This week we get into something that might not be everyone's cup of tea, but is absolutely essential to being able to improvise well. Flexibility is key in improvisation, and the most beneficial way to practice flexibility is coming up with interesting ways to practice our scales. Just like everything else we do, we want to make it creative and think outside of the box with scales. Yes, you do have to learn your scales in their basic format first, but after that it's important to come up with … [Read more...]

This week we are going to dive into a topic that many of you have been asking about. That topic is playing double time lines and we will use an example from one of the greatest trumpeters in history, Clifford Brown. We are looking at one of his lines over his composition, Joy Spring. This tune is the epitome of bebop with more key changes and ii-V-I's than you could ever imagine. Our slice of his solo is small, in order to make this a task you can complete over the week. Enjoy the episode and … [Read more...]

Welcome to another special interview episode of the podcast! This week we are talking with one of my favorite saxophonists and educators around today. Steve Neff has a prolific catalog of educational materials and is a fantastic teacher of this art form we all know and love. Check out the fantastic materials and learn more about Steve and his work at HIS WEBSITE! Sit back and enjoy my conversation with the great, Steve Neff! … [Read more...]

This week we talk about how looking at the big picture for too long can be detrimental to your health. 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...]

I was completely flooded with emails this week asking me to do a part 2 for Blues For Alice. Listeners wanted to develop strategies for measures 5-8 and I totally understand why. These measures are by far the most difficult part of this tune due to chromatically descending ii-V progressions. In this episode we talk about several different strategies for developing material over this section and I give you a couple of example pieces of vocabulary that can and will get you started. It's quite … [Read more...]

This week I'll tell you all about the metronome I know and love and why you should have the same one. 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 is all about the first 4 measures of one of my favorite Charlie Parker tunes, Blues For Alice. These measures provide a difficult descending chord progression that requires a closer look. We will be focusing on creating lines that lead seamlessly into one another to start developing an ear and a feel for the chords and start getting some vocabulary under our belt. Bird really has come up with an amazingly difficult reharm of the blues with this tune and anyone that is studying bebop or … [Read more...]

This week's episode is all about the new film from John Scheinfeld, Chasing Trane. 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...]

I'm willing to bet that most of you have never heard of the fantastic Italian Saxophonist, Max Ionata. Well we're here to fix that this week and bring you an amazing 16 bar section of his solo on George Gershwin's 'But Not For Me.' Max has an incredible ability to play the jazz language in a very clear way that is perfect for us to learn from. We normally don't bring you such a long excerpt from a solo but this week, we felt like we had to. Max puts together such a nice phrase here that we are … [Read more...]