I am FINALLY posting a new sound file.  This is a short recording of me playing “Maiden Voyage” on flugelhorn.  As usual, don’t look for crazy pyrotechnics and Freddie Hubbard runs.  As with all my improv – I closed my eyes and let my ears guide me.  Sometimes I nailed the stuff I heard in my head but most of the time I only caught fragments of it.  Technical studies that are securely in my bag of tricks will come out naturally this way.  I still feel there is some new stuff here – a wider variety of intervals and in my opinion a better overall jazz sound/style/articulation.  Did I mention that I love playing flugelhorn?  It just feels right on this tune…

One thing that I thought was really cool about my solo was the first few bars (after the head).  Without thinking about it I quoted a fragment of George Coleman’s solo from Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage.  I remember that part of my solo screaming at me more than anything.  I haven’t listened to that CD in ages and went back to revisit it AFTER making this recording.  When I heard it I laughed out loud.  I really got a kick out of that.  Like people say all the time – listen, listen, listen!

This weekend I took a few moments to look at my Aebersold Play-Along books.  I have a lot of them – Horace Silver, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan and a multitude of standard collections.   The sad thing is I can only play the heads over most of them.  Forget about soloing.  The play along that I plan to spend more time with however is good old Volume 54 (Maiden Voyage).  It occurred to me that there are some great tunes in this book – many of which I have yet to master.  I feel as if I need to be able to really work on these tunes before moving on to something else.

Over the next few months I plan to continue my work on scales, chords and patterns BUT I will work on these items with the goal of applying that material to tunes in Volume 54.  My teacher strongly stresses APPLICATION of jazz elements to actual tunes.  Another trusted source told me that if I only work on scales, chords and patterns I will become really good at playing scales, chords and patterns but not improvisation.  That all makes sense to me.

Don’t get me wrong — I will still spend a majority of my time learning my theory because it is an extreme weak point for me.  Immediately after drudging through that material, I will work on improvisation over songs or changes.  It is all equally important.