It will basically be my understanding of his teaching methods.
His methods I believe are pretty much what he does.
One problem with his methods for me is that they rely on the
student getting lots of bandstand experience for their development.
This is a typical advice top players give however jazz is not the
music of the day like it was 30 or 40 years ago.
The number of jobs is ever shrinking and there are no entry level
jobs. 30-40 years ago if you could breath and know a few tunes
you could be working every night. Now top players have trouble finding
regular work. Whenever I meet someone that tells me they are making
their living playing I know that either:
a) They are living at their mothers house.
b) They are sponging off their girlfrientd.
For this reason I think that now, and even more so in the future,
people will have to rely more on home practice methods.
I think more than ever, things like transcribing and composing as a method
of preparation are all you can do. Additionally aids like band in the
box, play along records are essential.
The gigs you have will help to solidify things but you can't
rely on it as a primary vehicle for getting experience.
>When you see Hal will you than him on my behalf for the class he did
>in Leeds, England earlier this year.
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>Ian.
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