Singing solos is the key to improvising. Really?

Russell Letson

It seems to be true of any art or craft--what comes out is strongly related to what has gone in. I've spent my professional life using words: reading, writing, teaching reading and writing--and my writing is what it is because of the volume and range of my reading. I can turn a phrase or find the right word because my head is stocked with a lifetime's worth of examples that I can imitate, vary, or just steal. While every line or phrase might be technically unique, there is very little that is absolutely novel. That's the way language works. My wife's creative writing students, oddly enough, often resist reading as a part of their work--they think that "being creative" means somehow magically creating ex nihilo. But as one of her teachers once put it, you have to fill the hopper before you start to take stuff out.

Insofar as music is a language, the same principles apply. I'm not a nimble jazz soloist, but I'm more inventive and attentive at 75 than I was forty years ago because I kept filling the hopper that I started on thirty years before that. And everything went in: Bach, Beatles, Basie, even Steve Reich and Philip Glass. When I started playing out with good musicians, everything they did went in, too. Whether I'm comping or listening, the contents of that hopper is what forms my understanding.

Oh well, abstract thoughts on a Sunday morning in the middle of a pandemic. Too much time on my hands.

Lango-Django

Russell, this mere stripling of 68 years salutes you in your quest for musical mastery!

Music is like language, that is true.

But music is also like art.

And improvising, to me, is also a lot like... doodling.... in front of an audience.

I find the “doodles” of my Holy Trinity of Guitar which have been captured in recordings to be inspirational and legendary.

And of course I have spent many hours trying to ape them.

But when I’m out on a gig (that is, assuming that “gigging” ever happens again...?) and it’s my turn to share my doodles with the crowd, it ain’t Eddie or Django or Oscar who’s gonna have to play the guitar solo on some obscure jazz tune, it’s me!

I have read and seen documentaries about art forgers whose prodigious talents have fooled the experts into believing their paintings are the authentic works of famous artists...

https://magazine.artland.com/the-art-of-forgery-art-forgers-duped-world/

...but, as much as I admire the talent and technique of an artist who can create a fake Van Gogh, in the long run I would rather see them painting their own pictures...

Will

Russell Letson

Lango, my interest is in where the doodles come from--what constitutes "creativity" or "inventiveness" and eventually "improvisation." Allow me to start far away and sneak up on it.

When I was teaching writing, there was a consistent anxiety among my students about where "ideas" come from, and there was generally a notion that some people had a mysterious "gift" for "having ideas" and then for "putting them into words." They were confusing facility with the absolute and broadly-distributed ability to have ideas and reactions and to frame English sentences expressing them. They were having beginners' problems, one of which was not having a very large inventory of "ideas" to play with, plus not much experience in recognizing when they did have one of their own (even if it was to disagree with somebody else's).

I remember vividly how hard it was to write an undergrad class essay of my own devising (as distinct from responding to an essay-exam question)--and how I gradually came to recognize both the rhetorical and organizational formats available and the kinds of idea-generating machineries academic writers use. I imitated models. I stole and/or adapted propositions. I inverted arguments. I aped writing styles. I had stumbled across an ancient learning protocol: imitate and iterate. Imitation collects a body of actions. Iteration perfects their deployment. Add "vary" in between iterations and you have education in a bottle. (I suppose the parallel version would be "imitation, variation, iteration," though that doesn't address the relationships across the terms or exactly where "innovation" enters.)

I would argue that "art" (which I do not distinguish from "craft" as an activity) is mastered in the same way. What you do with the resulting facility or how good you are at it are separate questions.

Twang

I’ve very much enjoyed reading these comments. A lot to think about. Can’t help thinking how great this would be over a beer.

(don’t get carried away @Lango-Django !😉)

Jim Kaznosky

I actually took a facilitated at DiJ a few years back on this exact topic. we ent through a song where we just played a tune back to back with one instrument comping (note - not just playing GJ rhythm) and one instrument soloing and reversed. Then we put the instruments down and did the same exercise sans instruments singing the comps and the solos. The last round was to return to the instruments playing while singing both the comps and solo.

The most creative round was the singing sans instrument round. The last round found some soloists and compers following fingerings, but at least exploring some new ground. The least interesting round was the first, with licks and pre-learned ideas. It was one of the more outside of the box and fun classes I took at DiJ, rather than learning licks.

bbwood_98

@jim - super cool idea. Reminds me of a workshop I took years ago - warm up for the whole band - all clapping in time for a bit, then one person rotating clapping new ideas, then band reacting; start singing and clapping, then leaving the clapping and eventually grab instruments. All free; but with super open ears.

great stuff you all!

Singing for me is a way to communicate ideas (not that I'd ever do it in public lol!) to others; and to make sure I am hearing/owning ideas. Something I was checking out this morning was a guide tone line idea starting on upper extensions (9ths, #11ths, 13ths), and then repeating the idea with motivic development; super fun to sing- and really cool sounds can come on those tunes like Mabel's B section (chord alternation). Someday soon I'll post some video of this on some Social. Hell . . I might even sing it (yikes).

Cheers.

Ps. regarding Django singing - from what I can tell he was quite a capable singer, H. Rostaing talks about this in Dregni and Delaunay as their compositional process being Django on the bed with cigarettes and wine; and him transcribing the lines while Django sings them to him. (this would not surprise me in the least as almost all of the 'old' american jazzers I know can/could sing amazingly well (from Keter Betts, to Barry Harris, to the late Charlie Bird and Ellis Marsalis or Willie Akins they are all amazing singers, and could just translate it instantly to the instrument as well . . . inspiring, but aspirational . . . ).

B.

Chiefbigeasy

Your question bring two areas of inquiry to mind.

First, regarding singing solos. Go and find the video of the recently late Annie Ross singing "My Analyst Told Me," where she uses a famous solo (Charlie Parker? a little help), and sings lyrics to the melody. Talk about singing a solo. That's a wonderful extreme of what most of us can do when we scat, hum a tune, etc.

When I think of how I had to learn a guitar solo before modern technology and Soundslice, it was old school, lifting the needle off the album repeatedly, humming the part I was trying to learn, trying to figure out the notes on the guitar while humming it. To this day, even with the help of technology, I find it useful to be able to memorize the the melody of the solo in order to learn it effectively and efficiently, especially to get the timing and rhythm right. (Can you guess I can't read music?)

As for soloing, if you're having trouble coming up with ideas, go old school--pre-Django--and start with the knowing the melody of the tune all over the neck. Then, you can start fooling around with the melody, using parts of it, repeating parts, working off vamps inspired by it, quoting it at different spots. The more you do this, the more confident you feel about "having something to say." The net effect is your audience will still hear the melody somewhere in what you're playing--making it easier for them to follow and be attentive--and you will feel more confident soloing.

Twang

Some great advice here, many thanks!

BillDaCostaWilliams

Annie Ross singing "My Analyst Told Me," 

Title: Twisted.

Solo was Wardell Grey

bbwood_98

Great jazz vocal technique/idea called Vocalese. King Pleasure perhaps was the first, Lambert Hendricks and Ross for sure very important in this style.

Another great Wardell Grey (he was a heavy cat, and super unsung until quite recently) tune that has been turned into a vocalese is Jackie - Janis Siegel of the NY voices has recorded it and performs it.

NYC Vocalist Marion Cowlings also does a lot of this, and is a killer singer as well.

My wife has done several of these: Budo is on her record https://music.apple.com/us/album/eve-seltzer-terminal-swing-live-at-shapeshifter-lab/1088648749?uo=4&app=music

I'd love to see/hear some Django & other Gypsy jazz solos (Birelli anyone??) done like this?

Ben.