This week's episode introduces us to a brand new topic that I think will help your playing tremendously. Melodic fragments are any grouping of a given number of notes to focus your melodic intent and keep you from meandering through a solo. We start the series with a 3 note fragment based on 2 different scale segments. The goal here is to develop fluency and flexibility using these over a blues so we can later get more complicated and creative. Enjoy the episode and make sure to practice the … [Read more...]

This culminates our series on reading with an etude based around the minor blues. We tried to bring together everything we talked about in the last 3 episodes and implement it, providing for a very tough exercise! If you really want to go the extra mile, we have also written a version of the same etude up a half step. Enjoy the episode and good luck! WANT THE PDF THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS EPISODE?? Head over to our Patreon page and when you donate $3 or more a month you get this PDF and … [Read more...]

I had a unique experience last week that allowed me to see, what I think, is the current state of jazz at the JEN Convention last week. Would you like to support the creators of this podcast? If so, please head over to our Patreon page and show your love by donating $3 or more each month. You get incredible benefits and this keeps the podcast coming at you regularly. Thanks so much! … [Read more...]

This week continues our series on reading and becoming a more well rounded musician. Remember, you will get a lot more gigs if you can read at a high level! This week brings us to syncopation. We have already done episodes on tough keys and sub-division, now it's time to take a look at one of the most important aspects of jazz: having a good handle on playing off the beat. Syncopation is a defining characteristic of jazz and we need to be able to land on each and every part of the beat. These … [Read more...]

In addition to giving you something to transcribe each month, we will now be giving you a specific thing to listen to with notes on what to listen for. This month: Chris Potter and Shai Maestro play All The Things You Are! Would you like to support the creators of this podcast? If so, please head over to our Patreon page and show your love by donating $3 or more each month. You get incredible benefits and this keeps the podcast coming at you regularly. Thanks so … [Read more...]

Welcome back to our second episode in the new year. This week we continue our work on reading with a great rhythmic exercise to test your flexibility and attention to sub-division. When reading and improvising, playing sub-divisions of beats correctly and accurately is very important to our overall sound. This exercise is meant to take the same idea and put it through 8th notes, triplets, and 16th notes all designed to prepare you for anything that's thrown your way. Enjoy and make sure to grab … [Read more...]

A new series on the podcast: Transcribe This will feature something I want you to transcribe each month and keep you on target toward your goals in 2020. This month: Dexter Gordon's Second Balcony Jump! Would you like to support the creators of this podcast? If so, please head over to our Patreon page and show your love by donating $3 or more each month. You get incredible benefits and this keeps the podcast coming at you regularly. Thanks so much! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3brLNLRBoPM … [Read more...]

Happy New Year everyone! This year is going to kick off with our series on reading. We don't typically think about reading as an essential skill for improvisation, however, it is an essential skill for being a complete musician, which I think all of us strive for. This month will provide you with some difficult exercises that will hopefully bring you to the next level and allow you to read like a true ninja. This week is all about enharmonics and becoming comfortable reading in uncomfortable … [Read more...]

Welcome to our last episode of 2019! This has been an absolutely awesome year and I want to thank all of our listeners and community for the show of support and all your hard work to become better musicians. Looking forward to 2020! This episode is the culmination of our series on using tensions in context. Will will take all of the information gathered over the month and see it in a real world situation over one of my favorite jazz standards, There Is No Greater Love. I have done the hard … [Read more...]

This week I'm going to give you 5 albums that I loved in 2019 that will hopefully bring you some musical cheer this Holiday season! In order that I talk about them: Tom Harrell: Infinty Jonathan Blake: Trion Miguel Zenon: Sonero: The Music of Ismael Rivera Gary Alesbrook: The Stories We Tell Ourselves John Coltrane: Blue World Would you like to support the creators of this podcast? If so, please head over to our Patreon page and show your love by donating $3 or more each month. You … [Read more...]