Chapter 1: Melodic Techniques in Jazz Improvisation Improvisation
This is a book about understanding, understandin g, developing and incorporating the art of melody m elody into jazz improvisation. The two questions that come up immediately - ! what is a melody?!, and ! what is melodic improvising? ! - lead me to begin with with a definition of melody and of melodic playing, and then to present an overview of the topics that I"ll address - the compositional techniques of melody writing, those aspects of a solo which lead us to think of it as melodic, and how to apply them. I"d also like to offer a short list of those soloists whom I consider to be quite melodic in order to establish e stablish a frame of reference.
A Definition of Melody and Melodic Melod ic Improvising The term melodic improvising seems at first to be redundant, but on second glance reveals itself to be a very appropriate category within the broad spectrum of jazz improvisation. Given the four basic elements of music - rhythm, melody, harmony and tone color - the improvised line most clearly falls under the category of melody, although not always, and not on every instrument or in every solo. Although the boundaries between these four elements tend to blur at the edges, we can still distinguish separate approaches to improvising based on them. Harmonic improvising, on the piano, guitar, bass or vibraphone, downplays the importance of the single melodic line in favor of the creation of harmonic color and flow, and is usually found as an episode within a solo. Rhythmic improvising, while certainly a drummer"s art, is a significant element of many horn, piano, guitar and bass solos # Sonny Sonny Rollins comes to mind immediately! $ $. While one can"t really define tone color improvisation, manipulation of tone color for expressive effect adds nuance to many soloists " work. Guitarists and keyboardists use electronics, pianists use the pedals and their touch, bassists use fingers, bows and other objects, and horn players use mutes and other techniques to expressively alter their tone. So, back to the point, what is melodic improvising? To answer that question, let"s look at several definitions and descriptions of melody to understand what it is and identify how it functions as the central element in jazz improvisation. My Collins English Dictionary defines melody as !a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence; tune !. The New College Encyclopedia of Music has a much longer definition that defines melody as !a succession of single musical sounds. The factors which determine the character and effect of a melody are its Mode, its Rhythm, and its Contour. % Aaron Copland, in his book What to Listen for in Music, points out that the idea of melody is associated with emotion, and that while the power a good melody has over us is clear, ! we cannot even say ... what constitutes a good melody.! Finally, my thesaurus includes tunefulness, euphony, mellifluence and harmoniousness # to to which I would add lyrical $ as words related to melody. Every improvised solo is in itself a melody, being a succession of notes, yet that alone won"t make it melodic. The modes, intervals and contours of each phrase in any solo are the elements defining it melodically, but since every phrase, strong or weak, has these elements, they don"t make a solo melodic by themselves, either. That characteristic of good melodies to which Copland refers is the emotional impact of the line and its lyricism and tunefulness. By analyzing good melodies and melodic solos we can develop a set of techniques and approaches that, when musically applied, will lead to melodic improvising which rises above licks, tricks, riffs, clich &s and change-running, connecting with us and our audiences emotionally as well as intellectually. During the course of working on this book colleagues and friends have asked me things like, 'Do you consider a solo melodic if it is fast, or has a lot of notes? %, and, 'does it
have to be slow to be melodic?% I want to state here at the beginning that I don(t feel melodicism is necessarily tied to how slow or fast a tune is, or how many notes a player uses, or if they play fast or with many longer note values. To me, melodicism is a quality that is separate and distinct from these other attributes; it is the characteristic in a solo that lifts the improvisation from being merely a well-played collection of lines, runs, riffs, arpeggios and gestures to a higher state of artistic expression, and is therefore to be found in music of any tempo, style, density, mood or instrumentation. It does appear to be easier to be melodic at slower tempos, but there are so many wonderful and memorable solos and melodies at blazing tempos that I do not believe tempo or note density to be a melodically disqualifying factor. It is very important at the outset of this book to discuss the impact of how a phrase is played. We (ve all heard that expression, 'It(s not what you say but how you say it%, and the same idea applies directly to music. Dynamics, articulation, accents, and nuances of tone, pitch, feel and rhythm create such startlingly intense contrasts in music that their importance cannot be overstated. When we speak, every word is imbued, both consciously and unconsciously, with nuance that enhances the meaning of the words and phrases. We naturally talk with nuance, and even our body joins in the expressive gesture. We respond to these nuances on a level different than that which merely comprehends the language, and the sum of these levels of expression is what we use to communicate. In music, the very same process applies - we respond and react deeply to the subtle and not-so-subtle nuances of the performers, not merely to the notes and rhythms that they choose. We communicate emotion through the harmonic, melodic and rhythmic aspects of a composition, of course, but the nuances a performer gives to the music can radically alter the feeling of a performance. Because of the power inherent in the expressiveness that we apply to what we play, our melodicism depends in large part on how we play what we play, a good example of the importance of form over content.
Melody, a natural gift Creating melody is an innate and natural human ability, and the modern tendency in jazz toward intellectual, technical approaches to studying and improvising can block us from fully realizing our native gifts. The richness of melody in ethnic musics from all corners of the globe attests to our natural musical potentials, especially considering that most of it was written or improvised by !unschooled! musicians. A friend of mine was actually transcribing the songs his 2 year old son would sing upon awakening in the morning because they were completely original and sincere melodies. This intuitive melodic gift is something that we can all connect with regardless of our level of educational training, and it creates the passion and emotional depth in all great music. I "ve always felt that the greatest jazz soloists brought together the intellectual and the intuitive aspects of their musicianship, and that both elements are primary in the process of improvising. Charlie Parker alluded to this wedding of the intuitive and the intellectual in his famous quote about learning everything that you could and then forgetting it all and just playing. Consider the emotional power and ability to connect with audiences that many unschooled musicians bring to rock, R&B, folk and ethnic musical styles # and jazz, too, although self-taught jazz players were more common in the earlier part of the 20th century than now $. Without a doubt these musicians are intuitively applying many of the same techniques and approaches that schooled musicians analyze, extract and use, but for purely instinctive reasons. There is a temptation for schooled musicians to play something because they know that it ! works! rather than to let the inner hearing abilities that they have cultivated # their !ear!$ guide their choices.
Melodic Improvisers The recorded history of jazz provides us with many notable examples of melodic
improvising, and we can even define a number of soloists as being purely melodic improvisers. Some of those soloists who strove for melody most clearly in their solos are Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Lester Young, Ornette Coleman, Johnny Hodges, Chet Baker, Paul Desmond and Jan Garbarek. Other players I consider to be very melodic are listed in the Appendix. All of these musicians often approached their improvising in a way that emphasized the melodic over the rhythmic, harmonic or tone color elements of music, and there are similarities to their approaches from which we can distill essential principles for utilizing the art of melody in jazz solos. I don"t want to give the impression that the melodic qualities that these musicians demonstrate automatically makes them better than those whose solos emphasized other elements more often # even though this list comprises some of the most influential jazz musicians of all time $. Copland notes that !composers are far from equally gifted as melodists. Nor should their music be valued solely according to the richness of their melodic gifts.! The focus of this book is on the melodic, therefore that is our priority.
An Overview In the chapters following, I will describe, discuss, analyze and compare techniques from both the improvisational and the compositional perspectives, because I feel that the two are mutually enriching for the jazz soloist. The topics that I will cover include the materials of melody, techniques of melodic development, thinking compositionally, melodic sources, diatonicism and chromaticism, and the interrelationships between melodic soloing and accompaniment. Additionally there is an appendix listing great melodies by jazz and classical composers and excellent examples of well-known and lesser-known melodic jazz solos. I have included musical examples throughout the text to illustrate the principles and techniques, and the accompanying CD will give you the opportunity to try out some of these ideas in your own solos as well as to hear melodic improvising demonstrations in different contexts .
