You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - 7 Solos You Should Know

Episode Date: November 6, 2019

It's another solo episode from Peter while he's on tour. This time, he gives you some solos that you should make sure are in your repertoire.7 Solos You Should KnowElla Fitzgerald - "Stompin' at the Savoy"Freddie Hubbard - "One Finger Snap"John Coltrane - "Giant Steps"Louis Armstrong - "West End Blues"Miles Davis - "Oleo"Clifford Brown - "Sandu"Charlie Parker - "Billie's Bounce"You can listen to all of these recordings in their entirety with our Spotify playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5SOXwJJZhgvOfmqqHHzRCy?si=gMyrTUBWQxuCcXZc4mFJeQFor more lessons at the piano with Peter and Adam, check out our brand new course: Jazz Piano Technique. In Volume 1 of this series, you'll get a 4-week bootcamp entirely focused on improving your ability to play pentatonic scales. For more info, go to https://www.openstudiojazz.com/jazz-piano-techniqueLike those You'll Hear It shirts Peter shows off on the podcast? Want some YHI swag of your own? Take a visit to our store! Just go to https://teespring.com/stores/open-studioLet us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Interested in more jazz advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram at:https://www.facebook.com/heyopenstudiohttps://twitter.com/heyopenstudiohttps://www.instagram.com/heyopenstudio See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hey, Adam. Where you at, Adam? Oh, I forgot. I'm not back yet. Chow. I'm Peter Martin, and you're listening to the You'll Hear at podcast, Daily Jazz Advice, coming at you. Coming at you today from beautiful Bologna, Italy. I'm on the last week of this tour, having a great time. And Bologna is truly one of the beautiful corners of the world. Very excited and pleased and grateful to be here. But I'm Miss Adam, I miss the podcast. So we're coming solo to you once again. I don't know if you guys have gotten a chance to check out some of the episodes that Adam did at the piano. The What Is This? Diminish Chords playing out. Some great stuff. Check that out when you get a chance. But today I'm going to talk to you about seven solos you should learn.

And we've talked about solos a lot. We've had a lot of lists with different solos that we enjoy. But today I want to focus in on these seven solos. And I think what makes this kind of unique is that these. These are all solos that I think you can learn one chorus on them and really get something out of them. We always talk about learning the whole solo, learning the whole story, and that's great. But sometimes we don't have time to do that. And also sometimes we don't have time to do that when we want to get through a bunch of different sort of styles.

And basically, this list, it's kind of conservative. Some of you may criticize it for being too conservative because it goes deep into the history of jazz and doesn't have a lot of newer stuff. But what I wanted to do was really give you some foundational, fundamental types of solos that you could go through relatively quickly. It's still going to be a lot of work, as it always is and should be, for anything that's worthwhile for your musical training. But to learn these one courses on each of these solos. But I think they'll provide a great foundation for jazz improvisation and also ear training, as we're always talking about within the process of learning solos. So the other thing kind of unique on this is that it's no piano solos. I purposely went with all horn players and there's a vocal solo in there.

But this is about kind of getting you out of your comfort zone of just being at the piano, but also having solos one chorus that you can really focus in on just one single line. There's no chords you're learning. There's no multiple notes going on at the same time that you have to figure out. So from that standpoint, it should be a little bit easier as well. So as always, this is a highly subjective list. And I have a actually, I realize I have a lot of trumpet solos on there, which is not necessarily intentional. But this is more about things that I've learned over the years.

And trumpet solas for me have always been a great way to get into some of the nitty-gritty of the skills we need for jazz improvisations. But disclaimer is that it is highly subjective. This is just sort of my opinion on some good fundamental foundational. solos for you. So let's jump right in. First, we're going to start out with Ella Fitzgerald, the great Elephist Gerald, from her live in Rome CD album, as it were. And this is specifically the track, Stompett at the Savoy. And this whole record is great. Check it out if you get a chance, but it features Oscar Peterson's trio. And it's super spontaneous. It captures Ella Fitzgerald with the OP trio at a really great time when they were doing some wonderful big, big,

concerts and you really get the spirit of the music and everything. But we're going to focus in on Ella Fitzgerald's first chorus. So you can check out below, well in the link, the show description here for a Spotify playlist if you want to follow along there. But this is Ellis' first chorus starting at one minute and 31 seconds. Wow, that's some great stuff there. So as you're learning that, you know, you're really listening for phrasing, for sense of feel, swing. Ella does an amazing job of developing motifs always. And remember, that's just one course from an extended solo.

But I think even within that course, you really feel the story that she's starting to tell. But feel, lyricism, you know, just that innate sense of swing and how it applies to those lines. It's great stuff on there. All right. Number two, we're going to move to Freddie Hubbard. And this is his solo on Herbie Hancock's One Finger Snap. And this is a really well-known solo. So I wanted to give you something that maybe you've heard before but haven't learned. And what we're going to do is we're going to start right at 37 seconds. And really, you know, this is such an iconic solo that he plays that the beginning of his improv is actually what people originally thought was part of the tune because it's so lyrical. With Freddie, you know, we're always listening for, you know, for learning from his solos for that, again, sense of swing, sense of feel.

He has a very unique way of very confidently moving through these changes. And I think if you listen to the way he phrases, like when he starts the phrase, and especially as you learn this, kind of analyze sort of how the phrases start, what beat that they start in, we can really learn a lot from that. So this is starting at 37 seconds. Freddie Hubbard, one finger snap. Yeah, I mean, it's just, you know, Freddie Hubbard, there's such a confidence and swagger with the way he phrases. And, you know, you'll get the notes and the really interesting harmonic things that he, you know, goes through. as he's playing those melodies, but really listen for that swing and swagger to you. That's great stuff. Okay, we're going to move on to number three. And speaking of swagger, we have the great John Coltrane's iconic solo giant steps. Now, everybody knows this, this song and this track, but how many of you have actually learned it?

So what I want to do is give you a little bit of a challenge is just learn one course, and it's only 14 seconds long. It's a lot of notes, and it's going to take some work. But this is one of the most beneficial solos to learn. So if you learn just one course, it'll just hopefully wet your appetite to learn more. But what he packs into that first course is actually a lot of the techniques and tactics that he uses to navigate this relatively complicated set of chord changes. Actually, you know, from a structural standpoint, it's relatively simple, but I don't have time today to get into all that. But basically, you know, it's just to say that the chords move by quickly so it's difficult.

but the actual structure, and as you learn the solo, you'll start to learn this in a very intuitive way. The actual solo, the changes, the structure of the changes is very simple. So he does a great job of kind of navigating the changes and the simplicity of those, but also alluding to the many more advanced improvisational techniques that he's going to use from the rest of the solo during this first course. So this is starting at 26 seconds, and it's just 14. seconds of first chorus of John Coltrane's Giant Steps. All right.

So if you learn that solo, that one chorus, you will be well on your way to starting to understand how to navigate Giant Steps. So if you learn the whole solo, of course, you'll be even further along your way. But that first chorus will help a lot. And the ear training you get from that, whoa, that's amazing. Because you start to connect how those melodic inventions that Coltrane plays apply over that root movement, which is really the foundation of what the changes are. All right, let's move on to number four, and we're going to go way back to the true foundations

and origins of jazz with Lewis Armstrong's amazing intro on West End Blues. So this is the only one that's not really a chorus. This is just the intro, and it's just 12 seconds. But if you learn this on the piano or if you're a vocalist, whatever you play, drums, it doesn't matter. This will take you right back to 1928, but the relevancy of Lewis Armstrong's. Armstrong's playing is still there today, which is truly what makes it timeless. So this is Lewis Armstrong's introduction to West End Blues.

Wow. Every time I hear that, it's like, it's like Lewis Armstrong's just playing it for the first time. It's so joyous. It's so swinging. So much humanity and art in that. And, you know, a lot of times when we're learning solos, we're thinking about specific, you know, tricks of getting around changes and phrases and patterns. and that's all fine. But what you're going to get from learning that little intro is a lot more, I think.

All right. Let's move on to number five now. And we have another trumpeter, Miles Davis. You ever heard of him? And this, I went through a bunch of solos in trying to pick this because I actually learned a lot of Miles Davis solos when I was first coming up. And I wanted to find one that I thought would apply, you know, well to pianists and obviously well to horn players.

But just for everybody and to sort of, there's so many, you know, Miles was so multi-demand. at the different points of his career. So this one's going back a little bit, but it's from the Live at the Black Hawk recordings and with that wonderful quintet. And this is Olio. And so it's, you know,

it's always nice to learn a solo over rhythm changes or blues or some type of form that's used in a lot of different tunes because it gives you a lot of places you can apply some of the specific things that you learn. But I want you to pay close attention because actually we're going to listen to, we're going to learn. Well,

I'm going to recommend that you learn the second chorus as opposed to the first course. First course is great, but I wanted to find a chorus that really showcased Miles' very unique and lyrical approach to melodic improvisation, but also listen closely, and if you learn it, you can kind of analyze it some after you've got it under your belt, listen to the syncopation and like how he approaches what be he's starting on, how he offsets little rhythmic motifs that he does and riffs, a lot of nice riffing in this. So this is the second chorus for Miles Davis on OLEO Live at the Blackhawk, starting at 48 seconds.

Yeah, and it's always fun to learn live solos, I think, because it really, just as when you're listening to it, it really puts you in that live performance space. But when you learn the solos, it gives us a chance to connect in a way that we can take that and apply that to our live playing, as opposed to sort of practice room playing. All right, let's move on to number six. another trumpet player. Clifford Brown, ever heard of that guy? This is Sandu. It's an E-flat blues. I learned this solo a long time ago just from being around different trumpet players and hearing them geek out on this. But I think it's such a great sort of microcosm of all the different things that Clifford Brown could do. I mean, he died so young that almost all of his solos, there's a certain almost perfection to them that's really stunning for being such a young player. but in this course, and this is the first chorus, I want you to really check out the introduction.

I'm sorry, yeah, well, I guess it's the introduction to his solo. It's the solo break and what he does there and how we can maximize that space with really precision, swinging, phrasing, very connected in with the blues with the way he plays on that solo break. He gets into some double time already on this first chorus, and he had an uncanny accuracy for going into double time. And then you're going to get that very, unique kind of swing and approach to feel that Clifford Brown had a little bit straighter of an

eighth note and 16th note thing at sometimes, which I think is great to incorporate it to your playing. And then also just the blues playing and blues phrasing that Clifford Brown was not necessarily known for, but he was certainly a master of. So this is a blues and he's really connecting, you know, bebop, but also with some deep blues playing. So this is starting at 39 seconds, Clifford Brown Sandoo. Great stuff from Clifford. for sure. All right. For number seven, our final of our list of seven solos you should learn, which are all one chorus, I might add. So number seven is Charlie Parker on Billy's Bounce. Now, I listen to a bunch of, re-listen to a bunch of Charlie Parker solos. I definitely wanted to have

him in there just being the foundation of bebop and another fantastic horn player for pianists, especially to learn and to incorporate it into our playing. But I think that Charlie Parker probably as much as, if not more than any of these, you know, pretty much any solos that you can learn, his solos can give you the most bang for your buck. So I'm actually cheating on this one. I'm going to give you the bonus now, which is we're going to do two choruses, the first two choruses on the solo, just because they're so good and it gets into so many great things and some stuff that kind of connects with the Clifford Brown, what we were just listening to with the bebop phrasing,

obviously, bebop lines, blues. You know, Charlie Parker was always a deeply blues player. He comes from a blues town, Kansas City, Kansas, and, you know, he jumps right into the double time. He's, you know, if you can learn how to double time feel in your solos the way Charlie Parker is, and really learning solos is the way to do that. You know, listening, listening, and then learning, get that ear training, and then just duplicate it and play along with it. You'll start to get that feel. But his double time feel was so seamless and elegant. And so anyway, we're going to listen to the two choruses.

So this starts at 41 seconds. Charlie Parker's Billy's Bounce. This is from the original, I think it's 1945, Savoy recording. I know he recorded this a bunch of times. Billy's Bounce. All right, there you have it. Seven solos you should learn from Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, all the way to Charlie Parker.

I hope you enjoyed this today. As always, we are brought to you by Open Studio. Go to Open Studiojazz.com. Wherever you are in the world, I've been traveling around the world testing out the site. It works everywhere. But go and check out all of our offerings. We have a brand new course that Adam and I did that just has been released a few days ago. And it's the beginning of what I think will be a multi-headed beast that hopefully you will enjoy jazz piano technique. And the first volume we did is on pentatonics. And it's a four-week boot camp.

20 days we take you through. We actually practice with you with the guided practice sessions. We will hold your virtually hold your hands. hand as we practice together in real time over pentatonic. We've got a bunch of fingerings. We go through a bunch of keys and a bunch of patterns that I think really apply well to the specific technique we need as jazz pianists. So check that out when you get a chance. Open StudioJazz.com.

And until tomorrow, you'll hear it.