Re: Learning jazz
reed ( (no email) )
Wed, 21 May 1997 11:44:19 +0100
At 09:32 AM 5/21/97 -0400, you wrote:
>In a message dated 97-05-21 01:27:18 EDT, you write:
>
><< In my opinion pursuing jazz study in a serious way mandates that you
> learn about all the aspects, including things like harmony and
> chord-scale relationships. You would be very hard pressed in this day
> and age to name a contemporary jazz musician who hadn't studied these
> things. I've seen a lot of talented but unstudied players, particularly
> horn players, fall flat on their asses when they got out of the realm of
> tunes and keys that they know well. This is not the '50s, and I think it
> is naive to assume your ear alone is going to get you by, especially
> when you are going to find players with extremely well developed ears
> who also know everything there is to know about theory and such. Don't
> carry a chip. Learn harmony and theory. Be humble. You probably still
> have a long way to go >>
>
>This is an interesting thread. Several years ago I had the opportunity to
>play in a quintet with the late Charlie Ventura. I asked him what he was
>thinking about when he was improvising.
>
>His answer really suprised me at first. He said "Do you know what key you're
>in? That's all you have to know."
>
>I pondered that statement for quite a long time. However, as the weeks
>passed, I finally realized that this man really knew his theory inside and
>out. It had become so ingrained in his subconscious that he didn't even
>think about it anymore and it became second nature.
>
>The moral of the story is learn your theory!
>
Richard,
Certainly anything is open to interpretation but ...
He said that all you have to know is what key you are in.
The rest is something you added.
If he thought you should learn theory, then why would he say
that you just need to know what key you are in.
Why didnt he say" "Learn your theory"?
reed
Reed Kotler
reed@justjazz.com
http://www.justjazz.com