Build Your Own Jazz Combo

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Build Your Own Jazz Combo

• David Gueulette
• Ashbury College
• Ottawa, ON

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Why a Jazz Combo?

• Helps to strengthen your jazz band by developing
  a strong core of improvisors
• Can become self directed, thereby taking the onus
  off you
• Highly transportable. Great for taking out into
  the public and promoting your program.
• Its fun!!

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Instrumentation

• 1 to 4 horns Good combinations include tpt/alto,
  tpt/tenor, alto/tenor, tpt/alto/tenor,
  tpt/alto/tenor/trombone
• Bass An upright is great, but an electric will
  do
• ONE chordal instrument piano or guitar
• Drums

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Listening, Listening

• Get at least one recording of each tune you are
  working on
• Students should know (and have listened to) at
  least five players of their instrument
• A great way to develop a sense of style and
  generate improvisation ideas
• iTunes and emusic.com are great (and inexpensive)
  resources

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Repertoire

• Pre-published or design your own?

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Jazz Combo Paks

• Hal Leonard arr Frank Mantooth
• Parts for C, Eb, Bb, BC
• Fully notated parts for piano, bass, and drums
• Three-part arrangements
• Scales for improvisation included
• Includes CD
• 30 volumes published, each with 4 tunes
• Tunes are often too difficult for beginners

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The Real Easy Book

• Sher Music Stanford Jazz Workshop
• Published for C, Eb, Bb, BC.
• Most tunes work well with beginners
• Include sample bass lines, piano voicings,and
  guitar voicings
• Scales for improvisation
• Two volumes available
• Melody only, no arrangement, backgrounds, etc
• No CD Included
• Paino voicings are sparse
• Bass Line is repetitive

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The Real Easy Book
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Real/Fake Books

• Huge library of tunes
• Usually published for C, Bb, Eb and BC
• Price ranges vary
• Contains only melody and chord changes
• No recordings

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Whats The Form?

• Intro last four bars, drum set-up, rhythm
  section only
• Head In Once or twice, harmonized, backgrounds
• Solos one or two choruses, backgrounds, trade
  fours (with drums)
• Head Out
• Ending tag the last four

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Improvisation

• Keep it simple start with tunes that require
  only one (or two) scales
• The blues scale works well on blues tunes and a
  number of other simple tunes
• Gets students up and running quickly
• Does NOT teach students to listen

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Blues Scale Tunes

• Blue Monk (Bb)
• Tenor Madness (Bb)
• Bessies Blues (Eb)
• Sonnymoon for Two (Bb)
• Nows The Time (F)
• Mercy, Mercy (Bb)
• Doxy (Bb)
• Watermelon Man (F)
• Song For My Father (F)
• Equinox (C)
• Blue Trane (Eb)

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Other Scales
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Other Simple Tunes

• Black Orpheus A dorian
• Impressions D dorian and Eb dorian
• So What D dorian and Eb dorian
• Blue Bossa C dorian and Db Major
• Dear Old Stockholm D aeolian, F major, C
  mixolydian (all versions of the same scale)
• St. Thomas C pentatonic

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Improvisation Resources
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Jamey Aebersold

• Countless volumes of tunes and exercises.
• Comes with play along CD
• Cannot change speed or key
• Many volumes are beyond beginning improvisers

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Band In A Box

• PG Music
• Comes with a huge library of pre-programmed
  tunes, styles, solos, harmonizations
• Easy to program your own tunes and input melodies
• Speed up, slow down, change keys
• Easy to generate lead sheets
• Export to CD or MP3
• Lists for around 80.00

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Band In A Box
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SmartMusic

• Intelligent Accompaniment
• Large library of pre-programmed jazz tunes
• Works well with Abersold.
• Allows tempo and key changes.
• Melody lines not included
• Recording allows export to MP3
• Requires annual subscription fee (60.00)
• Difficult to create your own files (requires
  Finale)

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SmartMusic
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Augmenting or creating Your Own Arrangements

• Writing bass lines
• Writing piano voicings
• Ideas for Drumming
• Playing The Head
• Guide Tone Writing

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Walking Bass Lines

• Play the root of the chord at the change
  (sometimes the third).
• Try to connect across the bar lines with a whole
  or half step.
• Avoid leaps across bar lines (except for 5ths and
  octaves)
• Use chord and scale tones to connect the dots

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Walking Bass Lines

• Major 7th Major Scales
• Dominant 7th Mixolydian Scales
• Minor 7th Dorian or Aeolian Scales

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Latin Bass Lines

• Latin bass lines are easier to write, and easier
  for students to learn. Use mostly roots and
  fifths.

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Piano Voicings

• Beginning jazz pianists will not know how to
  voice chords
• Voicing in 4ths is very effective
• Major 7th chords voice down in perfect 4ths from
  the root or the fifth
• Dominant 7th chords voice the treble down in
  perfect 4ths from the root or fifth, use the 3rd
  and 7th in the bass.

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Piano Voicings

• Minor 7th chords voice down in perfect 4ths from
  the third, or voice down in perfect 4ths from the
  root with 3rd and 7th in the bass.
• When writing a progression, keep common tones in
  the same voice.

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Comping

• When writing piano for piano, just provide the
  basic voicing. Avoid writing rhythms.
• Instead, provide a list of suggestions. Allows
  students to develop a better sense of time and
  style.
• Basic voicings become

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Working With The Drums

• The Essential Equipment Ride cymbal, high hat,
  snare drum.
• The basic swing pattern quarter notes line up
  with the bass line.
• Most drummers overuse the stock pattern
  Booooooring!
• Mix up the ride cymbal pattern

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Playing The Head

• Many tunes in fake books are written with very
  straight or non-swinging rhythms.
• Syncopation Accenting beats other than the fake
  book version.

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Playing The Head

• Some standard alterations

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There Will Never Be
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There Will Never Be
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Writing Backgrounds

• Guide Tones Use 3rds and/or 7ths of the chord.
  Works best with standard type chord progressions.
• Can be smooth or rhythmic

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Doxy
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Print Music

• Retails for 80.00
• Up to 24 staves
• Part Extraction
• Numerous templates
• Easy to use
• Free Version Finale NotePad

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Whats On the CD

• Blue Monk
• Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
• Equinox
• Doxy
• Blue Bossa
• Birks Works
• Dear Old Stockholm
• Song For My Father
• PP Presentation
• Desert Island list of Jazz CDs.

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International Association for Jazz Education

• January 9th 12th, 2008
• Toronto,ON
• www.iaje.org

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Questions, comments, suggestions, complaints?

• dgueulette_at_ashbury.ca