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Hola all you students of Dave Frank’s Joy of Improvisation (JOI)

One of you recently suggested starting up a thread where we could post recordings of our tunes inspired by JOI.
In addition, there are helpful questions that you have posted over the last month and excellent responses which are currently scattered across a few threads.
This thread will be a central joint for JOI-related tunes and questions.

This thread is intended to complement and not replace the existing Adult Beginners Forum "Jazz Study Group AL, ATTYA" threads, and will be particularly useful for those JOI students who do not have their own web-sites. Even if you have your own web-site/blog, you can alert us to new recordings via this thread.

So get your recordings ready and hopefully this thread can start filling up with your JOI recordings and questions !

Great,

this is my composition last year on the first tune:
http://jazzitup-knot.blogspot.com/2009/04/yves-tune.html

Looking forward to seeing yours

now this is some inspiration. Good to know I'm not the only one who isn't the greatest singer :-P Will come with something and post latest after the weekend. Do you use any software to do you sheets?

I really like it Knotty especially your rhythm in the two Gmin6 bars of Section A. And you really highlight the D7 sound.
What software do you use to write out your song ?

Thanks!

I forgot which one I used then, probably finale. I did not like it. Now I use Rosegarden and it's a snap. It also looks better.

Feel free to use paper. What I do, I record 1 phrase at a time. When I have them all, I transcribe myself back on the sheet. Pencil and paper should be just fine.

Way to go, Knotty!

I haven't done any compositions, but here is my transcription (played in midi with a trumpet patch) of Louis Armstrong's Potato Head Blues, last chorus.

http://www.box.net/shared/k4okoe0spe

Makes me wish I could play the trumpet!

I feel that I have made some kind of breakthrough here, because I am now transcribing other soloists (like Miles Davis and Benny Carter) and working their solos into my playing. This is something I have never done before. Lotsa work, but it really is fun!

Ed

nicely done Ed, not easy without the accompaniment. Try singing it too, nice and slow.

I did some improvising: I used only 2 chords; BbMaj7 and Cmin7, and was alternating them through the whole piece.

my first humble attempt at playing the 1st solo in potatohead blues. It needs some word but its a start i hope

http://www.box.net/shared/3y8yz962pz

i'm also halfway through with my composition based on leaf line. I kept it very simple but I will post a recording in the next 2 days

Here's mine.
I keep the chords and rhythm of Leaf Line so that I only have to think about the melody (it's my first ever jazz composition).
A builder slams the door in the last measure. BOO.
Criticisms and comments welcome !

http://www.box.net/shared/qoi8a9synz

Hi C_A

That was nice, you got the point of the exercise. Don't worry about the Left Hand, you only want to worry about the melody for now. Maybe later on,you can worry about the LH in another exercise. For now, you are good.
If you have some time to kill and want to run through some Bach, that will keep your LH in shape in the meantime

As for your line, a couple of notes:
- I love the title
- If you could somehow show the sheet, that would help. Don't worry about the LH again, and pencil is fine, but if you can show, that will help a lot see the patterns.
- I liked how you use the triplet once, that's good.
- The playing itself, try to focus on counting 4s. You are counting in 2 right now. So when you play your 8th note line, count 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4 etc... and put a slight accent on the one. That will sound completely different.
- See if you can mix phrases lengths. Some longer lines of 4 bars or more.
- Let your lines be made of either a flow of 8th, or just space. In other words, on that first phrase, finish of cleanly instead of the quarter note then 2 eights. It's ok to do that, but for now, I would focus on nice long flow of 8ths.

If you post the sheet and I can listen at the same time, I might be able to tell more.

You can move on to chapter 2 from there, or do another, it's up to you.

How's playing the tunes?

your singing sounds really good btw, how's singing the tune?

Knotty
Thank you for taking the time to post your detailed comments. I know you’re really busy managing and playing in Knotty by Nature, if you need a vocalist for your band, just let me know ha.

You know I didn’t even realize I was counting in 2s. I thought I was counting in 4s, I think I had set the metronome on 92 or 96 bpm. Maybe I’m unconsciously counting in 2s because when I practise my scales I have the metronome on the backbeats 2 and 4. Can you suggest me something to listen to so that I know what you mean and can readjust to counting in 4s ?

I will try to scan you my penciled score.

Could you please give me examples of ending cleanly ? Do you mean ending with a whole note or a half note ?

I’m on Lesson 3. Is the 3/4 time of A Froggy Day based on Someday My Prince Will Come ?

Thanks,

custard.

Counting in 4s.
That means you think 4 8th notes at a time, and slightly accent the 1st. Right now, I hear accents every 2 notes. Thinking in 4s will not only make you swing, but it will help you build much more melodic line. It's surprisingly difficult to do. This will come out when you start improvising.
Good examples of musicians who play nice long lines of 8th notes are Keith Jarrett or Clifford Brown. If you listen to Dave's recording, he plays a lot of long smooth line. When you pay attention, you can group the notes in 4s.
It should be fairly easy to demonstrate on a simple scale the difference between accenting every other note versus every 4, maybe I try to post some if that's helpful.

By clean finish, I mean ending on an 8th note, then taking a rest. Versus ending on an 8th note, and filling the space with a few more notes. For example your first phrase, you finish with 1 quarter, then 2 eights. For now, I would focus on nice clean 8th note lines. Everything else you do will just be weaving in and out of that.
Triplets here and there are ok, quarter note lines are ok too, but you want a strong 8th note foundation.

Froggy day = Someday my prince :-)

How are the hanons coming ?

I think it was Knotty who commented in some thread that when you slow down solos to learn them, it is sometimes amazing what you find. Case in point: I'm working on Take the A Train, so I sang along with one of Ella Fitzgerald's recordings and tried to learn her two scat-singing solos. (This is way out of sequence in JOI - it is actually listed in Volume 2.) I guess I assumed that scat lines would not be complex, compared to instrumental lines, but look at this:




Looks suspiciously like a hemiola to me - sung in scat style at 200 BPM - really! Whodathunkit?

And BTW, the whole recording is a masterpiece, to my ears!

Ed

hmmm I still dont really get what it means to count in 4s please someone help

Knotty
I'm with saiman, I'm still finding it difficult to differentiate counting in 4s and counting in 2s. It would be REALLY helpful if you could let us know with an example, if you find the time.
I'm up to singing Got No Blues. It's nice that the banjo player got a brief go at soloing.
I'm good at Hanons and the Blues tunes but I've spent a long time perfecting the rhythm of A Froggy Day. I think I might have cracked it today.

Ed
What is a hemiola ?

http://www.box.net/shared/c5cnueaamg

I play a scales putting the accent every other note, then every 4. It's a little overdone, but that should demonstrate.

Then I play a simple phrase feeling in 2s, which is what I'm trying to get away from.
Then a similar line feeling in 4s, which is what I'm trying to get to.

Hope this helps.

Riddler,


interesting, that's also the first one I did, Ella's A TRain. Not sure it's the same.
The lines are complex, but easier to transcribe than instruments I think.

Knotty
I've listened to your examples a few times, thank you very much.
I'm going to try to apply counting in 4s to my Hanons. So for Jazz Hanon 1, do I accent the Bb and the F in the first measure ?

btw I couldn't scan with my printer so I'm going to a friend's house today to scan my Leafy Tones.

Thanks Knots.