An introduction
Above is a really interesting view with a hugely influential jazz icon and one of my favourite jazz pianists Bill Evans.
Watching Bill talk about improvisation prompted me to analyse my own views on improvisation in order to try and understand how best to further develop this skill.
For me Improvisation is a way of expressing emotion by the player or creating a message through music. Personally, so far in my brief music career, although I love many songs with vocals as well as poetry, I haven’t been able to convert any of my thoughts or beliefs into lyrics for a tune. However, after playing hours of improvisation over different songs, I have felt small pockets of connection with the music which I hope is a sign that I’m beginning to develop my own sound and style.
When learning music theory and improvisational techniques, I find that music is often referred to as being very similar to a language by my teachers. To become a complete music player you must be able to read music, play music by ear and react to different musical features when collaborating with others. Sentence structure compares to phrase marks and when you improvise it is like having a conversation with someone or making a statement. By understanding different harmonic structures you can use them to create more complicated and advanced conversations.
Recently I watched a documentary film on John Coltrane called “Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary” in the film it was incredibly interesting to see how his sound and improvisation developed over the course of his career. Starting out, when Coltrane was playing with Miles Davis, although it was very high level stuff,Coltrane hadn’t fully discovered his own sound, whereas towards the end of his career his deep feelings on spirituality were pouring through his music and creating a very individual sound and atmosphere.
The same can be said for when I watched the film “Ray” ( a documentary film about Ray Charles’s life). Starting out, Ray was clearly a very talented individual, however he would imitate Nat King Cole’s sound as he was Ray’s musical inspiration and hero. So for Ray Charles as well as John Coltrane, it took huge exploration and perseverance to find their own sound.
Below is a video I was listening to as background when writing the last few paragraphs.
Starting at 00.50 Booker T. Jones begins playing Green onions, his famous hit with Booker T and the MGS. For me when listening to this and especially when watching him play, I can physically feel the soul that’s coming out of his performance. For me this is a great example of a man who has both mastered his music and sound.
Personally, I think that my musical education is still very much in the developing stages, I very much enjoy learning about music theory and my sight reading is to a good standard, however my listening skills and improvisational skills are slightly behind. Therefore I am going to go into a bit of detail on some of the techniques I have used and different ways that I have developed my improvisation for this project below.
Developing improvisation
When I first began to encounter improvisation in my own playing it was about a year ago when I began playing Blues and Boogie Woogie styles. Prior to this I had always read sheet music in order to play a tune, however I think it was when I saw Jools Holland playing Boogie Woogie on tv that I became interested in improvisation.
Above is an excellent recording of Jools Holland improvising in a boogie woogie style with his big band. When watching this for the first time and in fact any time after that, Jools’s skill timing and precision are an absolutely incredible sight. His use of multiple different techniques as well as rhythm and harmony leave you anticipating every single phrase as well as the clever mash up with Bach at 2.54 makes it, for me, a complete song.
When I began improvising I think that I probably began by overcomplicating it. Improvisation is very different within different genres. So when I began to learn how to improvise and play Jazz tunes, trying to trill at 200 bpm (which was what I was trying to do when playing boogie woogie) didn’t really compliment the style I was now playing.
When aiming for a good level in improvisation, there are a few different techniques to try and master. These include phrasing, rhythm, harmony and articulation. Originally I would have gone with two being rhythm and harmony, however throughout this project I have discovered that there are many different elements you can control in order to create a different atmosphere.
Phrasing
Phrasing a solo is essentially thinking of how to structure a solo. Different structural features such as pausing or hesitation can help to convey certain ideas which is what makes phrasing so important. Phrases could be any length or could suggest other certain reactions such as call and response with other instruments. Master Jazz musicians such as Charlie Parker and Bill Evans would be able to phrase improvisations without hesitation, however for a beginner like myself, it’s a technique which needs to be learnt and practised in order to improve over time. A good way of doing this is listening to many different players and transcribing their solos in order to understand and learn from their musical techniques.
Rhythm
The rhythm in a solo is mainly about the note values throughout and how they can be crafted in order to create an interesting piece of improvisation. Improvised solos are often compared to story telling as they have a start and end and usually build up throughout the solo. I have already talked about this idea on this page that improvisation is the expression of someones ideas/thoughts but through music, therefore by creating different rhythmic ideas, this helps the player to express themselves further. The use of rhythm in this way can be seen by comparing Bebop and Cool Jazz. Bebop came out of New York and The East side with very fast rhythms which expressed the situation of a very busy city lifestyle, whereas cool jazz was a reaction to this business and was full of space in order to create a more laid back feel, which was the reality of the west coast life. Of course there were many more factors than that however that is a good summary of the two. Therefore rhythm is a tool that can be manipulated in order to create whatever atmosphere you want when used correctly.
Harmony
Harmony in improvisation can essentially be described as the notes that you use to solo with. The notes and structures you use, especially in Jazz are very different from piece to piece. For example with Blues pieces it is very easy to use a blues scale, whereas with other pieces you might need to use a mixture of modes or scales. Most pieces use notes from within the key or chord as these generally sound the best. When people use notes from outside the key, this is called dissonance and when used incorrectly sounds terrible. However many Jazz artists use dissonance to their advantage in order to change the overall colour of the music. A famous example of this is Thelonious Monk who often used dissonance heavily throughout his pieces and is regarded as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. When improvising, I sometimes use dissonance such as chromatic runs as well as passing notes, by experimenting with different techniques you build up your jazz vocabulary which is very important for improvisation.
Articulation
The two major examples of articulation are staccato and legato. Staccato is when notes are played very sharply and abruptly whereas legato is when notes are played smoothly. By using different types of articulation when playing you can create a different feel to a piece and convey different messages with your playing. Dynamics are also very important when improvising and playing pieces in general, like articulation by manipulating the dynamics of a piece you can change the feel and message of a piece overall.
Referencing a book called Jazzology by Robert Rawlins and Nor Eddine Bahha, here is a list from that book about improvising in classical Jazz:
- Use care and economy in the selection of notes.
- Do not become locked into the chord of the moment. Think of broader harmonic areas and the overall tonic key.
- Generally, it is best to search for common tones rather than guide notes. The jerky effect of riding changes is generally not appropriate in early jazz.
- References to melody are always appropriate
- Ignore nonessential harmonies. If a fast harmonic rhythm occurs (such as during a turnaround) do not try and incorporate those chords into the improvised line.
- Pentatonic scales are quite appropriate.
- Melodic repetition, alteration, and development are useful. There should be an inner logic to the line.
- Play with the listeners expectations. Surprises are welcome.
- Introduce blues notes where appropriate.
- Use natural 9ths and 13ths freely on major and dominant chords, even in conspicuous places for extended durations.
Although this is a very formal list, it has some brilliant ideas and guidelines in it which has helped me understand some of the theory behind creating a decent solo on piano. In pieces like The days of wine and roses where the chords are constantly changing key, I very much struggled at first when improvising as I didn’t know what notes to use. Now when improvising over this piece I focus on using chord tones as well as common tones between chords.
Like it says in the list, pentatonic scales are always great to use and in some instances like in blue moon it sounds great to use a blues scale therefore I often used the C blues scale by adding the flattened 5th to the c minor pentatonic when improvising over blue moon.
Being economic with the use of notes is a really important idea and can be used in different ways to express an idea through music. I have already spoken briefly about the way that sub genres of Jazz including cool and Bebop differ to one another based on the improvisation techniques of the artists.
Charlie Parker was renowned for his incredibly fast lines and attacking style. He used a technique called double tonguing to play at incredibly fast tempos. However his harmonic improvisation was also incredibly accurate which makes it even more incredible. Bebop is so fast paced that there is barely any space and there’s always something going on. For me personally, I’m not a huge fan of this type of improvisation as impressive as it is.
Comparatively, here is Chet Baker playing some cool Jazz,there is way more space here than in Charlie Parkers Bebop and his articulation is much more legato based. Rhythmically he holds on to notes for much longer amounts of time and like Parker, harmonically, he is excellent. Overall I much prefer Chet’s style of play even though Charlie Parker was probably the better musician.
Over this project I have started to try and use space as an advantage when playing. When listening to someone like Charlie Parker, it’s easy to think that to get as good as him, you always have to be playing. However it was the way that Parker and Chet phrased their musical ideas that made them Jazz legends. Therefore sometimes by holding onto a note or chord or not playing at all I could create an element of suspense or relaxation which wouldn’t be possible if I was playing.