Assembling a jazz band!

[Robotsatemygma]

Well guys, jazz is a new territory for me, both musically (on bass) and socially (eek!). I'm coming from a punk and metal background and all my networking has been in those scenes, so I'm really excited about how this might play off.

But I need advice.

My first goal is to get a damn good drummer, and I have a few possibilities. So we're good on that front, so far. I acknowledge the rhythm section is key.

But when it comes to the other lead instruments (trumpet, piano, sax) I'm basically up a creek without a paddle. What should I be looking for? Should I listen to their phrasing, note choice, or should I look at their potential as a musician?

Would choosing a standard or two too jam on be ideal? Or should we also wing it by picking a key and chord progression and see what happens? I'm hoping to create originals more so then play standards.

My experience with jazz in a band setting was playing drums jamming with a friend who played sax, and playing random improvs on guitar. I did this live a few times and it was exhilarating watching people dance and actually enjoy it!

With this band I want to keep it simple, like the early years where Armstrong was paving the way, swing. Add a wee bit of funk, and end the night with some ballads. Like I said I want to concentrate on creating originals, but standards are necessary to get a band playing started.

So I guess, long story short aside from the audition questions, any other advice on assembling a jazz band?

[scorpionldr]

mmmm your treading on ice between A: writing your own material (or getting a real book and reading it) and performing it or B: becoming a jam band that calls themselves jazz simply because your drummer's playing jazz beats.

[Robotsatemygma]

Lol, jam band. Yea I can understand that analogy. I'm looking to do gigs though. But with improving, isn't that in theory jamming?

To avoid the blackhole of jam bands, I have a few standards, and melodies I'd like to work on and explore. Hopefully they'll contribute to the process of creating originals. Some have said they have some stuff in the works.

I could eat my own words here, but a few of the responses seem to be from people with actual interest. I guess I won't know until I get them in a room and start directing.

[Rudreax]

If you've never played jazz before, you don't just up and decide "let's play jazz!". Depending on the kind you're aiming for, you need to have a good idea of what you're going for before actually doing it. Do you know anyone that has experience playing jazz for a good while? Stick around them and learn about it and how to play it.

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by Robotsatemygma

Well guys, jazz is a new territory for me, both musically (on bass) and socially (eek!). I'm coming from a punk and metal background and all my networking has been in those scenes, so I'm really excited about how this might play off.

But I need advice.

My first goal is to get a damn good drummer, and I have a few possibilities. So we're good on that front, so far. I acknowledge the rhythm section is key.

But when it comes to the other lead instruments (trumpet, piano, sax) I'm basically up a creek without a paddle. What should I be looking for? Should I listen to their phrasing, note choice, or should I look at their potential as a musician?

Would choosing a standard or two too jam on be ideal? Or should we also wing it by picking a key and chord progression and see what happens? I'm hoping to create originals more so then play standards.

My experience with jazz in a band setting was playing drums jamming with a friend who played sax, and playing random improvs on guitar. I did this live a few times and it was exhilarating watching people dance and actually enjoy it!

With this band I want to keep it simple, like the early years where Armstrong was paving the way, swing. Add a wee bit of funk, and end the night with some ballads. Like I said I want to concentrate on creating originals, but standards are necessary to get a band playing started.

So I guess, long story short aside from the audition questions, any other advice on assembling a jazz band?

wow....i hate to be the grinch but i think you may be in over your head here.....a jazz guy
will have played the american songbook more times in his sleep than the average guy hears it in a lifetime.....the ability to hear changes and be able to improvise over them on the fly is a given.....listen to a few classic jazz albums and remind yourself that these guys were winging it....armstrong and his hot 5's and 7's were no slouches in the early years....

[Renaissance]

Find like minded people you get along with and go for it! I think we often over think the whole musical process. It ain't rocket surgery. I play in a small jazz band (<shameless plug>StardustJazzBand.com</shameless plug>) and I love it. We aren't doing anything groundbreaking or original but that's not what we want. My desire was to play music, have some fun and maybe make a couple bucks on the side. Mission accomplished (most of the time).

I would start with some standards just to have an underlying foundation to keep things moving, and then let things happen. At the least you'll find out what doesn't work!

[billoetjen]

With luck, great, supportive players, tons of research and practice you should be up and running in about five years.

[fdeck]

I think there's a lot to be gained just from jamming with friends who share a common interest in playing jazz. I suggest going about it the other way around, and find a band that wants you, rather than forming your own band. My rationale is simply that jazz bands are often looking for a bassist, and you can take advantage of this demand.

This will also get you thinking in terms of what you need to do, so that a band will want you. I think that at the very least, being able to read a basic chord chart and play a walking line will make you useful to other musicians who are learning jazz. Ed Friedland and Ed Fuqua (both TB'ers) have books that have been favorably reviewed here.

Long term, you should form a strategy for developing the basic jazz skills, which include sight-reading, the jazz rhythms, improv soloing, and knowledge of the standards. One reason is that jazz tends to be more player-oriented than band-oriented, so you need to be looking out for yourself as a player. Reading should be a priority, simply because it's going to be easier to learn while your brain is still young and limber.

Now I've just given you a list that seems like a tall order, but if all goes well, you'll fall in love with jazz, and you won't be able to stop learning.

[fish slapper]

My advice is to find an open jam you could sit in a couple of tunes. This is how I did it. I found an open jam that happened monthly at a local coffee shop. I showed up just to listen the first couple just to get an idea of which tunes they were playing. About the third one, I got up for a couple of tunes. It was pretty rough. They let me call a tune I'd worked on. Then they called one I hadn't, and I blew on it. So I sat down. But I showed up at the next one and got up again. This is kind of the initiation in Jazz. They often call a tune with a signature or difficult bass part to see what you have. Its part of the game. But eventually you get your chops and you build it up.

It also helps to find a jam that works from a common book. My current jam works mostly from the "Real Book." You can buy them commercially now but in the past they were illegal so it was sort of the initiation to Jazz playing that you had to figure out how to get a copy.

I might suggest you try to find a teacher that knows Jazz. The first skill is figure out a walking bass line. From there you also need to get some of the "signature" bass parts (mostly intro parts) under you and it helped me to have a teacher show you these.

Good Luck!

[Downunderwonder]

For a few months I made my living doing the live jam on the fly seat of the pants thing. Drums, sax and bass. Boyoboyoboy, no practice ever. Me, no jazz training whatsoever.

1st gig we came up with maybe three useful motifs. Every gig we'd hope to add another couple so after awhile we had a whole gig's worth of stuff we were all somewhat on the same page with. No practice, just remember how it went from last gig and reimprovise it.

Some gigs went great. Others blew chunks.

Best memory is being at home with my folks and getting a visit from bro's friends who were in town for New Years. They had wanted to get into a bar that had this "incredible hot jazz band" playing but it was a private affair.

In the end it was just too much stress for too little cash. The other two were what you might call "highly strung" individuals. Maybe if I'd hung in there we'd be in demand all over the country now. Maybe not.

So, yeah, have fun with it but I advise rehearsing and writing stuff down to avoid regular trainwrecking.