Need a primer on Jazz.

Flipsnake · #1 07-09-2010, 07:55 PM

I heard that some of you are into this Jazz stuff.
And I hear that getting into this Jazz stuff can help make a bassist 9001x better at groovin'.
So what's it all about?
What are some key subgenres/artists that I should know about?

**colcifer** · #2 07-09-2010, 08:01 PM

Jazz is the art of listening while playing. Start with Monk, Miles, and Coltrane.

**lowendfriend** · #3 07-09-2010, 08:11 PM

Mix in some Mingus, Dave Holland, Avishai Cohen (bassist not trumpet...there are 2), Allen Touissant, Brad Mehldau, Ron Carter, Phronesis, ESP, Jaga Jazzist, and two scoops of Weather Report...whip, blend, stir!

**colcifer** · #4 07-09-2010, 08:23 PM

hey, we've got to ease him (or her) into this. when a kid asks what war is, you don't start with alexander the great and sun tzu.

Flipsnake · #5 07-09-2010, 08:32 PM

I'm a young man(or old boy...), by the way. Hehe.
And I've started with Miles Davis' Kind of Blue.
I've been listening to it, and I'm wondering where it fits into the grand scheme of Jazz...
And I'm currently trying to get a hold of some Mingus and Coltrane.
Where should I be starting with either of these big names?

JoeDeF · #6 07-09-2010, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flipsnake

I heard that some of you are into this Jazz stuff.
And I hear that getting into this Jazz stuff can help make a bassist 9001x better at groovin'.
So what's it all about?
What are some key subgenres/artists that I should know about?

Listen, listen, listen! Jazz is about listening, responding and making excellent instantaneous decisions based upon your awareness of the melody, harmonies, rhythms, and groove of the music, and of the intentions of your fellow improvisers. So, listen to great jazz recordings and try to figure out why the bass player is deciding to play the is notes and rhythms (s)he is playing (parentheses for Esperanza Spalding, Tal Wilkenfeld, and a few other deserving ladies). Along those lines, two books might help:

The Improvisor's Bass Method, by Chuck Sher

The Jazz Theory book, by Mark Levine

Those books will tell you lots about the hows and whys of jazz structures and decision making, and about the many great artists whose playing you should check out thoroughly. If you work through some of that, figure out some bass lines from jazz recordings and play along with the recordings. If that's going well, find a jazz bassist to give you some lessons. You might also want to pick up a few play-along CD's or mp3's (where you can turn off the bass and play along with the rest of the band) for practicing. If you get up to speed with that, start going to jazz jam sessions. It's never ending.

As for genres, start with swing (like big band), bebop, hard bop, bossa-nova, jazz-rock, fusion. You can find lots of good educational materials at www.jazzbooks.com.

The Lowe Down · #7 07-09-2010, 08:48 PM

Kind of Blue is required listening in my book. Every song on that album is amazing. Try listening to a little Thelonius Monk too. Blue Monk is one of my favorites and is very easy to get underneath you.

All the good big band stuff (Duke, Basie, Benny Goodman, etc) is a totally different genre, but equally good to develop your walking skills. Pretty boring in some senses, but a required skill for a jazz bassist.

I second the Coltrane, I also love Dizzy Gillsepie's Afro-Cuban work. Try listening to A Night in Tunisia. It will give you a flavor of latin and swing in the same song. It is really stellar how the song transitions.

If you want to shred your brain, check out Dave Brubeck's Quartet. Take Five and Blue Rondo a la Turk will mutilate you in weird time signatures. It is the Jazz equivalent of Rush and Led Z from a time signature perspective. His chord progressions can be crazy to follow as well.

Some people will throw out Charlie Parker's work in the mix. If you want to appreciate bebop, you have to be able to handle the speed of some of the bop. Listen to Cherokee, by Charlie Barnett's big band and covered by EVERYONE, and then listen to Ko-Ko by Parker, which is based on the same changes. On the surface the two songs are not the same but as you decontruct them, you see the progressions are the same. Bop was always hard for me to swallow, I wouldn't start here.

The beauty of Jazz is that is encompasses so many genres, find something to you like and run with it. Everyone was influenced by someone else, so you can meander through the music and get turned on to new songs. I tend to find if I like Artist A, I will like Artist B, because they played together, and in turn Artist C played with B and took the music somewhere else and that was even cooler. If you post what you are listening to, and what you liked, I am sure others can recommend more artists that are similar and others that are almost the opposite.

Jim Campbell · #8 07-09-2010, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flipsnake

I'm a young man(or old boy...), by the way. Hehe.
And I've started with Miles Davis' Kind of Blue.
I've been listening to it, and I'm wondering where it fits into the grand scheme of Jazz...
And I'm currently trying to get a hold of some Mingus and Coltrane.
Where should I be starting with either of these big names?

read the liner notes,see who played,and expand outward.....from kind of blue check miles on cannonball adderly's somethin' else,paul chambers with coltrane,coltrane with monk,....etc...

Muaguana · #9 07-09-2010, 11:01 PM

Follow all these guys' suggestions for listening; getting the sounds and patterns in your head is half the battle.

As far as what to expect from jazz and what it expects from you, if you're going to be proficient in it, you need to know the tune you're playing inside and out, to the point where you don't even think about the chord changes so much as react to them. This also involves learning standard progressions like the 12 bar blues, rhythm changes, etc., and being able to transpose and play them in every key. I took two semesters of jazz improvisation at my community college, and they were by far the hardest courses I've ever taken. But it was extremely rewarding, and greatly improved my listening and playing habits. Another thing that's challenging is that the drummer isn't the one keeping time very often - you are. So it also demands a great level of rhythmic competence, because when walking a line, you are the beat.

Don't try blaming a dragging tempo on the pianist; it doesn't work. Trust me.

**colcifer** · #10 07-09-2010, 11:29 PM

My advice is to start with the musicians you like most from what you have and get more of their stuff. One of the best things about jazz is the diversity among sidemen so it won't be long before you're hooked onto a couple dozen guys.

So far as where to start, Kind Of Blue is the perfect place. Next I'd get Blue Train. Try to stick to records from the same five-or-so year period, trends in jazz change FAST and if you might hurt your head if you're not careful.