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Bona improvisation

#41
I heard major triads (Major 3rd on top, 5th, Root) cycling down minor thirds starting on Ab which would be an EMaj chord shape (or second inverson).

It took me two good listens since I was trying to match it on my fretless. It does also sound good using the b7, b5,Root, but the first Major triad is easier to stay in tune and facilitate on fretless. (for me at least)


janekbass said:
P.S. I rarely use augmented triads in half steps. I love the colour of whole steps that comes with aug triads. And the reference made to the youtube video between 1:56 and 2:00 is wrong. They're not augmented. Someone could transcribe it and tell me what they think it is, I'd be interested to see what people hear that as.

Easy,

Janek
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#42
Janek

More just observation than anything. I find your candid comments quite refreshing and insightful. My personal philosophy has always been that (jeez...I guess like the Force) the music should flow through you, and ideally one should try to simply get out of the way and let it happen. Individuals who want to truly serve the music instead of impressing people and building up a sense of self-worth with wows and accolades from other are rare indeed.

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with a bit of flash now and then but far too often IMO especially with the younger crop of players coming out now there's just so much of it. I've seen/heard the lightning-fast flourishes of cats like Garrison and Feraud (tho I like Had's work much better). Yes, yes, yes. It's very impressive the first 50 times you hear it but there's just so damn much of it. It gets WORN OUT. You reach a point where the content of the line can not even be discerned because it's just a rhythmic flurry...a device. It's not even about music anymore it's just technique, which is far easier to fall back on. It's INCREDIBLY difficult to constantly create and come up with ideas and develop them, develop motifs, etc. Why do that when you can break out that cool sh*t you been working on for months and months? It's GURANTEED to wow.

Actually, I kind wish I HAD some "licks". I really don't at all....sometimes to my detriment. I'm not for one moment suggesting I'm a great soloist or improvisor but can say my ethic gravitates much more towards something I read from Frank Zappa once. (something like): "It's very hard to create an original melody on the spot".

What's my point? Jeez...I don't really seem to have one at this juncture...just kinda living in the now and jumping in with whatever is in my head at that moment. :D
 
#43
janekbass said:
it's major triads in their second inversion (basically with the third on top) played in minor thirds over a V chord.

over G7 for instance the leading notes in the top of the chords would be Ab, B, D, and F. with the triads voiced underneath them.

This is, however, only one of thousands of things you can do with this tonality. So I would take this small fragment and develop it as much as you can throughout the instrument.
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Which of course yields 1/2-1 step diminished scale. For me the sound of the diminished scale is one of my favorites and as you say because of the symmetry of the scale, you can create a multitude of shapes/licks/concepts that you can run through. I personally look at those notes as the diminished chord starting on the b9 and because of the interesting nature of the diminished scale there is no reason why you couldn't play them as minor triads, or a mixture, or both...

Back on topic, I love Bona's albums, but have never studied them for his bass playing, not that I don't like it, but for exactly the same reason i haven't worried myself about learning all of Jaco's licks and note choices (Of course I have delved in a little)...I don't want to sound like them.
 
#44
janekbass said:
It's a life's work, a commitment to the music, and a respect for those around you who are listening. With the right delivery and performance you can serve some of the most complex harmonic language up to an audience that has never heard jazz before, and they will understand everything you play.

You just have to play from the heart and be honest, that's all there is to it.

Easy,

Janek
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Man, this reminds me of a concert I saw at the North Sea Jazz festival 2 or 3 years ago. Small room, me on the 2nd row and on stage the Kenny Werner trio. They played some of the most complicated music I ever heard, and even though I didn't understand a lot of it in a straight harmonic, melodic or rhythmic
way, I still 'got it'.

Big time, it made the hair in my neck stand up, didn't know if I should be laughing or crying. And not just me. The two kids (about 10 yers old) in front of me too. And everybody else also. All songs were started during the applause for the previous tune, the audiance just did'nt stop clapping!

Now if I could only get to play this way myself before I die, I'm a happy guy :-P
 
#45
Groovy Bastard said:
Man, this reminds me of a concert I saw at the North Sea Jazz festival 2 or 3 years ago. Small room, me on the 2nd row and on stage the Kenny Werner trio. They played some of the most complicated music I ever heard, and even though I didn't understand a lot of it in a straight harmonic, melodic or rhythmic
way, I still 'got it'.

Big time, it made the hair in my neck stand up, didn't know if I should be laughing or crying. And not just me. The two kids (about 10 yers old) in front of me too. And everybody else also. All songs were started during the applause for the previous tune, the audiance just did'nt stop clapping!

Now if I could only get to play this way myself before I die, I'm a happy guy :-P
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Kenny Werner is such a hip pianist, and has so much technique, yet utilizes it to communicate something through the music he plays, jazz.

One thing I will say is Richard Bona, when on stage or recording, can really COMMUNICATE via his playing & singing. He exudes joy when he's up there.
 
#46
janekbass said:
you can look at it in a few different lights I think. when a player finds something that they know will work to get an audience applauding every night then yes, they will hold on to that and use it as a security blanket. But the challenge is to be creating new phrases every night that an audience can latch onto that are just as easy to digest as the one or two licks that have become comfortable. That is true honesty. Showing up night after night and creating something new to say that doesn't leave an audience baffled.

Imagine if you and I were to hang out for a few nights in a row, and all I talked about each night was some funny story about getting drunk, falling asleep on the subway, and waking up the next day surrounding by wall street types in business suits going to work. it might be mildly amusing or even funny the first time I tell it, with the right delivery and presentation. But if I told you that same story night after night after night, you'd ask me to talk about something else or get lost. It's no different with music. Every time I walk onto that stage I'm communicating something with the audience, and I'm not about to cheat them out of a performance by communicating something identical to a previous show they might have been at.

Being able to do this comes from having the technical ability to execute any new ideas you might have, as well as soaking up the language of improvised music from the time you wake in the morning to the time you sleep. Constantly asking yourself questions as to how you might be able to search for something new today.

It's a life's work, a commitment to the music, and a respect for those around you who are listening. With the right delivery and performance you can serve some of the most complex harmonic language up to an audience that has never heard jazz before, and they will understand everything you play.

You just have to play from the heart and be honest, that's all there is to it.
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Good stuff here. I like your storytelling analogy. I know you come from the improv side of things, and I don't. I will improv occasionally, but not nearly to the degree that you do, and most of the time it's forced on me. But I have thought just the opposite from you. I approach what I do as storytelling, too. But when someone has a great story, I love to hear it more than once. And if I have a great story to tell, I'll go around to everyone who will listen and tell it. And sometimes I will get disappointed when I go to a show and I'm expecting someone to play the cool signature solo they played on an album and they play nothing of the sort.

If you look at soloing as more of a conversational thing, though, then you think about conversations you've had over your life that were really engrossing. And it was something that a few people said and will never say again, but it'll stick with you forever because it was so good.

The tradeoff with conversations is you probably have to sit through 100 boring conversations to get to one good one. But one thing I've noticed with conversation is that people who are good at conversation usually have many good conversations. It's a gift to have a knack for it. It's one I wish I could do better. I actually have to practice being interesting in conversations, so I try to prepare a couple jokes and read up on the world's news and recall a couple stories. Then I have to remember not to say "Uhhh" a lot.

So what you said gives me a lot to think about the next time I find myself in a jazz set. You can approach it as a storyteller or a conversationalist, but if you approach it as a conversationalist, it works better if you have something to say.
 
#47
janekbass said:
It's a life's work, a commitment to the music, and a respect for those around you who are listening. With the right delivery and performance you can serve some of the most complex harmonic language up to an audience that has never heard jazz before, and they will understand everything you play.

You just have to play from the heart and be honest, that's all there is to it.

Easy,

Janek
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I suppose the temptation is there, though - that if you are playing to a different audience every night - you want them all to hear your great story...?

Anyway - I think your last part is right - it reminded me of going to a gig by a trio lead by the Pianist Alex Maguire.

So - Friday night went to the gig with other people, some of whom weren't Jazz fans - but everybody loved it - beautiful tunes - lovely original melodies and such relaxed playing!

Next day - the band did a workshop on the tunes locally and I went along. Every tune was incredibly difficult to play - odd time signatures like 9/4, unusual structures and chord sequences - everybody struggled to play one tune right!

If I hadn't been to the workshop I would never have appreciated the difficulty, as I had been "seduced" by the tunes and the realaxed performance. And I wonder how many audiences on that tour just thought of it as nice "easy listening..?

I asked Alex Maguire about how he prepared for that tour and he said how for many months he had just played scales every day on the piano...

Sometimes I can't believe how much more dedicated to their art, some musicians are - but how many people realise...?

So much easier to go for cheap tricks and licks!! :p
 
#48
I was a stranger to Bona and hes music until recently.... but..
A quick search on youtube and listening to some of his solos realy makes his licks aparent. Impressive the first time you hear it.. but then it feels pretty repetitive.. (spellcheck on that?)
Several parts of his solos keep re-surfecing.
I find them less interesting the more of them I listen to.
Unlike Janeks solos..

But, as someone noted: You can't take away that hes energy and enthusiasm hits you bigtime.

Cheers.
 
#58
you'll dig the hanon book. i've been using it for about 8 months now and it's helped me a lot in terms of building technique and breaking away from just playing the shapes we all learn and play a lot. i've only really been through a few exercises, but you start to develop an idea of what to work on.
 
#60
I've finally got my own online store happening!

you can find it at www.janekgwizdala.com


right now I'm posting live concerts that the band has played in the recent past. They were recorded on anything from an iPod all the way up to some serious high end gear, and I've "mastered" them and processed them to 256Kbps MP3's in a zip file for you to download. All tracks that are available have a 96kbps 30sec preview for you to check out before you buy.

Downloads are per set. $4.99 per set, $8.99 fro a bundle of two sets, and $11.99 for a bundle of three sets. Sets average about 60 mins of music, with some being around 70. Once you make a purchase you'll be sent a password that unlocks the zip files.

For everyone who couldn't make it out to a gig because you live in Tokyo, Sydney, London, Dayton, Seattle or capetown..... these are for you! Bringing you right inside the club to the gig.

All MP3's are tagged with metadata so they load straight into whatever media player you use.

Please give me any feedback you can as this is a brand new thing for me, and I'm sure there'll be things to work out along the way.

Easy,

Janek
 
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