Well certainly my theory in that regard is speculation and based on
my hypothesis that they way you play is directly related to how you
practice.
But then you have to ask yourself, how did he develop that compositional
quality.
Well one can write it off by saying he's a genius which basically
alllows one to never have to answer that question.
>On another post I mentioned learning directly from Joe Pass and Pat
>Martino. You mentioned that their partial transcription approach didn't
>yield the best results, in your opinion. However, I never said that's
>what they did, I was just stating that they didn't write the
>transcriptions down, and that they used their instruments to transcribe.
>I have no idea how much they transcribed or whether they learned them
>start to finish or whatever. I know Pat learned a great deal from
>transcribing; he learned Johhny Smith, Wes Montgomery and others from
>recordings as well as knowing and playing with Wes personally. Pass said
>that he played things from memory by hearing them at the record store,
>but I never said that was his entire approach. I also question whether
>Ray Brown and company wrote the 'scripts down or just memorized them.
>THAT's what I meant by not following your exact method, not the learning
>of complete solos.
>
Well I don't think one needs to be completely literal as far as
whether they wrote them down or did it away from their instrument.
My point about not using your instrument is that being away from
your instrument gives you a higher degree of isolation and it's just
you and the sound and you are not tempted to start jamming with the
record and playing what you would play.
The main point is to transcribe a note at a time very accurately.
However, if someone doesnt write it down, I don't see how they are going to
remember it.
People might think they remember it but if they go and try and write
it down and compare it with an accurate transcription, I'll guarantee
you that it wouldnt even be close.
I mean it's hard enough to remember standard tunes let alone 32 or 64 bars of
eighth note be-bop solos.
If you don't write it down it's going to permute pretty fast.
All the really good transcribers I've met use exactly the
same method I use.
>I don't know if I've posted the following before, but it's the only
>reference I have that can speak authoritatively on what Parker was
>practicing, courtesy of Parker's longtime associate and bassist for just
>about everyone at some point or another, Gene Ramey. Here it is from a
>letter I sent to someone else:
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------
>As far as I know I have the only full copy of this interview, which was
>done in 1984, a couple of years after Gene Ramey had retired back to
>Austin and a few months before he died. There is a long section about
>Gene meeting Parker when he (Parker) was 13 or 14, Ramey being around
>20. He said Parker was terrible at that point, which concurs with the
>legends re how he sucked and got the cymbal thrown at him, etc. There
>are some sidetracks in the interview, and then the interviewer asks Gene
>about how he would like to be remembered, what his contributions to the
>music are. Gene talks a bit about how the bassists (in the 30s) played a
>bass line, which they never deviated from.
>
>Then he says "Bird and I used to practice all day, every day. No other
>horn, no drums or nothing, just the two of us. We'd practice for
>_hours_. This is how Bird developed, and this is the way I developed,
>too. But in doing that I developed a style of playing bass where... I
>would play the whole chord. I had to play the whole chord, just like a
>piano would play the whole chord. Well, I would run (sings 1-3-5-1 over
>a progression of chords) you know. So that was supposed to have been, I
>was supposed to have been the first guy to do that. But the thing was, I
>was actually playing the guitar part or the piano's part -the harmony
>chords- for Bird to run his changes. And so that's why they said it's in
>Bop. I knew how to play that, in fact I KNOW how to play that- know how
>to play Dixieland, too. But long before they started calling it "Bop"
>Bird and I had developed this pattern of playing, which the other
>musicians started playing in later years. Today everybody plays that-
>all the modern musicians now."
>
>That's all I know about Parker's practice.
>
Of course, he doesnt say that parker wrote confirmation while they
were jamming.
Who knows what he meant by all day? You mean 7 days a week for
like say 12 hours a day for many years???
Everyone has to spend time actually improvising or otherwise they
would just be a composer.
This doesnt mean that parker didnt spend alot of time composing.
For example, Ray Brown told me Oscar Peterson never practiced.
Well Ray Brown may never have seen him practice but I can tell
that Oscar is one serious guy that has practiced plenty his whole life.
reed
>
>
>
>
Reed Kotler
reed@justjazz.com
http://www.justjazz.com