Here is another improvisation sound file. I picked “Song for My Father” since it is basically a blues in F. I kept my ideas very simple but I think they sound fairly hip. I also tried to think about what I was going to play in advance rather than wandering like I did in my last Bb blues sound file. Click here to check out.
Did you ever notice that you sometimes get your best ideas when you are away from your instrument? This happens to me frequently. It will usually hit me when I’m on the train heading to work or while sitting at my desk working. I have music playing at all times and this tends to spark all sorts of ideas. The hard part is remembering those ideas when you get to the practice room. In many cases a musical idea can come and go so quickly and you will never know if it could develop into something special. After getting frustrated with this, I started calling my anwering machine at home to SING the idea into the phone. Of course everyone within ear shot thinks I’m wacked in the brain but hey… maybe I am! I don’t think a moment goes by when I’m not thinking about music.
Last night I had the pleasure of checking out Roy Hargrove at the Kennedy Center. It was a late show but man did Roy light it up. He brought some serious players with him including Mulgrew Miller on piano, Justin Robinson on Alto Sax and Willie Jones III on drums. Willie blew me away. The energy and fire that poured out of his set was amazing. Roy wowed the crowd and appeared to have a good time on stage. When he pulled out the flugelhorn a woman could not contain herself after he played a few notes. Hearing him on flugel was one of the main reasons why decided that I HAD to double when I started playing. As usual – I left the show with a new found inspiration to improve.
Looks like I will get my first opportunity to try improvisation with other musicians this coming Saturday. I’m going to sub for one of the other jazz master classes. To say that I am excited is an understatement. This for me is the first step forward and I hope it leads to more opportunities. I know I will learn something new and perhaps get a new direction to focus on when practicing on my own. Hopefully my next journal entry will be filled with positive stuff.