Welcome! I'm
thrilled that you have registered and will be joining me for my morning
Jazz Master Class and afternoon concerts on Sunday, February 1, 2009, in
conjunction with ArtsFest and the Riverwalk Jazz Concert Series. I thought
that you would be more comfortable and have more fun if you knew what I'm
planning and could have the music in advance.
We're going to meet at the Stuart Rec Center
by 8:20 that morning, with the Master Class starting at 8:30 and running
until 11:30. Our focus for the day will be on the act of truly playing
jazz (improvisation) through the great art form known as the Blues! Lunch
will be provided for all participants from 11:30 - 12:00, at which time we
will move down the street to the Riverwalk Stage, set up, do a sound
check, and begin the first of our 3 "sets" at 1:00.
Joining me for this musical adventure will be
jazz clarinetist Lauren Bracken. She will not only be assisting me with
organizational stuff and helping you with the music, but she (as well as
I) will be performing right alongside you on some of the tunes. Wait until
you hear her play!
You won't be playing on every tune, but you
certainly will get your "time to shine." We can't know how many
participants there will be until all of the registration forms are in.
What I'm planning on doing is to form small ensembles (combos) with a
rhythm section (piano, guitar, bass, and drums) and three or four "front
line" players (wind instruments). To be as well prepared as possible, it
would be great if you could work on the music that is being provided here
in advance and decide which things you enjoy the most.
And now, a little background on the blues.
Most blues is just 12 bars (measures) long, repeated over and over. One
time through the blues (12 bars) is called a verse, (although jazz
musicians tend to refer to it as a "chorus"). The only thing that really
changes as the choruses are repeated are the melodies that we play "over"
the chord changes that the rhythm section
plays.
As the blues developed and evolved,
musicians discovered that there was a series of notes that worked very
well (and all of the time) for improvising solos. They eventually combined
these notes into what we now know as the Blues Scale. Furthermore, it
seems that about 90% of all blues played by jazz musicians is either in
the key of concert Bb or concert F. Go figure. Anyway, those will be the
only 2 keys that we will be using, and the transposed scales for your
instrument are included at the bottom of the "Blues Heads" sheet music.
Your improv solos will use only the notes of the blues scales (any
octave).
The playing of each blues tune is
approached in basically the same way. The written melody (known as the
"head"), which is 12 bars long, is played twice, then everyone solos
(improvises), then the head is played twice at the end to finish the tune.
The 12-bar blues is felt in three 4-bar
phrases. A popular approach to composing a head for the blues is to write
a 4-bar melody (known as a "lick), then just play the lick 3 times for the
head. And, since it is the tradition of the blues that the head is played
twice at the beginning of the tune and twice at the end of the tune, we
just play the lick 6 times at the beginning and 6 times at the end. This
is the format that we will be following for all of the tunes that we do
except for one.
The exception will be "Watermelon Man," a
16-bar blues composed in a rock style by famous pianist Herbie Hancock. It
will be the closing tune for our concert and will feature everyone! I have
provided sheet music for this tune for each instrument.
In the column on the left are the files
for the sheet music in PDF format. Everyone needs a "Blues Heads" file and
a "Watermelon Man" file for their instrument. The "Blues Heads" music
includes 4 licks for concert F blues, 2 licks for concert Bb blues, and
the 2 blues scales for those keys.
In the column on the right are play-along
background track files, in both MIDI and MP3 formats, so that you can
actually practice with a band. Download what you want and enjoy!
Greg Power
If you have any questions, please e-mail me at
jazzer@comcast.net .
