Don't just do something, stand there!

by Minim Pro @ 2010-06-28 – 08:29:39
A couple of weeks ago, I found myself abandoning what I was supposed to be doing and spending an entire afternoon watching Oscar Peterson videos on YouTube. Funnily enough, despite Oscar's incredible technique and ability to amaze, it was this clip of him playing a slow blues with Count Basie that reminded me of an important lesson.



Many jazz musicians are playing more or less the same solo over every tune. We are taught that a solo should be a real time composition and have a structure like a classical composition. Sometimes in our quest to illustrate our mastery of this and 'tell a story', it's all too easy to slip into a very formulaic and tired way of playing.
Here's the PlayJazz guide to playing a typically 'structured' solo.

•Start playing relatively sparsely for eight bars or so.
•Increase the intensity by playing more notes.
•Get louder and louder and higher and higher.
•If you're a pianist, switch to block chords when you can't play any louder.
•If you're a guitarist, switch to playing octaves when you can't play any louder.
•If you're a horn player, make sure that you end up playing screaming harmonics and double time passages at the very top of your register.
•The last half-chorus should be an orgy of 'feeling' - in other words, freaking-out at full volume and/or playing a million notes per minute.
nb. The rhythm section should then immediately drop the volume and intensity at the end of the solo so the next player can follow the same structure.

What the clip above illustrates so beautifully is that, when you have a great groove and a great band sound, you don't really need to 'structure' a solo like a symphony. A great groove can be sat on and savoured like a mouthful of fine wine or a belgian chocolate.

Too often players resort to the clichéd solo structure above when they're trying artificially to provide a framework for music they're not feeling or mistakenly assuming that, because they're soloing, it's all about them. Even during individual solos, a great jazz band improvises as a group and resorting to such a pre-ordained and tired 'structure' denies the possibility of this by not allowing the music to unfold organically.

Sometimes, the best solos are the ones where the soloist allows the music to breathe and the group sound becomes the ultimate focus for the audience. Think about Bill Evans' solos on Kind Of Blue; he plays relatively nothing and it allows the listener to luxuriate in the beautiful simplicity of the music and the fantastic sound of the rhythm section.

Adding more intensity does not automatically provide structure to music and music doesn't always need to build and become increasingly louder or more complex to be satisfying. Sometimes it's enough just to lay down a great groove and wallow in it whilst letting things unfold naturally and organically. If you can truly open yourself to the music, ignore the ego's individual need to impress and play both for the group and for the moment, then the music will structure itself.

It's not up to you to make something happen in your solo. Your job is to allow it to happen.
http://playjazz.blog.co.uk/2010/06/28/don-t-just-do-something-stand-there-8876914/