Essential Jazz Lines

by Per Danielsson

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A big part of learning jazz is listening to the masters of jazz. By understanding the melodic, harmonic and historical aspects of your favorite musician, you are able to develop a solid foundation for your own playing, improvising and composing. Since jazz improvisation is such a personal way of creating music, we should learn, imitate and then move on. When using this approach we take an active part in the ongoing evolution of jazz.

Mel Bay’s Essential Jazz Lines series is an excellent tool to help learn the language of the masters. By breaking down the lines and categorizing them harmonically the student can better understand the concept behind a certain sound. It also helps you technically since some of the material is quite challenging, especially at faster tempos.

The following etude is constructed from material in the Essential Jazz Lines InThe Style Of Bill Evans. By combining the lines in the book you can literally create thousand of solos and expand your jazz vocabulary to include the language of Bill Evans. Since the book mostly deals with note choices, it is very important to listen to his recordings in order to learn the phrasing and other stylistic concepts. I guarantee that after practicing the lines and creating your own solos you will become a better soloist.

1. Play the lines and analyze their harmonic structure. Look for chord tones, passing tones, enclosures, target notes, etc. These concepts are explained in the beginning of the book.

2. Practice the lines in different keys with the play along CD. Using the CD will force you to learn the material in all twelve keys, which will improve your techinque and make you a more solid player. Some keys are technically harder because we don’t use them as much. In that case, practice them alone for a while and then use the CD again, you will notice results quickly.

3. Use the chord changes from a tune with which you are familiar.Compose your own etude like the one in this article. Don’t be afraid to change octaves and/or leading tones between lines to help them flow better. It is a bit like putting together a puzzle so have fun with it. Work it out technically and practice it in a musical fashion. It is very helpful to record yourself so you can hear your playing from a listener’s perspective.

4. From a technical aspect it’s very helpful to play the etude with both hands in different tempos. It is always helpful when you can use musical material as technical exercises, much like the classical composers.

Visit the Mel Bay’s web site at www.melbay.com for a complete listing of the Essential Jazz Lines series.

Good Luck