Long Tones: Are you practicing them effectively?

I recently stumbled across a video in YouTube with the title "The Only Long Tones Exercise You'll Ever Need". So naturally, I was curious to find out what that was. 

Although, it was a good exercise I did find flaws…

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The Importance of Composing in Improvisation

The topic of this audio is a subject I’ve spoken about with my peers as well as my students over the years. And that is the subject of composing. 

You see, throughout musical history, the musician / performer was…

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Playing over a Dominant 7th Chord

With this article/sound file / pdfs, I'd like to discuss and demonstrate some of the thinking and techniques I use when I'm faced with having to solo over a dominant 7th chord for an extended solo. 

In college, we often…

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Enclosures for Improvisation - Part One

A while back someone asked me about enclosures and how to practice them for improvisation. I had to first identify what was meant by "enclosures".  I realized that I've always referred to this technique as "encircling". 

What I would do…

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Improv Etude over "Cherokee"

This is a challenging Bebop standard from Ray Noble. Any improviser that wants to prove their worth must be able to play this standard, often at break-neck tempos. 

This improv etude will force you to use the whole range of…

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10 Ways To Improve Your Jazz Soloing

Everyone who works hard on improvising jazz comes to a point that they hit wall. They feel that their practicing is not helping their soloing anymore. They don't know what to practice anymore. They looking for inspiration but don't know…

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