Re: Learning Jazz
Clay Moore ( cmoore4@ix.netcom.com )
Tue, 20 May 1997 15:32:27 -0500
Lawson G. Stone wrote:
>
> Clay Moore wrote:
I think I would only disagree with the estimable Clay on one point. That
> is the question of "fewer songs." When I scan jazz recordings of the
> 40's and 50's, I'm astonished at how many, and how different, songs were
> played. The era of the Real Book probably reduced the number of tunes
> likely to be played. Ross Russell tells of Charlie Parker's sojourn
> playing at the Parisien in New York, where the band changed songs every
> 60 seconds, playing for taxi dancers. The repertoire was enormous, and
> that generation of players cut their teeth on a dizzying array of tunes,
> and not all were 32 bar AABA or 12-bar blues. When I scan the repertoire
> of just the Nat King Cole trio, I can't imagine any local jazz players,
> who are few but good, who could match that repertoire for breadth.
>
> I think this huge repertoire created in the jam session veteran a large
> inventory of strategies for handling almost any kind of tune.
Well, you are looking at the best practioners of jazz in those eras, not
the run of the mill jazz players at jam sessions. I think modern players
are going to far exceed those tune limits if you sample several
recordings from a variety of contemporary jazz styles. I know when I do
gigs I'm liable to have to play anything from a 60's Motown tune to an
original written by someone in the group I was working in- could be
Brazilian feel, could be hip-hop funk, could be modern swing, could be
old-time swing. I did two different recording sessions a few weeks ago,
and I did unfamiliar tunes on both of them. I laid down solos on both
sessions in one take. I don't mean to brag, but an ear player who didn't
understand chords/melody relationships would have had a hell of a time
pulling that off.
--
Clay Moore
We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. Yet, it sometimes
seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but
its own talents as well. -Bruce Lee