How Does Jazz Improvisation Work?

[00:03] Theory with Bob

[00:06] hey what's happening beautiful Geniuses

[00:07] Trumpeter Bobby Spellman here and if

[00:10] you're just getting into listening to or

[00:12] playing jazz music or you're interested

[00:14] in learning how to improvise on your

[00:15] instrument you may be asking yourself

[00:17] how does all this Jazz business work how

[00:20] much of the music is improvised versus

[00:21] written down what are the roles of each

[00:23] of the instruments in a jazz band and

[00:25] how is it possible that a bunch of

[00:27] musicians can all be creating music

[00:29] spontaneously without it sounding like

[00:31] total chaos well today I'm going to try

[00:33] to demystify the mechanics of jazz and

[00:36] try to shed some light on why it is such

[00:38] an exciting style of music to play and

[00:41] to listen to but in order to do so I'm

[00:43] going to need a Little Help from My

[00:45] Friends

[00:47] Julian Smith on the base

[00:50] Evan Hyde on the drums

[00:53] and Julia Chen on the piano

[00:56] and we're going to do a little

[00:57] demonstration of some of the mechanics

[00:59] of how a jazz performance works and

[01:02] plays through a little tune for you and

[01:04] have some fun so let's get started we're

[01:06] going to start out with the bass

[01:10] [Music]

[01:12] now the bass is the backbone of most

[01:14] Jazz groups

[01:16] the base has two very important jobs

[01:18] simultaneously

[01:20] first base player's job is to play the

[01:24] time usually in the form of a walking

[01:26] bass line

[01:27] consisting of mostly quarter notes and

[01:29] some Embellishments

[01:30] and the other thing the bass player does

[01:32] is establish the harmony by playing the

[01:35] root notes and connecting them with the

[01:39] chord tones and passing tones so the

[01:41] bass player is going to be playing the

[01:42] time while also holding down the harmony

[01:45] for the rest of the band

[01:47] and it's a big job

[01:51] but Julian's capable of it he's the guy

[01:53] are we gonna bring the drums now all

[01:54] right Evan come on in with the drums

[01:57] the drummer's job

[02:00] is to embellish the time and to interact

[02:02] with the soloists and with the melody

[02:04] in order to drive the music forward and

[02:06] give it a little bit more excitement

[02:09] Evan here is playing a typical swing

[02:12] pattern on the ride cymbal

[02:14] and holding down the two and four on the

[02:16] hi-hat

[02:18] that leaves his left hand and his foot

[02:20] to Accent the music

[02:22] in any way he would choose

[02:24] improvisationally

[02:25] throughout the piece

[02:27] now unliking Rock and pop music the

[02:29] drummer has a lot of freedom to play

[02:31] around with the groove so it's not a

[02:32] strict drum beat but it can be a

[02:34] variable pattern in order to be able to

[02:36] interact with the other musicians while

[02:38] we're improvising all right with that

[02:40] we're going to bring in Julia on the

[02:41] piano

[02:42] and here we go

[02:46] the piano's job

[02:49] the chords

[02:51] and help out with the harmony as well as

[02:53] play solos and play melodies especially

[02:56] in the case of a Piano Trio

[02:58] [Music]

[03:01] now once again in jazz unlike in rock

[03:03] and pop music there isn't a set Rhythm

[03:05] that The Pianist or other harmonic

[03:08] instrument player needs to play but

[03:10] rather they have the opportunity to

[03:12] improvise with those rhythms as long as

[03:14] those chords fit the underlying form

[03:18] now this is called accompanying which we

[03:21] shorten to comping so Julia what I've

[03:23] been talking now has been comping and

[03:26] she will accompany me when I play the

[03:27] trumpet or play uh you know solos play

[03:30] The Melody etc etc alright that brings

[03:33] it to me in the horn section

[03:36] now the horn section in a typical Jazz

[03:38] combo or our jazz quartet or a jazz

[03:40] group of any kind May consist of a

[03:42] number of instruments including trumpet

[03:44] trombone

[03:46] tenor saxophone

[03:48] saxophone any

[03:50] clarinet flute sometimes you might have

[03:53] a harmonica or a recorder or melodica or

[03:56] some kind of other thing but uh our job

[03:59] in the horn section is to play The

[04:01] Melodies and to play solos

[04:03] we in the horn section rely on the

[04:05] Rhythm Section for the Rhythm and for

[04:07] the Harmony and the Rhythm Section

[04:09] relies on us in the horn section for a

[04:12] tenuous sense of existential

[04:15] reality for a for a sense of purpose in

[04:19] all this music and together it's a

[04:20] symbiotic relationship all right

[04:23] so moving along the band as we've been

[04:26] talking has been playing

[04:28] a very common 12 measure form known as

[04:32] the blues a blues typically consists of

[04:35] 12 measures and uh it can change a lot

[04:38] there's a lot of variability in the

[04:39] Blues form but very typically we will

[04:41] have

[04:42] four chords and they go like this the

[04:45] one chord of the key the four chord of

[04:48] the key back to the one

[04:50] you stay on the one for another bar then

[04:52] it goes to the four chord four

[04:57] back to the one and the last four bars

[05:00] of the Blues is called the turnaround it

[05:01] goes two

[05:03] five

[05:05] one now this is a Blues in the key of f

[05:07] so the chords are going to be F7 to B

[05:11] flat seven to F7

[05:14] [Music]

[05:16] going on to B flat seven

[05:19] flat seven

[05:21] back to F7

[05:23] once again to turn around we get G minor

[05:26] seven

[05:27] C7 back to F7 again

[05:32] now most jazz tunes have a unique chord

[05:35] progression based on The Melody of the

[05:37] tune the atmosphere that the composer is

[05:40] trying to create but a blues is one of a

[05:42] number of forms that can be uh used for

[05:45] a number of different tunes and provides

[05:46] the basis for a lot of different tunes

[05:48] that we play so Blues is the most common

[05:50] form that you run into in jazz there are

[05:52] a couple other ones that you see that

[05:54] are common forms but certainly uh the

[05:56] blues is a great one to start with

[05:58] because we're dealing with a relatively

[06:00] simple chord progression and it's really

[06:02] the basis for what we do not only in

[06:04] jazz but in rock and Funk and just about

[06:07] all of American popular music alright so

[06:09] now we're going to talk about how we

[06:12] relate as improvisers to these

[06:14] underlying chords

[06:15] so for each chord in the form there is a

[06:19] scale or mode that is most consonant to

[06:22] that underlying chord so if we can learn

[06:25] these various scales and how to

[06:27] improvise with them how to invent

[06:29] Melodies using these scales we can

[06:31] relate to the chords in such a way that

[06:33] the whole thing sounds harmonious even

[06:35] though we're all improvising at the same

[06:37] time so we're going to go over each

[06:39] chord one at a time in the Blues and

[06:41] talk about some of these scales that I

[06:42] might choose to use so let's start with

[06:44] the F7 so this is the one chord we're

[06:47] just going to hang out on F7 we've

[06:49] abandoned the form we're going to hang

[06:50] out on F7 for a minute

[06:52] on that F7 chord the F7 is an F major

[06:56] Triad with a flat seventh on top so an E

[07:00] flat

[07:01] so that's going to sound like this

[07:04] there it is

[07:06] now I'm going to play generally speaking

[07:08] on that F7 chord I'm going to play an F

[07:11] mixolydian scale an F mixolydian mode

[07:13] mixolydian is a major scale but with a

[07:16] flatted seventh and that flattened

[07:18] seventh is going to match with what's

[07:20] going on in the chords and that scale is

[07:22] going to sound a little something like

[07:24] this

[07:27] [Music]

[07:29] hahaha

[07:31] [Music]

[07:38] [Applause]

[07:38] [Music]

[07:44] all right from our F7 chord we're going

[07:46] to move on to the next chord the four

[07:48] chord in the F major scale

[07:50] and that is going to be the B flat 7

[07:53] chord and we will come in right

[07:57] here all right that's the four chord now

[08:01] just like with the F7 is an f mixolydian

[08:04] scale for the B flat seven I will tend

[08:06] to use a B flat mixolydian scale which

[08:09] once again is going to be the B flat

[08:10] major scale for the flat seven and that

[08:12] is going to sound like this

[08:15] foreign

[08:18] [Music]

[08:32] now typically in the Blues form we go

[08:34] back to the F7 but we're going to skip

[08:35] ahead to the last four bars of the Blues

[08:37] which is called the turnaround and the

[08:39] turnaround gets us back to the top again

[08:40] now the turnaround consists in this

[08:43] particular jazz blues of a very very

[08:46] common chord progression that we know as

[08:48] the two five one and that is because it

[08:51] starts on the second chord of the key of

[08:53] f goes to the V chord and then we're

[08:55] back to the one again so two five one

[08:57] this is a little chord progression that

[08:59] makes up a lot of different tunes that

[09:00] you will hear but for now we're going to

[09:02] stick to one chord at a time so we're

[09:04] gonna go with G minor seven to start

[09:06] it's going to be right here all right

[09:08] now for the G minor seven

[09:10] my tendency is going to be to use a g

[09:13] Dorian mode which is going to be uh G

[09:15] minor scale with a natural six flat

[09:19] three flat seven but natural six and

[09:21] that sounds a little something like that

[09:23] [Music]

[09:39] from there we move on to the five chord

[09:42] coming to the end of the turn around

[09:43] here and that's going to be your C7

[09:45] chord and that's gonna sound like this

[09:48] and for that just like with the F7 and

[09:51] the B flat 7 I'm going to use the C

[09:53] mixolydian mode and that's gonna sound

[09:55] like this

[09:55] [Music]

[10:17] all right so those are the four modes

[10:19] the four chords and corresponding

[10:22] consonant modes that we might use on a

[10:24] blues such as this and we're going to

[10:25] return to the blues form now we're back

[10:29] in the 12 Bar form known as The Blues

[10:33] and we're going to take a little time

[10:34] now to play a Melody that I wrote for

[10:37] this occasion to avoid any copyright

[10:39] strikes on my YouTube channel and then

[10:42] I'm going to take a one chorus solo a

[10:43] chorus is one time through the whole

[10:45] form it's gonna sound like

[10:50] hahaha

[10:51] [Music]

[11:19] hahaha

[11:24] [Music]

[11:44] now our option is to use some of those

[11:46] more consonant modes that you've heard

[11:48] but there's also a number of different

[11:49] kinds of scales that you can use and

[11:51] that's up to the improviser to decide so

[11:53] one very common alternate scale I could

[11:55] use would be the blues scale that's a

[11:57] very common one and that's going to

[11:58] sound a little something like this

[12:00] foreign

[12:02] [Music]

[12:30] now one of the things that makes jazz

[12:32] music so much fun is that each

[12:33] individual musician has their own

[12:36] personal sound and oftentimes you can

[12:39] hear the way that a musician you can

[12:41] identify a musician by just one or two

[12:43] notes now a part of that musician's

[12:45] individual sound is their tone on the

[12:48] instrument uh you know what instrument

[12:49] they're playing as well as what kinds of

[12:51] rhythms and Melodies and what their

[12:53] influences are any number of different

[12:55] things that will make up a musician but

[12:57] one of the things that you can also hear

[12:59] in a musician sound is the way they

[13:01] choose to use consonants versus

[13:03] dissonance so very commonly you know you

[13:06] would think of uh dissonant notes we

[13:08] might have traditionally heard dissonant

[13:09] notes as being referred to as wrong

[13:11] notes but in our post Eric dolphy world

[13:14] it's just another Choice any kind of uh

[13:17] creative musician can choose to use more

[13:19] dissonant sounds dissonant scales

[13:21] dissonant intervals in his or her

[13:23] improvisations and that's going to be a

[13:25] part of his or her characteristic sound

[13:26] so I'm going to show you a little bit

[13:27] about what happens if I Take It Outside

[13:29] of those chords that we played in those

[13:31] regular modes and take it into a

[13:33] different realm and that's going to

[13:33] sound a little something like this

[13:35] [Music]

[14:07] all right so anything's possible here in

[14:09] the world of jazz music or taking it out

[14:12] we're having a good good old time here

[14:13] all right so usually you will play the

[14:15] head in the head in is the melody so we

[14:18] played that already and then everybody

[14:19] in the band will take a little solo

[14:20] we'll trade around it could be any

[14:22] length but for now we're gonna stick to

[14:23] one chorus and we're gonna start with

[14:25] Julia Chan on the piano

[14:30] [Music]

[14:42] foreign

[14:45] [Music]

[14:54] for Mr Julian Smith

[14:55] [Music]

[15:16] all right and once everybody takes a

[15:18] solo of their own chosen length whatever

[15:19] the however much they they want to say

[15:22] in the whole grand scheme of the form

[15:25] comes time for the drum solo now there's

[15:27] a couple different options that we have

[15:28] with the drum solo but one option is

[15:31] called trading fours and in trading

[15:33] fours what we're gonna do is each of us

[15:34] will go around in the band and take four

[15:37] bar improvisations trading with Evan

[15:40] over here on the drums throughout the

[15:42] form so we're gonna stick with the form

[15:44] but we're just each gonna take a little

[15:45] four of our solo now you could trade

[15:47] eights you could trade 16s you could

[15:48] probably trade 32s or 64s but it might

[15:50] get a little unwieldy so we're gonna

[15:51] stick to Fours for now and that sounds a

[15:53] little something like this

[15:56] foreign

[15:58] [Music]

[16:50] now that's one option for a drum solo

[16:53] the other a very common option is for

[16:55] the drummer to take an unaccompanied

[16:57] solo and even though the drummer is

[17:00] going to be playing by himself without

[17:01] any kind of accompaniment by any of the

[17:03] harmonic instruments he's still gonna

[17:05] follow the form so he might play one

[17:07] chorus two chorus three choruses however

[17:09] many courses that's gonna sound like

[17:10] this in this case we're just going to

[17:12] take one chorus of drum solo here we go

[17:14] Evan hide

[17:15] [Music]

[17:38] all right now typically after the drum

[17:41] solo we'd go right back into the head

[17:42] out just like the melody in is called

[17:45] the head in the melody on the end of the

[17:47] tune is called the head out so we're

[17:48] going to play the head out now for you

[17:50] and close out this tune

[17:53] hope you had a little fun here we go

[17:56] [Music]

[18:34] and that's a little introduction on how

[18:36] Jazz improvisation works we got the

[18:38] instruments in a regular Jazz combo

[18:39] there may be many other different

[18:41] instruments that we haven't covered here

[18:42] and anything it goes but for now this is

[18:44] a very standard instrumentation after

[18:46] that we've got the chords of the tune

[18:48] once again the blues is just one of a

[18:50] number of different forms usually jazz

[18:51] tunes will have their own unique chord

[18:53] progressions but it's a good place to

[18:54] start with the blues because it's a

[18:55] common one that you will run into

[18:56] regularly we got four chords in this one

[18:58] each of those chords has a scale that is

[19:01] most consonant to that chord that we can

[19:02] use to create Melodies at any given time

[19:05] any one of us in the band becomes the

[19:07] composer so it's always a very exciting

[19:09] it's an exciting style of music because

[19:11] all of a sudden the job of the

[19:13] individual musician becomes the job of

[19:15] the composer in a spontaneous fashion

[19:17] and we all will interact with each other

[19:19] we all have the opportunity to listen in

[19:21] very closely to what the other one is

[19:22] playing and to try to interact in such a

[19:24] way that we can make beautiful music and

[19:25] have a good old time after that we're

[19:28] able to expand on what we're doing

[19:30] beyond the normal chords that we have

[19:31] and really try to capture some

[19:33] interesting rhythms and and in the whole

[19:35] process of the thing really try to

[19:36] capture our own view of the very essence

[19:39] of The Human Condition and try to convey

[19:42] that through sound to the adoring fans

[19:44] in the audience all right gang and that

[19:46] is a little bit on how to Jazz

[19:50] all right gang and there you have it a

[19:52] little rundown on the fundamental

[19:54] mechanics of how jazz music works hope

[19:56] that clears up a little confusion

[19:57] surrounding what's going on while we're

[19:59] playing and I hope it inspires you to go

[20:01] check out some great records go check

[20:03] out some live music and pick up your own

[20:05] instrument go hang out with your friends

[20:06] and try some of these ideas out for

[20:08] yourself if you like this video be sure

[20:10] to give it a like And subscribe to the

[20:12] channel for more videos on jazz music

[20:14] improvisation and music theory going

[20:17] forward also if you have any questions

[20:18] on any of the topics that we covered in

[20:20] this video be sure to leave them in the

[20:22] comments below and I'll do my best to

[20:23] get back to you and clear up any

[20:25] residual confusion on the topic at hand

[20:28] alright gang well until next time be

[20:31] sure to go check out some great records

[20:32] and have a lot of fun with it and I'll

[20:33] catch you on the next one see ya

[20:38] Theory with Bob

[20:42] all right friends thanks so much for

[20:44] checking out this video I hope it helped

[20:46] in your understanding of the musical

[20:47] world and in your pursuit of the Majesty

[20:49] of musical self-expression if you like

[20:52] this video you can let us know by giving

[20:53] it a like and be sure to subscribe to

[20:55] the channel for more musical education

[20:57] videos going forward you can also follow

[21:00] me on Instagram at Bob Spelman for some

[21:03] more musical fun the Ridgewood school of

[21:06] music is now accepting new students

[21:07] online as well as in person in the

[21:10] Brooklyn Queens and greater New York

[21:12] City area you can find us on our website

[21:14] at

[21:16] www.ridgewoodschoolofmusic.com or you

[21:18] can send us an email at Ridgewood

[21:20] schoolofmusic gmail.com and we'll get

[21:24] back to you as soon as we can try to set

[21:25] you up with a great teacher for the

[21:27] kinds of music that you're looking to

[21:29] study all right gang well thanks again

[21:31] and until next time happy practicing

[21:35] foreign

[21:37] [Music]