough.

You learn more from mistakes than you ever learn from success. Some of the best musical ideas have come from what originally were “mistakes.”

SO WHAT WE WANT TO DO IN THE NEXT WORKSHOPS FROM SEP 15TH IS TO ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO DO THEIR OWN THING

• TO MAKE MISTAKES
• TO LISTEN TO WHAT THE OTHER ARE DOING
• TO PLAY OFF EACH OTHER
• TO BREAK DOWN WHAT THEY DO INTO SMALL BITS
• TO EXPERIMENT

Is that so wrong?

MY PERSONAL SELECTIONS OF JAZZ CREATIVES

THELONIUS MONK Known to his wife as Melodius Hunk. 
Who were the creative jazz people of my generation? Thelonius Monk - a legend in his time for his unusual harmonies and soloing style, his chord voicings, his timing, his original songs, copied by everyone in his day. Self-styled founder of Bebop. Some top jazz players would not play with him. I can take him in small bites, but I don't want a full evening of him. He hasn't been copied. Notice that. Genuinely creatively people leave a legacy, if it doesn't last it is more likely to be a novelty. Thelonius Monk was hospitalized twice for what was probably bipolar disease. Notice how some disability can lead you into original directions.

THE MJQ, Modern Jazz Quartet. 
They made a genuinely, long lasting impression on the music world as a whole. They were probably the foundation of much of the more melodic contemporary jazz style of to-day. They made jazz acceptable to classical musicians who recognised some of their baroque influences. I could listen to them all night. John Lewis plays the simplest of solos, spare, and open, a perfect counter to the powerful Milt Jackson on the vibraharp, with Percy Heath the driving force on the bass.

GERRY MULLIGAN AND CHET BAKER
Mulligan and Baker in their pianoless quartet. The pianist forgot to turn up one night. They found that this enabled them to free off from the harmony more easily. For me they were really original in the way they harmonised behind each other. Sometimes they did not even discuss the songs before they played them but they achieved wonders just playing off each other Their quartet only last for 9 months but they left a long lasting impression on the jazz world and helped to set up the West Coast movement. 

DESMOND AND BRUBECK
Their original work in using different time signatures is what they are known for, but I loved their Jazz at the College gigs from their early days. Desmond's fluent patterns, Brubeck playing chords. Interesting point here. He had to play chords at this time because he had an accident that stopped his fingers from soloing. Wonderfully original and musical were these tracks. Later he dropped the chord playing, when his fingers got better. Pity. Notice how some disability can lead you into original directions.

ERROL GARNER
Going back a bit now, but his trademark was the heavy block chords. Self taught, he sounded like a one man orchestra. Lovely sounds. He couldn't read music. Notice how some disability can lead you into original directions. 

GEORGE SHEARING quintet. 
A lot of argument here. He was put down by jazz musicians for being a Hotel pianist. So much of a hotel pianist he outsold nearly all the others with his records, with very sweet harmonies. This is George Shearing speaking, "Your intent, then, is to speak to your audience in a language you know, to try to communicate in a way that will bring to them as good a feeling as you have yourself" Notice his concentration upon the audience result. Lesson there for some players.
He was blind. Notice how some disability can lead you into original directions. 

BILL EVANS and his trio. He changed the style of piano playing more than any other. Introspective, deeply thoughtful, amazing range of different ideas which all fitted together somehow. He developed rootless chords and relied hevily on chords tones. First man to rely heavily on the bass player so heavily.

CHARLIE PARKER. He might not have started bebop but he and others pushed it to its limits. His trademark was unique phrasing and complex melodic lines. This, for me, is jazz musician's music. I can understand its brilliance, the technique but it does not sit easy on my ear. That's just me. I don't like Tracey Emin, but I do like David Hockney.

ATONAL
The atonal movement which followed Bebop, wrecked jazz. It was not creative, it did not have a long lasting effect it was nothing more than a novelty. For my ear it sounded awful. A disastrous novelty.
John
References
Research into jazz creativity, using brain scans.
Guide to creative jazz practise
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THIS IS US

The Jazz Smugglers bands in Sussex

The Jazz Smugglers workshop, Bosham, Sussex

The workshop will be opening again on Sunday September 15th. For the moment it is full, until someone drops out.

This site is to help the Jazz smugglers workshop group and provide informtion about the following weeks work. We will be working on widening our range of playing styles as individuals, working together in a band, and practising the more difficult things. You need to be able to read.

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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. you can sign up directly to this blog site as a FOLLOWER, bottom rh side panel, you'll get all the posts.