MSJ 2009, Melody, Yoga & Monette B2

It's been a while since my last posting and I had hoped to avoid that. Unfortunately (or fortunately) life gets in the way. The good news is even though I have not been updating the site I have been really good with regards to practice and working on things. I hit a bump in the road about a week ago when I came down with the flu but I've since recovered and I'm doing just fine. I've a got a few things to update everyone on.

As mentioned in my last entry I attended the Maryland Summer Jazz program this year. It was really good. The instruction was top notch just as I expected and I've got a book full of notes containing things I need to work on. I also met a lot of great people who I hope to stay in contact with in the future.

Every day we played with a new combo and teacher which was different from my experience at Aebersold. In Aebersold we stayed with the same teacher and players for the entire week. Both approaches have a plus side. Staying with the same teacher and students allow the combo to really gel and the teachers can get more familiar with your playing. Working with different teachers and playing with different players/instruments keeps things fresh. It's also great to get feedback and suggestions from different instructors who specialize on other instruments. My last two teachers were rhythm section cats and I always love to hear direction/advice from the backbone of a good jazz group.

One of my main reasons for attending MSJ 2009 was the chance to work with Ingrid Jensen. As many who follow this site know, she is one of my favorite players and I had the pleasure of taking a lesson with her a few years ago. She did not disappoint at this workshop. The trumpet specific classes were really good and Ingrid gave us ideas for practicing and familiarizing ourselves with different keys. The focus was more on finding things with your ears, exploring sound and just getting into the process. It's a much more organic approach than "play this chord/scale" over this change and honestly -- it really appealed to me. It also made me understand why she sounds so fresh and spontaneous when she plays. We also spent a lot of time talking about playing the trumpet and some of the exercises we can do daily to strengthen our chops and improve our sound. I also took some time to talk equipment with her and I'll discuss that a little later.

My teacher for my final combo class was Tony Martucci. I have to say that of all the teachers I worked with -- I enjoyed Tony the most. He was funny and offered great feedback. He also showed us several different ways to make standard tunes more exciting by creating different intros, adding different endings, splitting the head between different instruments... things to grab the listener's attention. We prepared two songs for the final concert -- Blue Bossa and Chelsea Bridge. Both were really good but Tony picked Chelsea Bridge as our performance song. For the intro - he had me play a small riff over the melody in the back of the concert hall (in the kitchen). This was a nice effect because no one expected it. I thought the group did a great job and we were very well received. The changes on Chelsea Bridge were crazy so I abandoned trying to read chords and used my ear. It turned out pretty good.

The three days went by very quickly! It was a great experience and I hope to attend again. Hats off to Jeff Antoniuk for putting this together and making it better each and every year. I can't wait to see what 2010 holds!

Normally when I practice tunes I tend to improvise and just look at the chord changes. On a good day I'll hear all sorts of new ideas and actually be able to pick them out on my horn. Normally however I am guilty of just plugging in licks or patterns that I've been working on. Not exactly the kind of jazz I want to present in public (or the practice room).

Recently I've made myself improvise by sticking close to the main melody. I will either change the rhythm or add a grace note or two here and there. I was amazed at how mature it made my playing sound. As a result I've made a habit of trying to go back to the melody several times during my solo. All the great players did it -- John Coltrane's solo on "Stella by Starlight" (58' Miles) is a great example as he sticks almost entirely to the main melody.  You can't tell me that isn't beautiful...

Of course it sounds obvious when I write about melody but I know that I and several other players that I've heard almost always abandon the melody completely once they finish playing the head. When I do a mix of improvisation integrated with melody I feel like I sound my best. Your mileage my vary...

Speaking of John Coltrane -- Happy 83rd Birthday JC!

Your eyes do not deceive you. I said yoga and I'm completely hooked on it. I will admit that my interest started out for breathing purposes. I attended a few classes specifically to learn how to breath when doing yoga and honestly -- it didn't stick. I stumbled through the poses and struggled for a long time and thought maybe it wasn't for me. I think this was because my mind was in the wrong place. It wasn't until I focused on yoga did the breathing become more natural and it has started to creep into my trumpet playing.  If you are not familiar with yoga and the three part breath here is a brief summary. This method is also described in a book called Breathing Your Way to Greater Artistry by Cal Price. For me however, the connection was not really made until I started to practice yoga regularly. The funny thing is practicing yoga has me more in tune with my body and I'm making excellent strides to take better care of it. That will definitely help my trumpet playing!

I have to send a very, very special thanks to my yoga teacher and good friend Dana Smith-Rogers at Spiritual Essence Yoga. I probably would have quit long ago without her direction and encouragement.  Her studio locations are in Upper Marlboro, Maryland but you can purchase her DVDs by clicking on the banner below. I recommend both volumes!  Not only will you improve your breathing but your health.  It's a great workout.

Again, if you focus on the yoga -- the breathing will come naturally. Don't put the cart before the horse like I did.

I got to spend time talking to Ingrid Jensen about her equipment during Maryland Summer Jazz.  If you have never heard her play before she has a very unique and personal sound.  Like Miles Davis she is one of the few players that I've heard that has a nice "vocal" quality in her tone.  She sounds like a trumpet of course -- but it has more of a singing feel and I love it.  While Ingrid has always had this sound regardless of the equipment she uses, she recently changed over to Monette mouthpieces on trumpet and flugelhorn.  I can't remember the exact specs but they are fairly large diameter pieces with deep cups.  Prior to the Monette she was playing on something closer to a 7C.

In my last post I spoke of my Monette B4S.  While I was happy with it I found it to be far too bright -- especially when I venture above the staff.  After talking to her I was encouraged to give my Monette B2 a try and after two months I am very happy with it.  I suffered a bit with regards to range and endurance but that is slowly starting to improve.  I think it's worth the effort to make the change and I'm planning to stick with it.  I have to add that my new relaxed way of breathing (yoga!) really helped the transition and makes things easier.

The interesting thing is when I first started playing trumpet 10 years ago both teachers suggested I play on something closer to a 1 1/4C or 1 1/2C after watching me play for a few minutes.  Maybe I should have listened because I'm loving life right now.

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