{"id":1989,"date":"2014-03-16T23:19:35","date_gmt":"2014-03-16T23:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjazzscene.com\/?page_id=1989"},"modified":"2014-03-17T20:09:18","modified_gmt":"2014-03-17T20:09:18","slug":"randy-halberstadt-random","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/worldjazzscene.com\/wordpress\/randy-halberstadt-random\/","title":{"rendered":"Randy Halberstadt – Random Excerpts from Metaphors for the Musician"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
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“Metaphors for the Musician” (Perspectives from a Jazz Pianist) \u00a0$35.95
Random excerpts from book \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

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Chapter 1 \u00a0–\u00a0Jazz Quilt<\/span><\/p>\n

This quilt is you, it\u2019s all the things you are. <\/span>
Jimmy Rowles on the corner, talking shop with Frishberg. <\/span>
Miles of squares of Miles, cool blue, no wrinkles, offsetting Trane\u2019s sheets of sound. <\/span>
Bebop checkerboard, Thelonious strips breaking the pattern.<\/span><\/p>\n

Flag of Brazil stitched in with Jimi\u2019s bandana, <\/span>
Ludwig\u2019s cape speckled with bangles of Mariah. <\/span>
Renaissance madrigals scrawled on Springsteen denim,<\/span>
And still room for Louie\u2019s handkerchief.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tattered squares in the center, childhood photos, old man\u2019s cap, <\/span>
The well-oiled palm of a catcher\u2019s mitt, <\/span>
A faded letter from first love, still with her scent, <\/span>
A speeding ticket.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bring this quilt to the bandstand, unfurl it, let it be seen. <\/span>
Drape it over Cole\u2019s melodies, <\/span>
Spread it over Jerome\u2019s harmonies, <\/span>
Wrap it around Monk\u2019s rhythms.<\/span><\/p>\n

This quilt is all the things you are, <\/span>
And it belongs to everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n

_____________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Chapter 3 Jazz Is Freedom, But…<\/span><\/p>\n

You just learned a tune\u2014 or did you?<\/strong> How are you playing the melody? Do you take some rhythmic or melodic freedoms with it? After all, no one wants to hear a stiff version of the melody that comes out the same way each time. And what about the chord progression and the specific voicings that you use\u2014 do they vary each time? After all, jazz is about personal expression and spontaneity, isn\u2019t it?<\/span>
———–<\/span><\/p>\n

Harmonic Astronomy What is theory for?<\/strong> Jazz is best learned aurally. You imitate, transcribe, and play with musicians who are better than you, and you take it all in by ear and process it. What role does theory play in this scenario ? Strictly speaking, theory is simply an after-the-fact description of the sounds that you can learn directly by ear, so is it really of any use? Think of theory as scaffolding, as a structural foundation around which your ear can develop. It presents you with several pathways from which to choose, not with ironclad rules. It can introduce you to sounds earlier than through the use of a purely ear-based approach. I\u2019ve occasionally heard a young musician express distrust of theoretical knowledge , fearing that it will destroy the mystery and the magic of music for him. No one who has learned his theory feels this way. Read what Bill Evans had to say about this on page 285 . Questions \u201cHow do chords fit together?\u201d \u201cWhich scales work over chords for improvising?\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s the best way to memorize a tune?\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s the best way to transpose a tune?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Here it is, the Key to Being a Great Accompanist: In order to accompany another musician well, you must genuinely want to hear his or her music.<\/strong> That may sound simplistic, but it\u2019s amazing to me how many fine musicians never learn it. If you don\u2019t particularly care to hear what the other musician has to express, you won\u2019t listen in the right way and you won\u2019t accompany him or her well. In part, you need to function exactly as a member of the audience who just wants to hear every note, every idea, every nuance that the musician plays. If you don\u2019t feel that way, then you\u2019ll approach your accompanying role as a separate function in the music. You\u2019ll focus on your own concerns, and the music will not blend. Years ago I learned a great lesson about accompanying bass solos by listening to an otherwise top-notch pianist do it badly. He played very softly and sparsely, which is usually the right approach. In fact, he hardly played at all; yet when he did, it was often at just the wrong time. He managed to cover up many of the bass player\u2019s best ideas. He was thinking of the music as piano comping, not as a bass solo. Accompanying another musician is a high art. It requires tremendous control over one\u2019s musical resources to be able to listen closely to sozmeone else while playing supportively behind him or her. Listen to the pianists who played with Miles in the fifties and sixties, from Red Garland and Wynton Kelly, to Bill Evans, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock : they were all first-rate compers. Listen to what pianists do behind singers: Tommy Flanagan behind Ella Fitzgerald, Jimmy Rowles behind Sarah Vaughan,<\/span><\/p>\n

Part IV Ways to Develop Your Improvising<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a fellow here in town by the name of Zass who always goes by his first initial, Y. Mr. Y. Zass is a jazz aficionado of sorts, but the local jazz musicians cringe when he walks in the club. You see, Y. is very knowledgeable about music, knows what he wants to hear, and is remarkably willing to share his criticism of your playing (to your face) at every opportunity. <\/span><\/p>\n

Several years ago he called me over after a set. \u201cSo, Randy,\u201d he began, \u201chere\u2019s what I\u2019m hearing: your solos have all these holes in them\u2014\u2018 rests,\u2019 I think you call them\u2014 and they all line up with the shifts in the harmony. Every time there\u2019s a change of key, your improvising stops for a beat or two. So I\u2019m thinking, \u2018Is he choosing these rests based on what sounds best, or is it just because he can\u2019t make the transitions into the new keys smoothly?\u2019 So I don\u2019t trust your phrasing decisions. What do you have to say about that?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

I just shook my head, thanked Y. Zass for his input, and walked away. But as I drove home that night, I realized that he had nailed me: I wasn\u2019t making my transitions. So I cooked up an exercise for myself and called it the endless 8th drill. Simply put, I improvised through a set of changes using eight 8th notes in every bar. I took special care not to hesitate at the seams between the scales. Even if I had to miss a few notes, I kept my fingers moving. Actually I didn\u2019t miss too many notes because I took the drill at a very slow tempo so I could look ahead to the next scale. First I practiced the exercise over the random II- V chart ( page 303 in the appendix). Then I applied it to standard tunes such as “It Could Happen to You.”\u00a0It took a while, but after a few weeks I was shifting from scale to scale with relative ease.<\/span><\/p>\n

A few months later, I looked up from the piano and saw Y. at a nearby table, sporting his familiar scowl. \u201cListen here,\u201d he said to me on the break, \u201cyou got that problem fixed\u2014 big deal. Now you\u2019ve got another problem: it\u2019s called \u2018tonic fixation.\u2019 Why is it that your first note over a II-V-I in Bb is always Bb? Sure , you don\u2019t rest anymore as you make the transition into E minor , but your first note is always E. Is that a musical choice? Are you\u00a0hearing that note? I don\u2019t think so. I think you\u2019re just scuffling to make the changes, and the one note that you can count on until your mind fully engages is the tonic. So how about that?\u201d What could I say? He had me again. The next day I began working on ……….<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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“Metaphors for the Musician” (Perspectives from a Jazz Pianist) \u00a0$35.95 Random excerpts from book \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Chapter 1 \u00a0–\u00a0Jazz Quilt This quilt is you, it\u2019s all the things you are. Jimmy Rowles on the corner, talking shop with Frishberg. Miles of squares of Miles, cool blue, no wrinkles, offsetting Trane\u2019s sheets of sound. Bebop checkerboard, Thelonious strips breaking the pattern. Flag of Brazil stitched in with Jimi\u2019s bandana, Ludwig\u2019s cape speckled with bangles of Mariah. Renaissance madrigals scrawled on Springsteen denim,And still room for Louie\u2019s handkerchief. Tattered squares in the center, childhood photos, old man\u2019s cap, The well-oiled palm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"page-templates\/page-left-column.php","meta":{"spay_email":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P4l8kt-w5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/worldjazzscene.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1989"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/worldjazzscene.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/worldjazzscene.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/worldjazzscene.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/worldjazzscene.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1989"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/worldjazzscene.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2004,"href":"http:\/\/worldjazzscene.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1989\/revisions\/2004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/worldjazzscene.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}