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Hey in our new spirit of openess and sharing in the Recordings forum - I was feeling quite inspired after checking out a nice jam by Damian Erskine yesterday - he's a brilliant player if you haven't already checked him out - anyway I just thought "sod the fancy production values let's just record the kind of thing I might play of a morning" - and this is what came out - it's far from perfect but I'm just trying ideas and pushing myself all ofver the place... I kind of like it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTUmVFiIIxA If anyone else wants to share their improvised jams then go right ahead - be great to see what other stuff might be lurking out there Cheers Mike

It sounds great Nige - kind of Scott Thunes plays a jazz ballad - now that's compliment if I ever gave one - a famous jazz piano player said something like "improvising is literally about having the courage to go from one note to the next" - after that you've cracked it. I think the one defining aspect of jazz is improvisation and in reality the more you know and have at your finger tips, the more freely 'in theory' you can do this - but as has been extensively argued on BC technical ability/theory knowledge is not a substitute for originality, a powerful sound and expressive, emotional playing. I think your solo had a mix of all of these things - in spite of your protestations about not knowing any theory your ear is actually good enough to tell what works and what doesn't and one of the things I enjoyed most was a 'wrong' not then resolving to a 'right' one - if you know what I mean - that sounded ace. Anyway fearlessness is the way forward and I too am feeling particularly fearless with my playing too right now - leaping into the unknown and knowing you will land just fine if you trust your instincts is what making real music is all about... yay!

Pinned this mutha-bee-atch - hope that's cool y'all

Hi Mark Just wanted to say Ireally enjoyd your new BB fast take - you nailed that - really engaging solo and all points present and correct - well done man - and Rob I'll have a listen to your slow version later - gotta work now! Cheers Mike

[quote name='mcgraham' timestamp='1318778934' post='1406083'] Thanks Mike, I appreciate it. I was very much trying to play for the piece and maintaining the integrity of how chilled that was rather than make it into something it was not, which may well have resulted in a more subdued solo than the Giant Steps rendition. I like how burpy an growly your fretless tone is on the recording! I think some of it was the chorus and the reverb but it really brought out the character of the bass. One thing that did stand out to me was the 'blooming' of the notes, which sounds great on the longer note values, but this meant that a lot of the faster passages had a substantial volume drop and just seemed to drop out of earshot compared to held notes. I'm not sure whether a compressor at least on the final recording would help with that, but I would've liked to be able to pick out the phrasing in the faster passages a bit better. I've listened back a few more times before posting, and you know what... I'm really hearing Tom Kennedy in your playing! I don't know whether that's intentional, but the sound and the phrasing (particularly the flowing feeling between 1.35 and 1.55) reeeeally really reminds me of Kennedy's electric bass sound and style. It's got that fluidity and relaxed elements, but enough space and feel to lock in... for that, my hat is tipped to you! I can also hear the bold melodic phrasing you were talking about, particularly at the beginning, as that segues from the bassline to the solo nicely, and then you can hear how it builds (particularly towards that portion from 1.35-1.55) then segues back into more restrained playing, then back into the bassline... so overall a really pleasing progression with a discernable shape from beginning to middle to end. Though I wouldn't have said anything melodic struck me with a 'wow' factor, I do really like that as a piece of music. Well done! I've found a link to a few faster versions so I'll throw one together later. Mark [/quote] Cool man thanks - re Tom Kenedy I really love his playing but any similarity here is purely coincidental - I guess the thing I was feeling earlier when I played this was sort of about remembering the momentum having a real drummer (as opposed to a loop or backing track) playing behind you is that they always give you a musical kick up the behind, but they also help give you some more elasticity in your rhythmic phrasing etc - anyway I guess some of the things that came out in my solo were obviously drawn from lots of the stuff I've played/practiced/heard from lots of other players - I also like your comment about it being "a piece of music" - I think it's all too easy when playing jazz to fall back on the theory and forget about what the listener might be hearing - so it's often a good idea to 'forget' all the technical/theorehtical stuff and just play what you are feeling - that said the perfect balance mentally is when the theory knowledge kicks in from time to time but doesn't overtake where you ears and the vibe of the song is taking your improvisation. Willis again says he likes to play when he's a bit sleepy as he's less inclined to 'over think' what he's playing - I was pretty knackered this morning when I played this solo but I was still feeling the music from the night before - it's not perfect but I'm happy with the 'intention' behind what I played - it's not always right but some days you hit the flow and that when all this stuff comes together. The secret is separating practicing music and making music - there is a big difference - the latter is all about following your instincts and totally committing yourself - mistakes and all - to the cause of creating something worth listening to! I'm loving this new way of compairing and contrasting jazz solos etc - if anyone else wants to join in please do - it's what we should have been doing a long time ago quite frankly. Good work guys Mike

Hey Mark - just listening to your version again and there's some lovely phrasing in there - I stand by my comments from before but it's a very nice solo overall - I think you could go for it a bit more but you actually did a very good job of playing for the 'mood' of the backing without being over indulgent - good work - why not try the faster one as well - I can send you the MP3 if you like - let me know.

Well I just played a brilliant gig last night at the Pizza Express jazz club in Soho with my nine-piece jazz funk band - it all cae together beautifully and there was some ferocious playing going on from some of the horn players and the rhythm section was burning it was sooo much fun - plus is was rammed and the crowd loved it... so I'm still feeling a little buzzy from that today. I only mention this as I still have a lot of the horn players phrasing floating around my ears - so here's my realtively off the off cuff attempt at Blue Bossa - this was a single take - but I decided to start and end with the bass line as like I said on this thread earlier I think it helps contextualise the start and end of a bass solo - I think I probably went on one chorus too long but really just tried to play honestly and instinctively and really vary rhythm and dynamics and the 'STFU' after a few chorus - hope you like it - let me know what you think. Cheers Mike http://soundcloud.com/munkio/blue-bossa-fretless-bass-solo

Rob - I realy liked most of that - the guitar work in spite of being slightly out of tune was great, I actually thought you soloed better on the guitar *eeek!* - but the bass work was great too - could have been a bit freer though and more fluid - I'm sure you solo less rigidly on a gig, this is a weird 'bedoroom' or 'office' in my case situation - anyway all good and thanks for posting - see my latest effort below.

Hey Mark It sounds good overall - my constructive advice/criticism would be that overall - in spite of great technique etc - I would say there's a feeling of hesitancy in your playing that sounds like you are being overaly cautious - Dizzy Gillespie famously said 'don't let a few wrong notes get in the way of a good solo' and that would be my advice to you is give your playing a bit more conviction - I like the tones and the chords but for me you could take a phrase and develop it and build up to the faster lick-type stuff. All those classic bits of advice like tell a story or give you solo a narrative arc - so that you start and end strongly with some bold melodic phrases - will help. Gary Willis has also said you need to practice coming out of your solo and switching back into 'bass mode' is also something worth bearing in mind - I say all these things as it's all stuff I'm working on too. Lastly I'd say it's all very well going "this is a single take just like on a jam session" but in actual fact on a jam you would have been playing the bass line for 5 minutes or whatever before you solo, so in a way you would already be warmed up into the structure of the song and more importantly the groove. I really don't have a problem with you warming up and getting into the vibe of the tune, even submitting a third or fourth take if that's when you really hit your stride on it - this stuff takes a hell of a lot of practice before it all starts to come together - and I've had plenty of jam session 'fails' too where I just wasn't on it at all - or other times where I've done stuff that surprised even me... so I wouldn't put yourself in too much of an artificial situation - get into the tune and really get the creativity flowing - te deeper I've dug into a tune the better the results - sometimes that means expelling the excess note-age before really getting the heart of the matter Hope all that's cool - I'll try and post something soon too Cheers Mike

This will be an immense gig - he's literally taking stuff like the exact transcription of Donna Lee but then adding full brass parts on different bits of it, likewise Used To Be A Cha Cha and loads of other stuff that's rarely played will be getting the full Cottle big band treatment... should be amazing And re Laurie's general lack of self promo it's mainly because he doesn't really have to do it - he plays with Maceo P a lot at the moment, Pee Wee Ellis, Gareth Williams, Claire Martin, Mark Nightingale, and a bunch of others - he's a busy guy but really only plays under his own name with the big band. If you can see them you really will be blown away, the whole band are amazing but they have to be to play Laurie's charts, one trumpet player I know who plays with them said "it's a complete roast".

[quote name='Chris2112' timestamp='1311612005' post='1316007'] Awesome stuff Mike. Love the solo and your tone is great. I've seen that your old Thumb has come up for sale on the boards. I loved that bass, sounded awesome with the Schack preamp in it. Almost tempted to buy it myself! [/quote] Thanks Chris - I just checked out the for sale thread with my old bass on - brings back a lot of good memories... loved that bsss - kind of love my current ones more now... oh well Glas you enjoyed the video too M

In answer to your post Rob - I just do this stuff for fun - the actual music I enjoy listening to and making/writing/recording has pretty much nothing to do with shredding standards - I actually think I'm pretty crap a playing this stuff compared to hard core jazzers - I'm having a go, if nothing else I do this stuff to achieve a greater level of technical freedom - but when I want to write my own music I follow my heart not my head - but it's nice to have the technical backup to compose and improvise at will. As an aside I am currently finishing off a new album with a singer and various musicians - its really exciting music which is influenced by jazz but lots of other things as well - can't wait until I can let you guys hear it - it's the complete opposite of these shredding/shedding videos!

[quote name='mcgraham' timestamp='1318501089' post='1402850'] As a suggestion for a first piece, how do you guys feel about 'Blue Bossa'? [/quote] Go for it - I would suggest that as you commented before as some of the backing tracks can seem to go on for an eternity, that if you just want to play two or three choruses maximum then feel free to edit things down - obviously if you play a long solo which keeps evolving then let it run.

[quote name='mcgraham' timestamp='1318426196' post='1401990'] Would you guys be up for exchanging takes every so often? For example, once a week/fortnight/month, whatever is convenient we name a piece and we each post up our own take at that piece? [/quote] Sounds good to me - except I am a little hesitant to post them via Youtube as I try and exercise a little quality control on my own channel - I don't mind sharing stuff here for the sake of exchanging ideas etc - I think we can upload movie clips via the new Basschat CMS can't we? Obviously they don't have to be video I guess - in principal it sounds cool. Mike

Hey Rob - that's the point of this tune I think - it's all about solving this 'problem' changes at tempo - it's a bugger... re the Aebersold playalongs - I just found one that's at a tempo I like, the one I'm playing along with in the video, there's a very slow one which is cool but a bit too slow, and then there's a horribly fast one that is so ridiculously fast that it kills any kind of enjoyment in trying to play this tune 'musically' and becomes all about speed - which is BS in my book - no one I know or have heard play GS in the recent past plays it THAT fast, there's no point - Gary Willis plays it beautifully (of course) but it's no faster than the one I posted - listen to the master at work here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApNclh-3Pak

"What rehearsal...? oh, I thought it was next week."

All good Rob, I agree about not having the time or energy to really put in the hours to completely get on top of this tune - there's more to life than Giant Steps! Which is why I recorded this video when I felt I was more in the zone than usual - anyway don't worry about posting something you've nothing to prove as a player, I guess nor have I but hey it's fun to try this stuff - I find the whole bebop side things hard to really sound fluid on but I'm not going to stress over it :-)

[quote name='mcgraham' timestamp='1318084129' post='1397939'] Right - done a take. One take, no overdubs, bass set flat, no eq on anything. Some bits I really like, some bits not so keen on, couple of flubs, but overall I like the take It's what I would've done if shoved into a jam situation with no notice. let me know what you think, positive and negative are welcome as we're all friends here! [url="http://soundcloud.com/mcgrahamhk/giant-steps-mcgraham"]http://soundcloud.co...-steps-mcgraham[/url] [/quote] Firstly the bass sounds wicked - first time I've heard you W&T beast and I like it - lovely modern tone with character - the sign of a good custom instrument for sure - secondly some bits a really good but ironically I think it's where you start burning at double time when you sound your most confident and your playing is at its strongest - the weaker bits for me were the melodic ideas and obviously where you took a few bars out to decide what to do next, obviously this is what I do most of the time when I'm practicing! You can obviously play and have superb technique - some of the melodic bits were really lovely but I didn't feel they then connected to something afterwards, you just switched from playing half time phrases to serious burning lines - if you can build some phrases to connect these to ideas then you're onto a winner... overall well done for posting something - it's a bugger of a tune to really know what to do with - I find even Coltrane's original a bit robotic, while the rest of the band are kind of trailing in his wake - as they all found it so hard to be creative with it. One of the best versions I've ever heard played by a bassist is on an album by an fantastic player called Frode Berg, the album's called Dig It! - it's well worth checking out as he plays it in 7/4 and then tears the backside out of the solo on 6 string - it's amazing: [url="http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sir-nuke/id285576988?i=285577048"]http://itunes.apple....988?i=285577048[/url] The funnny thing is Frode is now in one of the best new piano trios around today from Norway called the Helge Lein Trio - where he plays upright bass all the time and hardly ever solos - Check out the album Hello Troll it's really good: http://www.ozellamusic.com/366.0.html TBH I think everyone has a Giant Steps phase and it's a tune we all love to hate but still want to play - so kudos to Coltrane for kicking our butts all these years later! Good work on posting something - I would love to hear more of your playing/music - you sound great. Mike

Having said all that I'm still not very good at it!

[quote name='mcgraham' timestamp='1318060547' post='1397649'] Out of interest, what do you tend to do/think of when approaching the changes? [/quote] I've increasinly tried to use a more 'cell' based approach to getting around scales/arppegios and that involves playing a lot of 6ths, 3rds and 4ths, then I tend to focus on common tones between the keys to link ideas - I'm also trying to play more stuff in one position, or move up and down the neck on just one string again trying to link each idea chromatically. Then other times I just try and play with phrasing kind of floating other changes, or just take one lick/idea and keep it moving through all the chords/scales... all the usual stuff really - I've seen a couple of other really great performances of this tune which combines lots of other ideas - it's just endless really - I need to go and shed some more now! Thanks for watching and checking it out - and I'd love to hear some of your stuff sometime - please post something too Cheers Mike

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1318059871' post='1397643'] You notice I don't post my own version [/quote] Well yeah I think the problem with this tune is that no matter how great I play it I'll be forever compared to X, Y or Z's version of - most like Pattitucci's though - so while I do appreciate the criticism a). I'd love to hear how you'd do all the things you suggest, and I'm just having a go... not all solos recorded in a 'home studio' environment are going to have the proper context of a real 'live' recording where if I was playing with a keyboard player and drummer etc I'd have other musical elements to respond to - hence the much needed space I should have added here would in theory be far more present - however pretty much all the other versions of Giant Steps I hear people play very much tend to follow this non-stop blowing template - so there you go. However I would say that I've already learnt a load of new things just from recording this and analysing my playing on this video and believe me I can hear what's good and bad - though it's certainly much better than I could play it a year ago for sure. I'd also add creating something truly poetic/musical in isolation with the red light on is tough, I just thought hey this is OK, let's see what others think... I hear all the criticism and I will continue working on these changes until I'm very old and grey, this was a snapshot of where I'm at now with them - hope that's cool with y'all

All good Rob - I totally agree with all that you say - this isn't really the best tune to do all that stuff on - though that sounds like an excuse - the downside of playing GS is you set yourself up for a fall for all the reasons you mention - even at a nice tempo the unrelenting changes tend to force me down certain strategies to get around the chords, I guess the main thing I fell like I achieved here was to stay relaxed and on top of the changes, but I feel I'd rather write my own more elegant less frantic changes to blow over... anyway thanks for the honest criticism it's very helpful.

Indeed - I have good days and bad days on this tune - I think this was one of the better ones, I wouldn't have recorded it if I was struggling with it - it's a hard tune to make 'musical' as you really don't get a lot of time to 'breathe' but I tried to do that here a bit more and play less runs and just follow my ear/instincts without getting too technical... it's a hard balance to get but at least my fretless has such a nice tone I can let that 'do the talking' sometimes - anyway let me know what you think - it's all still work in progress as they say... Cheers Mike

Hey folks I've been pretty busy of late so not had a lot of time for hanging on BC, thankfully I've been gigging and recording a bit and shedding a little too - so just thought I'd share my latest attempt at playing the old Coltrane changes - I have to admit it;s taken me a long time to feel comfortable on them and they're still very challenging but I think I'm slowly getting there - and I love playing my fretless... hope you enjoy and let me know what you think <br><br> Cheers <br><br> Mike <br><br> [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAjMEyIL3C8[/media]